Dennis Potters' Blue Remembered Hills
Trace the Development of Donald in the play. HOW is Donald brought to life by Dennis Potter and what important issues does Potter explore through the character of Donald?
The play 'Blue Remembered Hills' is set in an almost idyllic locality with the fields of long luscious grass and the surreal forest of Dean nearby. The backdrop to the action is World War Two and there is an undercurrent of violence, the adults in this rural community are focusing on war, so they don't have complete control of their children. It is almost as if conflict and brutality have become an accepted part of everyday life. Ironically the children are engaged in a war of their own and certainly the afternoon degenerates into violence and cruelty. The children's microcosm is almost a mirror of the adult macrocosm, but in their world their morality is not strong enough to guide them, so they lose their innocence, on this tragic day in 1943.
Potter has used adults to enhance the parts of children because his dramatic plot requires intense feeling and he does not believe that such young actors would be able to give enough depth and emotion into the play, under the stress of the cameras. Another reason for the adult actors is so that Potter can exaggerate and magnify the mistakes and to reflect the immature behaviour of children. The actors are not allowed reflection or eloquence on their mistakes, it helps the audience to accept and appreciate the true meanings of the play. This climatic piece of writing clearly shows us that not all children are as sweet and innocent as their biased parents may think. The children find death and destruction intriguing, and Dennis Potter emphasises this. He has encrusted the play with examples such as fires, violence, and the instinct to bully and harm.
Potter portrays an image of Donald before we have seen his physical form. In scene 2, Peter and Willie talk of him as if they dislike him, but they also show compassion towards him. Potter creates an image of a small thin, abused boy. ‘I saw her hit’n with a shovel. Right round the yud.’ From this single sentence we discover a lot about Donald’s life. Potter reveals that Donald’s mother not only hits for discipline, but she also abuses him, and she does not care what the rest of the community thinks. Ironically even before...