The Real Inspector Hound is a play of its time.

How is its context and targeted audience reflected in the play? In your answer you need to refer to the popularity of Absurdism and the social movements and values of the 1960s. The crime writing genre was very popular during that time and Stoppard knew that his satire would be well-understood and well-received. He tapped into a genre his audience he knows well. Stoppard insists that audiences are alert and that plays are not to be read but experienced. This explains why his events are often so ludicrous that they could never have been expected. The play blends conventions of the Absurdist theatre with components of high comedy. The composer is concerned with liberty and freedom of speech does not support communism 1960s time of revolution, economic prosperity, awareness of inequality. Rights for women and minorities were publicly debated and people came to believe strongly in equity and rights regardless of race or gender. World wars magnitude of devastation and death Holocaust reminder that everyone deserves a fair go Decline of the established church many people were sceptical of a God that allowed such grief. Idea came about that life was what you made it - no divine plan for people. YOLO people questioned their purpose in life and where it was that humanity was going. Scientific developments contraceptive pill greeted with trepidation and joy Premarital sex became far more acceptable. Drugs Many people mistrusted established order demonstrations/strong feelings about individual rights 1950s family values/conservatism pushed aside/openly rejected by many young adults. These ideas were reflected in literature and film anti-hero, the ordinary person and their experiences. Absurdism dramatically rejected past conventions Psychoanalytic theory deeper reasons that motivated behaviour Metatheatre does not let audience forget that they are watching a play Stoppard makes a comment on the theatre and industry The crime writing genre was very popular at the time and Stoppard knew his satire of it would be wellunderstood and well-received. It was written when postmodernism was a new concept an anti-world view which rejected traditional concepts about truth, knowledge and existence. The decade was also labeled the Swinging Sixties because of the fall or relaxation of some social taboos especially relating to racism and sexism that occurred during this time. [4] Some commentators have seen in this era a classical Jungian nightmare cycle, where a rigid culture, unable to contain the demands for greater individual freedom, broke free of the social constraints of the previous age through extreme deviation from the norm. The 1960s was also associated with a large increase in crime and urban unrest of all types. Between 1960 and 1969 reported incidences of violent crime per 100,000 people in the United States nearly doubled and have yet to return to the levels of the early 1960s. By the end of the decade, politicians such as Richard Nixon and George Wallace campaigned on restoring law and order to a nation troubled with the new unrest. Absurdist fiction is a genre of literature, most often employed in novels, plays or poems, that focuses on the experiences of characters in a situation where they cannot find any inherent purpose in life, most often represented by ultimately meaningless actions and events. Common elements in absurdist fiction include satire, dark humour, incongruity, the abasement of reason, and controversy [1] regarding the philosophical condition of being "nothing." Works of absurdist fiction often explore agnostic ornihilistic topics. The absurdist genre grew out of the modernist literature of the late 19th and early 20th century in direct opposition to theVictorian literature which was prominent just prior to this period. It was largely influenced by the existentialist and nihilist movements in philosophy and the Dada and surrealist movements in art. The Theatre of the Absurd (French: Thtre de l'Absurde) is a designation for particular plays of absurdist fiction written by a number of primarily European playwrights in the late 1950s, as well as one for the style of theatre which has evolved from their work. Their work expressed the belief that human existence has no meaning or purpose and therefore all communication breaks

down. Logical construction and argument gives way to irrational and illogical speech and to its [1] ultimate conclusion, silence. Mocks the restrictions of the crime writing genre through the play Is post-modern rejects the accepted Realist conventions of the theatre Often only uses one set that the characters are trapped in the drawing room of RIH Rejection of traditional structure non-linear Seemingly meaningless dialogue, lack of character motivation Absurdism was a popular genre during the 1960s and so those who would be viewing the play would have had some basic knowledge of the genre and what it comprised of. Therefore, the references made to Agatha Christie's 'The Mousetrap', Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's 'Sherlock Holmes, and general Absurdist conventions would be understood. He turns over the page and reads . x 4 absurdist characteristic of repetition. Birdboot and Moon characters in interdependent pairs absurdist. These characters may be equal or have a begrudging interdependence. Who killed thing? no one will leave the house. (p7, Birdboot) addresses the features of the cosy school popular before this time, in the Golden Age formulaic. Sometimes I dream of revolution, a bloody coup detat by the second rank (p7, Moon) addresses the social upheaval by minor classes at that time. I dream of champions chopped down by rabbit-punching sparring partners while eternal bridesmaids turn and rape the bridegrooms over the sausage rolls (p7, Moon) (absurdist) nonsensical language which gains almost a rhythmic quality. Watch the girl. (p8, Birdboot) You think she did it? (p8, Moon) absurdist dialogue is misinterpreted by other characters. The skeleton in the cupboard is coming home to roost. (p15, Birdboot) absurdist empty clichs. I didnt make any promises I merely-, Oh, I didnt want to hurt you- (p16, Simon) absurdist often the primary things characters want to address are replaced by ellipses/dashes. I have come to set up the card table, sir. (p17, Mrs Drudge) context the upper classes often had servants or maids. Also, the references to playing cards/tennis paint a superficial picture of the wealthy. pillified and villoried (p17, Birdboot) mixes up words so they no longer have meaning absurdist. Youre a cad, Simon! You will use me and cast me aside as you have cast aside so many others. (p18, Cynthia) role of women. No, Felicity, its just that I hold the cards! (p21, Simon) absurdist double meaning. It is my belief that here we are concerned with what I have referred to elsewhere as the nature of identity.I think we are entitled to ask Where is God? (p24, Moon) postmodernist movement.

Coffee pouring scene (p25) shows the trivialness of the play and creates a contrast to the critics pretentious metaphorical criticisms. - Seemingly meaningless dialogue, lack of character motivation The second act, however, fails to fulfil the promise (p25, Birdboot) reminds the audience about the metatheatrical structure of the play It sounded like the cry of a gigantic hound! (p26, Felicity) Intertextual reference to Sherlock Holmes crime writing was a popular genre during this time and audiences would understand the reference being made. How did it begin? (Hound) What? (Cynthia) Thething. (Hound) What thing? (Cynthia) (p27) The breakdown of communication is an Absurdist convention. You never know, there might have been a serious matter (Hound) Drink? (Cynthia) More serious than that even (Hound) (correcting) Drink before you go? (p27, Cynthia) - light humour and breakdown of communication Absurdist conventions Now is the time to speakDont interrupt! (p28, Hound) Absurdist humour I must ask you to put yourself completely in my hands. (Hound) Don't, Inspector. I love Albert. (p28, Cynthia) - light humour and breakdown of communication Absurdist conventions This is where Simon gets the chop. (p30, Birdboot) The conventions of crimea re already so well known by the audience commenting on the familiarity of the crime genre for the audience possibly the finest Cynthia since the war- (p31, Birdboot) contextual reference to WWII he has given us the human condition- (p32, Moon) psychoanalytic theory invoking the names of Kafka, Satre, Shakespeare, St.Paul, Beckett, Birkett, Pinero, Pirandello, Dante and Dorothy L. Sawyers (p32, Moon) writers of the time Shes nothing to me nothing! shes all cocoa and blue nylon fur slippers not a spark of creative genius in her whole slumping knee-length-knickered body- (p35, Birdboot) value of women Birdboot, think of your family, your friends your high standing in the world of letters (p39, Moon) expresses the contextual values of the individual The role-reversal where Simon and Hound play the critics post-modern convention as the accepted theatre conventions of the time are rejected Puckeridges reveal of his true self (p44) - the audience are able to understand the motives for the murder superficial reasons