The crysalids - form and structure

Essay by dj_radar May 2004

download word file, 1 pages 0.0

Downloaded 16 times

Form And Structure

The Crysalids is split into two parts:

1) Waknuk and

2) Beyond Waknuk

The play in total is about one hour and is a series of short scenes, which develop a story, and follows narrative of the central character - David.

None of the scenes in Crysalids seem longer than 3-4 minutes and some are even 30 seconds long.

Most of the scenes are delivered in the form of naturalistic dialogue, but occasionally there is a monologue from 4 telepathic characters that tell the audience about their 'visions'.

The characters in the Crysalids are introduced gradually - at the start of the story the play writes uses the technique of introducing a new telepathic character through a monologue at the end of each scene.

The writer 'shows' rather than 'tells'. The story is revealed in gradual stages making the audience forced to ask questions about the action-taking place in front of them.

E.g. Anne says this at the end of Scene 3 'Keep our eyes open. Be alert. They tell us every day. Be suspicious of everyone. Guard our purity. If they knew about us what would they do? The longer it goes on, the greater we deceive them. In our heart of hearts, we want to be like others are. That's all. Just like others are.'

The structure of the play (particular the use of short sharp scenes, moving quickly from one space or time to another) lends itself well to presenting the play as a form of promenade theatre.