Blackrock Essay

Playwrights have various conventions at their disposal to position the audience to respond to the themes and issues that are presented. Nick Enright’s play Blackrock depicts the lives of teenagers in a community. Enright uses various techniques such as characterisation, dialogue, the plot and the setting to elicit a response to the issues. This includes the issue of youth culture, violence against women, masculinity and double standards.
Blackrock positions the audience to see how the youth culture in society has become a major social issue. Through the plot we learn how teenagers are able to purchase alcohol and host parties which are unsupervised by adults. In scene six, Toby is able to purchase, “a supermarket trolley stacked with beer,” for his party. From viewing this scene we learn that it is socially accepted in society to purchase and supply alcohol at a party. Enright positions the audience to question how teenagers are easily able to attain alcohol and why no adults intervened to stop the party. We are also positioned to predict an upcoming conflict as In many cases alcohol can lead to other issues such violence.
A major issue in the play is that of violence against women. Through Enright’s use of characterisation and dialogue, we discover that it is a prominent issue throughout the play as it appear in numerous scenes. In scene fourteen we discover that Tracy Warner had been murdered after being sexually assaulted by three men. While later on in scene twenty-one, Ricko threatens Tiffany with violence. “You looking for a smack in the mouth? “ These scenes elicit a response from the audience to again question why men would resort to threatening women, let alone assault them. They are also encouraged to view violence against women as pathetic because characters such as Ricko are weak.
The theme of masculinity is prominent throughout the play. Physical strength and other male attitudes are revealed The audience are positioned to respond to the theme