Intrigue And Comedy In David Williamson's 'The Club'
Title: "The Club"
Author: "David Williamson"
Essay Question: "The Club, a mixture of intrigue and comedy, adds up to a serious indictment of our life and times. Discuss."
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On the outer surface, David Williamson's 'The Club' is an intriguing and humorous play about the power-plays within a Melbourne football club. But when delved in more deeply, it can be seen that this seemingly simple Australian comedy is a serious indictment of our life and times.
Selfishness, jealousy, envy and greed. These are the images portrayed by the characters of 'The Club'. In essence, they are driven by self-interest, willing to compromise personal and institutional integrity for personal greed and gain. All six characters demonstrate this in one way or another - from the obvious egocentricity of Jock and Gerry to the seemingly loyal and unfaltering Laurie: firstly in his previous ploy to eventually oust Jock and then …show more content…
In the script, they are regarded as irrelevant. The issues of domestic violence and women's rights are considered unimportant, even funny. This is epitomised first in Jock's account of bashing his wife (not for the first time) and then again in Ted's outburst at being accused of assaulting the stripper:
JOCK : Tubby Robbins took me apart in the '39 Grand Final and when I got home Rosemary said, 'I think you met your match today,' and I thumped her one. (page 25)
TED : She egged me on all through her act, Laurie. Eyed me off, stroked my hair, asked me to take off her garter - I played the vamp for all she was worth, but then when I went round backstage she switched it all off and treated me as if I was dirt under her feet. Nobody treats me like that, Laurie, least of all a little trollop like that. I'm the President of the greatest football club in the history of the game and I won't have some little slut laugh in my face. (page
Author: "David Williamson"
Essay Question: "The Club, a mixture of intrigue and comedy, adds up to a serious indictment of our life and times. Discuss."
-------------------------------------------------------
On the outer surface, David Williamson's 'The Club' is an intriguing and humorous play about the power-plays within a Melbourne football club. But when delved in more deeply, it can be seen that this seemingly simple Australian comedy is a serious indictment of our life and times.
Selfishness, jealousy, envy and greed. These are the images portrayed by the characters of 'The Club'. In essence, they are driven by self-interest, willing to compromise personal and institutional integrity for personal greed and gain. All six characters demonstrate this in one way or another - from the obvious egocentricity of Jock and Gerry to the seemingly loyal and unfaltering Laurie: firstly in his previous ploy to eventually oust Jock and then …show more content…
In the script, they are regarded as irrelevant. The issues of domestic violence and women's rights are considered unimportant, even funny. This is epitomised first in Jock's account of bashing his wife (not for the first time) and then again in Ted's outburst at being accused of assaulting the stripper:
JOCK : Tubby Robbins took me apart in the '39 Grand Final and when I got home Rosemary said, 'I think you met your match today,' and I thumped her one. (page 25)
TED : She egged me on all through her act, Laurie. Eyed me off, stroked my hair, asked me to take off her garter - I played the vamp for all she was worth, but then when I went round backstage she switched it all off and treated me as if I was dirt under her feet. Nobody treats me like that, Laurie, least of all a little trollop like that. I'm the President of the greatest football club in the history of the game and I won't have some little slut laugh in my face. (page