Analysis of Stephen Curtis' play "The Sailor's Return"

1. TheSailor’sReturn
By StephenCurtis

2. The Setting:
Where the play takes place / what the stage must
represent.
 Act 1: sea wall, a bench to sit on and a bush / pile of crab traps.
 Act 2: in front of the main curtain or on a bare half-stage. The
setting is the wood near Sir Percival's mansion. It is night time.
 Act 3: A dungeon-like cellar in Pilchards mansion. A greenish
gloom, pillars, dripping water and an echo. A wall over a well, a
bed of straw, chains, a plate and a bowl.

3. Melodrama Elements:
 Playful.
 Nothing is realistic.
 Everything is exaggerated.
 Villains are devilish and get what they deserve.
 Good people are saintly and always triumph.
 Lovers move dramatically between passionate devotion and pathetic
despair.
 Improbable twists.
 Playfulness of the character’s names - names of water creatures.
 Exaggerated language and gestures.

4. Elements To Be Discussed:
Characterization: how the character is depicted.
The plot: what happens in the play
The background: what happened before the beginning
Conflict: a lack of harmony

5. The Characters
CHARACTER DESCRIPTION
1 Billy Barnacle
2 Cuthbert Cabeljou
3 Sir Percival Pilchard
4 Bass
5 George Galjoen
6 Dora Dolphin
7 Maud Mullett
8 Laura Limpet
9 Pandora De Piranha
10 Jane Hake
11 Eudoxia Dolphin
12 Samantha Trout