Between the Acts | Themes

Between the Acts Themes

Fantasy

The pageant at the heart of Between the Acts is a conceptual fantasy, combining music, costume, and new and borrowed prose and verse to forge a concept of a history of England. Fantasy also takes place in the inner lives of many of the characters. Isa, unhappy in her marriage, lusts after Mr. Haines and a mysterious figure called the grey man. Here, her unhappiness is displaced (however temporarily) by imagination, a conception of an ideal romance full of potential and "what if's". Mrs. Swithin, influenced by a recent reading, sees a prehistoric England in her mind's eye as she surveys the countryside. Her fantasy is biological, brought about by senility, but also by her innate faith and belief in the fantastic, something which separates her from her pragmatic, skeptical brother Mr. Oliver. Mr. Oliver himself fancies himself a hero battling savages in India when he dozes off in his...
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