Daily Archives: December 17, 2013
All in the Family
Tribes
Sometimes seated around the dinner table, often popping into the kitchen as they attack each other with verbal barbs, the five family members seem like a typical family, albeit an intellectual, creative, extremely verbal and somewhat dysfunctional tribe who express their love for one another (as well as their discontent with their own lives) through insults. Through the shouting and turmoil the audience slowly begins to notice that one of the family, Billy, is just sitting quietly observing and eating. He hasn’t joined in the ridicule nor has he been part of any discussions. We soon learn that Billy has been deaf from birth. He’s been “listening” to everyone by reading their lips, a skill his parents taught him early in life so that Billy might fit into regular society. Billy has even learned to talk, though he’s never heard the human voice. However, as a result of his upbringing, neither Billy nor his family have ever learned to sign, thus isolating him and preventing him any interaction with the deaf community.
Read MoreMystery Most Foul
An Inspector Calls
Following an elegant family dinner at Arthur and Sybil Birling’s comfortable home in northern England, the arrival of a mysterious man is announced. He claims to be police Inspector Goole who inexplicably shares with them the sad news that Eva Smith, a young working-class woman, has tragically committed suicide. No one at the family gathering, including young Gerald Croft, who has just officially proposed to Arthur’s daughter Sheila, nor Arthur’s son Eric, recognize the young woman’s name, and begs the question: why is the inspector involving this family in the unfortunate incident?
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