Two Men in Buckram

Two Men In Buckram

The play Two Men In Buckram was written by Ian Austen in 1978. Performed at the Townsville Civic Theatre in 1997 it follows a morning in the life of two men, Oliver and Walter, in jail and all of the bizarre conversations that occur as a result of their desire to find entertainment. This critique will give a further outline of the plot, looking specifically at the characters roles and relationships and then discuss the elements of drama the performance applies. Following that the stylistic conventions of the performance will be examined.

The plot, as previously mentioned follows Oliver and Walter in one of their mornings in jail. They are two political prisoners who are suffering because they are capitalists rather than communists which the audience discovers once the "Big Brother" voice is heard from the speaker box projecting its capitalist views. The two men are seemingly best friends but this may have occurred as a result of their extended period in jail together as there is no reference to their being friends before entering. It is clear they have been in jail for a long time as they are in a routine already, knowing when food is going to come, knowing how tell when it is the end of the morning because they have lost track of time and they have gotten into the habit of trying to think of things to do the next day. There is also the excitement they experienced at the possibility of hearing another person's footstep indicating it had been some time since they had heard another person walking past. The characters themselves though are really not dissimilar as half way through the performance they switch names, showing their personas as interchangeable. Although one character does seem sillier than the other, for example the suggestion of playing cards when they don't have any and the idea of playing hide and seek in a jail cell.

The play took place in a jail cell. The jail cell is important as it shows them restrained and is the reason for the strange conversations the two characters partake in. The conversations almost sound as if their environment is beginning to affect their minds. The space is used effectively as during the course of the performance every aspect from the sheet to food trays was used. The characters moved around efficiently in the limited room they had available since the set was a jail cell. The setting would normally also influence the mood of the play, and since it is set in a jail cell with limited lighting and dreary colours it would normally be anticipated that a depressing play would be performed but this just helps influence the more black-comedy genre of the play as the characters maintain a light-hearted attitude for the most part of the play. Tension in the play is increased through the characters rather than lighting or sound changes