Clybourne Park Play Analysis

Nick Lewis
Theatre 110-01
10/4/13
Production Paper
Clybourne Park
What’s interesting about Clybourne Park is that it nearly repeats itself in two different time eras. Therefore it has two of every element within the dramatic structure period. The play contains two beginnings, two climaxes, and two endings all tied together into one comical story with an important underlying theme of racism.
Like most plays Clybourne Park opens up with exposition dialogue which helps portray the time period and what the social norm was around that era. The dialogue used between Bev and Francine the maid is almost a little bit demeaning towards Francine. By this type of language its helps to show the audience what the social standards were in regards to race.
It could be argued that this incident is when Russ gets into it Jim over the death of Russ’s son. This incident really starts to grab the audience’s attention and it’s the first source of conflict. From here Karl is introduced and he brings with him more conflict. Although this time the conflict is geared towards race. The rising action as it would be called is the buildup of discussion as it gets more and more heated between the two parties. Karl is concerned about how the neighborhood housing market value will fall if colored people move into the community. But as Russ doesn’t seem to care much about that it causes tension between the two. This rising tension eventually leads to the climax of the first act; this being when Karl and Russ start to fight physically.
After the fight one by one each of the characters exits the set and the action begins to wind down. From here we are left with a sulking Bev and a disgruntled Russ. The first half of the play now ends as they begin to discuss their future. There really is no definite resolution that comes from this. The argument involving race remains strong as the characters all go their separate ways without ever solving any
In the first act the girls all wore long dresses while the men had tucked in dress shirts. The second act the girls wore pants with colorful high heels while the men had much more casual clothing on such as pants and a t-shirt.
Probably the most important convention was the theme of the play. While the play made light of the topic of racism through its use of comedy, it is still important none the less. The theme is what carried the play along because even in today’s society it is still an issue that still prevails throughout the country and all over the world.
A fourth convention that was used was the use of strong language to create excitement. Often using vulgar words the actors were able to really grab the audience’s attention if they hadn’t already by using a strong tone or by dropping and unexpected “F” bomb. When actors use this type of language unexpectedly it really grabs the audience and causes exciting drama.
A fifth convention used was Pathos. Mostly in the closing scene of the play, As it flashes back in time to the scene of Russ’s son writing his suicide note with his mother in the room. This is a very strong scene as it really causes a large degree of sadness and emotion from the