(J) THE PROBLEM PLAY
No literary author can completely cut himself away from the society in which he lives, especially the dramatist because he directly interacts with the audience. So, he is tempted to write plays dealing with one or the other problems of the day. Thus, a Problem Play is a play in which the playwright tackles the social, legal, economic, human and political problems of the society he lives in. 'Henrik S. Ibren' of 'Norway' is known to be the originator of Problem Plays. In English, John Galsworthy and George Bernard Shaw wrote a number of Problems plays.
Some Important Problems Plays
(a) George Bernard Shaw
Titles of the Plays Problems they deal with
1.Mrs. Warren's Profession Problems of fallen women and prostitution
2.Arms and the Man Futility of war and false glamour the soldiership
3.Caesar and Cleopatra False concept of a hero and hero-worship
4.Man and Superman Satire on superman and romantic love
5.Apple Cart Hollowness of Democracy
6.Getting Married Family problems
7.The Doctor's Dilemma Callousness of the medical profession
8.John Bull's Other Island Racial prejudices
9.The Devil's Disciple Puritanical rituals and fanaticism
10. Major Barbara Religious hypocrisy
11. The Shewing-up of Blanco Posnet Superstitions and fanaticism of religion
12. Man of Destiny Hollowness of hero-worship
13. Heartbreak House Broken families
14. Androcles and the Lion Religious persecution
15. Pygmalion Phonetics and pronunciation
(b) John Galsworthy
Titles of the Plays Problems they deal with
1.The Strife Labour and Capital conflict
2.The Silver Box Inhuman system of law and justice
3.Justice Inhuman system of legal justice and imprisonment
4.Loyalties Conflict of loyalties to different persons or
institutions
5.The Pigeon Inhuman treatment in shelter homes and shortcomings in the Poor Law
6.The Skin Game Conflict between landed aristocracy and manufacturing class.
7.Escape Condition of prisoners after their release
from the prison
8.The Eldest Son Evil of illicit love
9.The Fugitive Infidelity in wite and husband relationship
(K) The One-Act Play
It is a short dramatic composition in One-Act only. There may be more than one scene in the same Act. It is true that short plays were written even before the Elizabethan Age. The Morality Plays, the Miracle Plays, and the Interludes were all short plays, but they were not One-Act Plays in the sense we take these plays today. The modern One-Act Plays came into vogue around the middle of the twentieth century. Now the One-Act plays have become so popular that they have driven the full Five-Act plays into the backyard. Now, these short plays are widely patronized by the amateur as well as professional actors and dramatic companies. They are also patronized by educational institutions. W.M. James, a renowned anthologist of One-Act Plays, says, "The recent revival of amateur drama has done much to restore the One-Act Play to favour, and the teams competing in the annual tournaments arranged by the British Drama League and the Scottish Community Drama Association are always on the look-out for the right material...Hundreds of new one-act plays are being written every year.''
It is now a complete type of drama in itself. It is not merely a short version of a full-length play. It has its own norms and rules. Since it is compact and well-knit without a single superfluous action or dialogue. The playwright must use his dialogue as carefully as a man of limited means would use his income. He must be strictly concise in the management of the plot, in the exposition of his characters, and in the use of dialogue. Further, since it is a short piece, it naturally observes the three classical dramatic unities as a matter of necessity, not out of respect for the classical conventions. But it is remarkably sound in its effect, whether tragic or comic.
OBJECTIVE TYPES OF QUESTION
1. John Bull's Other Island deals with the problem of:
(a) Indians settled in England
(b) Broken families
(c) Racial prejudices
(d) The problem of religious discrimination
2. Which of the following plays of Shaw the false glamour of soldiership?
(a) Arms and the Man
(b) Justice
(c) Caesar and Cleopatra
(d) The Strife
3. "But in those four minutes the boy before you
has slipped through a door, hardly opened,
into that great cage which never again quite
lets a man go-the cage of the Law."
From which of Galsworthy's plays have these lines been quoted?
(a) Justice
(b) Escape
(c) The Skin Game
(d) Loyalties
4. Widowers' Houses deals with the problem of:
(a) The plight of old men
(b) The plight of orphans
(c) The plight of the dwellers in shelter homes
(d) The plight of widows
5.What problem is taken up by Shaw in his play The Apple Cart ?
(a) The problem of social maladjustment
(b) The problems of fruit-sellers
(c) The problems of cart-drivers
(d) The problems coming in the working of democracy
6. One of the following plays of Shaw is not a Problem play. Which of these ?
(a) Caesar and Cleopatra
(b) Widowers' Houses
(c) St. Joan
(d) The Doctor's Dilemma
7.What is the social problem taken up by Galsworthy in his play The Pigeon ?
(a) The condition of children working in
factories
(b) The condition of the poor dwellers in
shelter homes
(c) The condition of the poor men living in slums
(d) The condition of the prisoners in the prisons
8. Which of the following plays of Shaw ridicules religious hypocrisy ?
(a) Escape
(b) Major Barbara
(c) The Devil's Disciple
(d) Mrs. Warren's Projession
9.The Doctor's Dilemma deals with the problem of:
(a) Patients' rude behaviour with the doctors
(b) The callousness of medical profession
(c) The difficulties faced by the doctors
(d) Lack of facilities for proper training for the medical profession
10. Which of the following plays is not written by G.B Shaw ?
(a) Man of Destiny
(b) Overruled
(c) The Skin Game
(d) Misalliance
11. Falder is the central character in Galsworthy's
play Justice. He dies in the end. How does he
die ?
(a) He commits suicide
(b) He dies in police-custody
(c) While running away from police-custody, he falls down from a window and dies
(d) While running out from the jail, he is shot
dead by the police
12 Shaw's Man of Destiny is a satire on :
(a) Human ambitions
(b) Hero-worship
(c) Desire for fame
(d) Dependence of fate
13. "Cal this justice ? What about im" ? 'E got
drunk ! E took the purse-'e took the parse.
but it's, it's money got im off-justice !"
These satirical lines are quotcd from one of
the plays of Galsworthy. From which of the
following?
(a) The Silver Box
(b) The Pigeon
(c) Justice
(d) Strife
14. What is the problem taken up by Galsworthy in his play The Silver Box ?
(a) The problem of theft in rich families
(b) Vanity of the rich class
(c) The flaw in the system of law and justice
(d) Weakness for gold and silver
15. What is the central problem in Galsworthy's play Strife ?
(a) Industrial Revolution as a curse
(b) Callousness of the capitalists
(c) Poverty of the labour class
(d)Labour and Capital conflict
16. The problem of phonetics and pronunciation is dealt with by G.B. Shaw in:
(a) Overruled
(b) Apple Cart
(c) Justice
(d) Pygmalion
17. Man and Superman' of G.B. Shaw is a satire on:
(a) The false concept of a hero
(b) Superman and romantic love
(c) Family problem
(d) Social inequalities
18.What is the central thought of G.B. Shaw's play Augustus Does His Bit ?
(a) Defence of the labour class
(b) Anti-war ideology
(c) Socialistic ideology
(d) The war against the capitalist class
2. ..........is the author of the play The Poison Party ?
(a) Charles Lee
(b) A.J. Talbot
(c) Rachel Field
(d) F. Sladen-Smith
3.The Dear Departed is a very popular play written by Stanley Houghton. What type of play is it ?
(a) A tragic play
(b) A humorous comedy
(c) A love romance
(d) A play mourning the death of someone
4. Dr. Rabindra Nath Tagore's play Chandalika is based on :
(a) A Buddhist legend
(b) An episode in the Upanishads
(c) An episode in the Mahabharata
(d) A historical event during the reign of
5.The author of the play The Great Dark is :
(a) Harold Brighouse
(b) Edward Percy
(c) Dan Totheroh
(d) Ashley Dukes
6. The author of Riders to the sea is :
(a) J.M. Synge
(b) Anton Chekhov
(c) Edward Percy
(d) Miles Malleson
7.The name of the mother who loses all her sons in the play Riders to the Sea is :
(a) Maurya
(b) Bartley
(c) Nora
(d) Cathleen
8.Who is the author of the play The Banns of Marriage ?
(a) A.J. Talbot
(b) Edward Percy
(c) Lady Gregory
(d) Charles Lee
9. .........is the author of the popular one-act play A Night at an Inn ?
(a) Edward Percy
(b) Lord Dunsany
(c) Stanley Houghton
(d) Chekhov
10. What kind of play is Chekhov's A Marriage Proposal ?
(a) A satirical play
(b) A tragic play
(c) A comic play
(d) A farcical play
11. The author of the play Women at War is :
(a) Harold Chapin
(b) Edward Percy
(c) Harold Brighouse
(d) Rachel Field
12. Which of the following plays is not written by Chekhov ?
(a) Michael
(b) The Cherry Orchard
(c) The Seagull
(d) A Marriage Proposal!
13. The author of the play The Workhouse Ward is:
(a) Ashley Dukes
(b) Rabindra Nath Tagore
(c) Lady Gregory
(d) Harold Chapin
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