Page 343 - DENG403_BRITISH_DRAMA

Unit 31: Roots: Detailed Analysis of the Text

• Roots, written about 30 years ago, is part of the Wesker trilogy and is, by consensus, among Notes
the playwright’s best works.
• The production of the play at the Jewish Repertory Theatre is intelligent, if not inspired.
• The mood, emphasized by Geoffrey Hall’s domestic sets and Edward M. Cohen’s direction, is
realistic. Much of the slow first act is given to Beatie’s tidying of sister Jenny’s living room
and their conversation about Jimmy’s back pains.
• Mr. Wesker saves his big revelations for the end, tossing in a couple of false leads along the
way as though trying to hold our attention while we get comfortable with the characters.
• The play begins with the crying of a baby, who we learn is Jenny’s illegitimate child, but we
never find out who the father is.
• If Mr. Wesker says too little in Act I, he says too much in Act III.
• The family is gathered to meet Ronnie; Beatie is on edge. I don’t want Ronnie to think I come
from a small-minded family, she confesses—a generous estimate of people whose conversation
is confined mostly to town gossip, bits from the tabloids and jokes about sex.
• Nealla Spano develops her portrayal of Beatie carefully. She is full of affection for her family
but exasperated at their self-satisfied ignorance; watching them, she becomes Ronnie watching
her.
• Gloria Barret as Mrs Bryant comes on rather more stylishly than her words or her condition
allow. Even so, the Act II give-and-take between Beatie and her mother about music is the
play’s most effective scene.
• Dermot McNamara as Mr Bryant and Bonnie Gallup, Fred Sanders and Brian Drillinger as
the younger generation are more convincing as not-too-bright people resisting any changes
in their narrow lives.

31.3 Keywords

Bickering : To engage in petulant or peevish argument; wrangle.
Baffled : To frustrate or confound; thwart by creating confusion or bewilderment.
Belligerent : Pertaining to a warlike character; aggressively hostile; bellicose.
Enlightenment : A philosophical movement of the 18th century, characterized by belief in the power
of human reason and by innovations in political, religious, and educational doctrine.
Hidebound : Oriented toward or confined to the past; extremely conservative.
Soliloquy : An utterance or discourse by a person who is talking to himself or herself or is
disregardful of or oblivious to any hearers present (often used as a device in drama
to disclose a character’s innermost thoughts).
Ventriloquist : The art of producing vocal sounds that appear to come from another source.

31.4 Review Questions

1. Why did Nealla Spano cries desperately to her mother saying “you didn’t open a door for
me!”?
2. Illustrate and analyse the events of Act II.
3. Illustrate that the Act II give-and-take between Beatie and her mother about music is the
play’s most effective scene.

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