Why British theatre is obsessed with socialmobility
為何英國戲劇如此癡迷社會流動性主題
THERE are several ways of retelling “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”. In 2005 Hollywoodfocused on Willy Wonka, the factory's owner, portraying him as a purple-gloved man-child. Anew musical production of Roald Dahl's children's story at the Theatre Royal in Londonconcentrates on the up-from-poverty fortune of Charlie Bucket, the boy who finds the goldenticket. Mr Wonka lurks in beggar's dress at the side of the stage, as if selecting a specimen fora social experiment.
Tales of upward social mobility attempted or achieved are crowding the London stage. “BillyElliott”, the story of a miner's son who contends with bereavement, strikes and the north-southdivide to make it as a ballet dancer, recently celebrated its four-millionth visitor. “Port”, anaccount of a Stockport girl's attempts to escape her girm origins, was a success at the NationalTheatre this spring. Last year “In Basildon” depicted strivers in the quintessential upwardly-mobile Essex town.
It is a venerable theatrical (and literary) theme, but it is being handled in a different way.John Osborne's 1956 play “Look Back in Anger” showed a working-class man's fury at themiddle class he had married into. By the 1970s and 1980s writers were looking down theirnoses at social climbers, in plays like “Top Girls” and “Abigail's Party”, in which a middle-classarriviste serves cheesy nibbles and the wrong kind of wine.
Social mobility receded as a topic for a while, as playwrights like David Hare turned toscrutinising the state of the nation. Now it has returned—and is depicted much moresympathetically. Dominic Cooke, who directed “In Basildon” at the Royal Court Theatre, saysthis may be a delayed reaction to the collapse of state socialism in Europe. Left-wing writerscan no longer look to an alternative ideal. Instead they focus on how people navigate Britishsociety.
A possible reason for the sympathetic tone is that upward mobility can no longer be taken forgranted. In 2011 researchers at the London School of Economics concluded thatintergenerational social mobility, assessed by income for children born between 1970 and2000, had stalled. Another study, by Essex University academics, found matters had notimproved during the slump.
So it is fantastic fun to see people make it. Charlie Bucket does so spectacularly. At the end of“Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” he is a pint-size entrepreneur, with an immigrantworkforce of Oompa-Loompas to ensure he does not tumble back down the social ladder.
例句:What he's obsessed with is finding high-growth companies that investors areunderestimating.
奧格納真正著迷的是尋找被投資者低估的高成長公司。
2.focus on 致力于;使聚焦于
例句:Their talks are expected to focus on arms control.
他們的會談預計會集中討論軍備控制問題。
3.concentrate on 專心于,把思想集中于
例句:After a fourth-place finish in Sydney in2000 he retired from top-level rowing toconcentrate on his career as a practice director of performance development consultancy,lane4.