Philadelphia, here I come

Relationships
1. Gar & Madge
  1. Madge is a mother figure who understands his real needs. Through her he has learned everything he knows about his mother. She is genuinely sorry he is leaving and shows a strong concern for his welfare, for example we can see how she sacrifices herself in order that he can get a cup of tea on the plane.
2. Gar & S.B
  1. Gar is unable to communicate with his father. This is one of the main reasons why he wants to emigrate to Philadelphia. Neither Gar nor his father has come to terms with the past. Gar and his father are similar. They are both afraid to express themselves emotionally and are almost embarrassed in one another’s company. They are afraid to face their own limitations and acknowledge them. Both characters yearn to be loved and understood and tragically their one attempt in the play backfires. Gar attempts at the conclusion to relive the day when he went fishing with his father as a young boy on Lough na Cloc Cor. However, his father has no recollection of that day. Shortly after this incident we listen to S.B.’s animated reminiscences of the past when he brought Gar to school on his first day in his “wee sailor suit”. Both characters find no difficulty in communicating their real needs to Madge. The tragedy of this play is that the conclusion shows no difference in the situation. Gar goes
3. Gar & Kate
Setting
1. Ballybeg Ireland
2. Small community social, cultural and political issues to the Irish situation
3. Religion
4. movement is limited and few possibilities
5. The female characters are also subject to the limitations of this type of society.
Plot
1. Centres on a young Irishman, Gar O’Donnell, on the eve of his departure for Philadelphia.
2. Gar is presented to us as two individual characters, played by two different actors, representing his Public and Private selves.
3. Public Gar is the man who is seen and who interacts with the other characters in the play.
4. Public Gar is the man who is seen and who interacts with the other characters in the play.
5. Private Gar represents Gar’s inner thoughts and feelings and he can interact only with Public Gar.
6. As the evening unfolds and through a series of flashbacks, memories and present action, we learn of his conflicting feelings about leaving Ballybeg, which represents for him both that which he detests and that which he loves. Dysfunctional relationship with his father is another reason Gar wants to escape from ballybeg and his irish heritage
Themes

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Philadelphia, here I come

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	Created by Jessica Irvine about 7 years ago