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Drama Essay Sample

Stolen by Jane Harrison depicts the lives of five Aboriginal children who were taken from their families as part of the Stolen Generation policies of the 19th and 20th centuries in Australia. Harrison uses dramatic techniques like space, tension, sound, and dialogue to convey the personal experiences of sexual abuse and issues of cultural identity. Specifically, she portrays Ruby's descent into madness to show the effects of sexual abuse through techniques that emphasize Ruby's torment. She also uses space and dialogue to demonstrate Anne's conflict between her Aboriginal heritage and her adopted white family's identity. Overall, the play effectively stages the personal experiences of characters from the Stolen Generation to educate audiences.

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5K views2 pages

Drama Essay Sample

Stolen by Jane Harrison depicts the lives of five Aboriginal children who were taken from their families as part of the Stolen Generation policies of the 19th and 20th centuries in Australia. Harrison uses dramatic techniques like space, tension, sound, and dialogue to convey the personal experiences of sexual abuse and issues of cultural identity. Specifically, she portrays Ruby's descent into madness to show the effects of sexual abuse through techniques that emphasize Ruby's torment. She also uses space and dialogue to demonstrate Anne's conflict between her Aboriginal heritage and her adopted white family's identity. Overall, the play effectively stages the personal experiences of characters from the Stolen Generation to educate audiences.

Uploaded by

matthias_vecanski
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Drama Essay Sample Stolen Stolen by Jane Harrison, depicts the broken lives of five children; Ruby, Sandy,

Anne, Shirley and Jimmy; and in doing so, portrays a myriad of personal experiences of those living in Australian Society. Harrison does this through the skilful use of dramatic techniques, which are used to convey various personal experiences, such as Sexual Abuse and Personal Identity, and it is through these experiences in which Harrison demonstrates the personal experiences of the Stolen Generation.

Ruby is one of the most central characters of the performance, and she is used to portray to the audience the acts of sexual abuse that occurred within Australian Society during 1869 and 1969. Harrsion portrays this abuse and it s crippling effects on Ruby s mental state in the scene Ruby s Descent into Maddness . This is achieved through a variety of dramatic techniques, particularly, Space, Tension and Sound. As Ruby takes centre stage we see Ruby s Tormentors looming above her, representing their power over the broken Ruby. . . a series of commands are barked at Ruby, and her movements become frantic and uncontrolled as the commands become sexual and derogative . . . then all that s left is Ruby clawing at her arm in silence . . . as she re-enters centre stage Ruby stares at the audience as the sound of nails ripping at flesh becomes almost deafening . . . then the tension is broken as Ruby howls out a barely distinguishable WHERE ARE YOU??? . . . answered with a lonely silence, leaving the audience to experience the loneliness of Ruby as they are forced to confront the horrors that many of the Stolen Generation faced. Thus Harrison delves into the personal experiences of Sexual Abuse, and conveys these through the use of dramatic techniques.

The personal experience of conflicting identity is one that many experience within their life, Harrison takes this concept and manipulates it through Anne and the conflict between her heritage and her family. This conflict is seen in various scenes, but Anne s told she s Aboriginal and The Chosen fully explores this idea. In both, space is used to create distinct meaning, as there is a void of empty air between Anne and her adopted parents creating a sense of dislocation or alienation, emphasising the conflict that Anne faces between who she is and what race she is. The dysfunctional relationship between Anne and her adoptive parents, is highlighted further as Mother and Father are looming over Anne, symbolising white dominance over the stolen generation. Dialouge is also used to express the experiences of Anne, as her parents repeated state we chose you or do you think we made a good choice? . The repetition of such dialogue creates a rift between them and their

daughter as it creates a sense of dislocation for the family. Therefore Harrison has utilised the dramatic techniques of space, and dialogue to convey the experiences of Anne s conflicting identity to the audience. In conclusion, Stolen has demonstrated how through dramatic techniques, Australian Theatre can stage the personal experiences of the characters. Harrison has aptly demonstrated this by exploring the personal experiences of children from the Stolen Generation and in doing so helps expand the audiences understanding on their lives.

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