A Chorus of Disapproval (Historical Context)

Historical Context

The Consumer 1980s and Ayckbourn As Social Critic

Britain never really recovered economically from the Second World War. Although the 1950s and 1960s were marked by full employment, wages remained low and billions of pounds were squandered in a futile effort to retain hold of rebellious British colonies like Malaysia and Burma. The economic situation splintered further in the 1970s. Crunched by a global recession and the OPEC oil crisis, inflation soared and the British economy staggered to a halt. Unemployment rose dramatically. The situation seemed to reach a crisis point during the so-called “Winter of Discontent” in 1978-79. Major unions launched wage claims and went on strike; the Labor government’s thin majority disappeared; and the party lost a vote of confidence in the House of Commons.

When Margaret Thatcher took the office of prime minister in 1979, she vowed to subdue the unions — which she accused of crippling industrial growth — to minimize taxation, and to woo business interests back to Britain. After a tough first few years in office, Thatcher’s reign looked shaky but was secured by victory in the Falklands War (1982).

The 1980s began with a bang and ended with a whimper: the economy boomed then went spectacularly bust. While many people profited from urban expansion — which affected small businesses and the real estate market — some went under. The increasing divide between rich and poor was viewed with concern by many in Britain’s artistic community, and they were joined by others who were worried about the growing domination of corporate culture at the expense of community values.

Ayckbourn’s A Chorus of Disapproval, which is set in the fictional Welsh town of Pendon, is ostensibly removed from such concerns. But Ayckbourn’s decision to concentrate upon smalltown life in fact enables him to create subtle social criticism. By depicting corruption, greed, and “insider dealing” within a small community, Ayckbourn demonstrates that 1980s corporate culture has eaten into even the smallest and most isolated of communities.

The inclusion of material from The Beggar’s Opera points to an unfortunate truth: greed and corruption have long been part of British culture. But the BLM land scam represents a version of these age-old traits that is particular to the 1980s. Each schemer has a different ploy: Dafydd wants to avoid paying too much for land, Ian and Fay want to buy the land at a low price and sell it at a higher price, while Jarvis and Rebecca, the owners of the land, deliberately create false information in order to sell the land in a climate of false expectations. Nonetheless, the only true profiteer in this scheme is the corporation, BLM, which decides to down-size operations, lay off employees, and thus increase its profitability.

The Changing Position of Women

Although most people tend to think about contemporary feminism as originating simultaneous to counter-culture movements in the late- 1960s, the movement for women’s rights actually dates from the late- eighteenth century. Enlightenment philosophers and pamphleteers criticized the limited application of the doctrine of human rights, as developed in the American and French Revolutions, arguing that it should not be limited to men but should also include women.

During the nineteenth century in America, women’s rights advocates fought side by side with advocates of abolitionism and of temperance for societal reform. By the early- twentieth century, the suffragette movement, which fought for women’s right to vote and to own property in their own name, had won victories in Australia and New Zealand, and was soon to win victories in America and Britain. Although feminists remained active after they won the right to vote, it was not until the 1960s that the movement returned to world-wide prominence.

Change does not happen overnight, however, and society today is still struggling to absorb the ramifications of this “revolution in female consciousness.” Fay and Hannah represent different positions in this period of adjustment. Neither are interested in the women’s rights movements, but both women have been affected by the social changes it wrought.

Fay is a product of the sexual liberation and experimentation of the 1960s and 1970s. Confident and attractive, she casually plans to swap sexual partners and uses her sexuality as leverage in the BLM land scam. Fay is no feminist: she neither seeks equality nor urges reform. Rather, she is an individualist who makes use of her sexuality for her own profit.

Both women are married, but Hannah’s marriage is light years away from Fay’s. Unlike Fay, Hannah has held to the traditional ideal of marriage. She is a mother, a housewife, and a wife. But Hannah is not happy, and her affair with Guy is the catalyst that enables her to break free from a stagnant situation. For the first time she can articulate all that is wrong with her marriage — as well as all that she values in Dafydd — and to imagine the possibility of life outside the home. Should she remain with her children and husband, and if so, at what cost? Will she leave her husband, as Nora does in Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House (1879)? Or will she remain to work through her problems with Dafydd?

The audience does not need to know whether or not Hannah leaves Dafydd, for what is most important is that she has undergone a radical change in perception. Like many women in the 1970s and 1980s, Hannah’s first step towards an improved place in society is a reevaluation of her commitment to domesticity.

Compare & Contrast

• 1984: The British economy is just recovering from the depression of the 1970s. This new boom period is led by a group of young urban professionals, whose conspicuous consumption leads to the coining of the pejorative term “yuppie.”

  Today: The British economy went through a “boom and bust” cycle in the late- 1980s and early- 1990s but now seems more stable. All over the world people are speculating that the “new world order” has been accompanied by a shakedown in the economic system. In 1999, Europe took its final steps towards becoming an integrated economic system, while the Dow Jones Index (the primary indicator of the U.S. Stock Market) passed the 10, 000 mark.

• 1984 After the success of the Falklands War in 1982, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher won her second general election and returned the Conservative party to power. She narrowly escapes death when an IRA bomb explodes in her hotel at a Conservative Party conference.

  Today: After Prime Minister Tony Blair’s New Labor party swept to victory in 1997, thus ending fifteen years of Conservative Party rule, Britain has moved closer to union with Europe, has continued the Northern Ireland peace talks, and has become increasingly involved in European peace-keeping.

• 1984: The situation in Northern Ireland continues to deteriorate. The British government spends billions of pounds annually on maintaining their presence in Northern Ireland. Meanwhile, the Irish Republican Army’s (IRA) massive campaign for improved prisoners’ rights, known as the “Dirty Protest” and the “Blanket Protest,” is followed by a tragic hunger strike that results in the death of eleven IRA prisoners.

  Today: Sinn Fein (the political arm of the IRA) leader Gerry Adams negotiates a peace accord with the Irish and British governments. A Republican cease-fire in 1995 was followed by a Loyalist cease-fire that year. The cease-fires have since been broken and then resumed; likewise, the 1997 Easter Peace Agreement promised much but has, as yet, delivered little. Hopes remain high for a peace settlement in Northern Ireland.

• 1984: Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) graduate Kenneth Branagh emerges as a major talent at the Royal Shakespeare Company when he plays the title role in Henry V and Laertes in Hamlet. The production of Henry V is a major new interpretation of the long-ignored play and is critically and commercially successful.

  Today: Branagh has become one of Britain’s most successful actors. He founded his own theater company, The Renaissance Theatre Company, in 1987, and has also directed and starred in several films, such as Henry V (1988), for which he earned Oscar nominations for best director and best actor. More recently he has appeared in Woody Allen’s 1998 farce Celebrity.