The time and the conways
Time and the Conways ( Time and the Conways ) is a play by the author John Boynton Priestley from the year 1937 . The three-act story tells of the decay of a middle-class family between the two world wars. With a dramaturgical trick in the second act - a visionary flashover of the state of the family in 20 years - it becomes clear to the viewer that the germs of future decay already penetrate in the present of the first and third acts. With this, Priestley exposes the value and meaning construction of family members as a senseless escape from the reality of a society that is increasingly dominated by the greed for property and power.
people
Mrs. Conway
her daughters: Madge, Hazel, Kay, Carol
her sons: Alan, Robin
other people: Joan Helford (Hazel's friend), Ernest Beevers (businessman), Gerald Thornton (family lawyer)
place and time
All three acts are set in a room in Mrs. Conway's house, a detached villa in a posh part of the industrial town of Newlingham.
Act One : an autumn evening in 1919. Kay's 21st birthday.
Act two: an autumn evening in 1938. Kay's birthday.
Third act: the first evening again. Kay's 21st birthday
content
The play consists of three acts:
first act
The wealthy Conway family has invited guests to celebrate Kay's 21st birthday - at the time she was of legal age. Kay and Carol have prepared a charade in which Mrs. Conway, Madge, Hazel and their friend Joan, Alan and family lawyer Gerald Thornton will play different roles; a role is also assigned to a guest whom Thornton is supposed to introduce into the family. To Hazel's surprise, this guest is Ernest Beevers, a man who had been watching her for some time. He comes from a lower social class and has worked his way up because of his business prowess. The only thing missing now is acceptance into the middle-class class in order to be recognized in this area of society. In the course of the evening Robin, Mrs. Conway's favorite son, arrives, who was a lieutenant during the war and who is released after the demobilization of the British troops. The mood is great, the scenes of the charade entertain the guests excellently. Mrs. Conway, a former singer, will sing Schubert songs as the highlight of the evening. The poetically gifted Kay retires into the blue room to write down all the impressions, because she wants to write a new novel that should be realistic and genuine.
Second act
The second act is a visionary look into the future and takes place in 1938, also on Kay's birthday. The family meets to discuss the threatening financial situation, because the situation has changed dramatically: only Mrs. Conway and Alan still live in the family villa. Hazel has become the wife of the wealthy upstart Ernest Beevers, of whom she is secretly afraid. Carol, the youngest daughter, died at the age of 19 from an illness that was recognized too late. Kay has become a journalist in London and has to write shallow newspaper articles to make a living. Madge has become a teacher at a provincial school and has completely given up on her old ideals of international reconciliation and social justice. She reacts bitterly and immeasurably disappointed when the family lawyer Gerald Thornton tells her that the family's sources of income are drying up and the assets have been used up. Robin married Joan Helford, has two children and cannot even support his family. He is constantly on the move to start a great career with the help of his mother, but he fails everything he starts, so he eventually takes refuge in alcohol. Mrs. Conway sees disappointment in all of her great expectations for the future of her children and her family and accuses her children of failure. The meeting ends with no results. Alan consoles his sister Kay with a theory of time from the philosophical tradition: the past is the remembered present and the future is the present seen, nothing is lost, because everything only exists in the now.
Third act
The third act is the immediate continuation of the first act. The party is coming to an end, the first guests say goodbye and Alan finds Kay in the blue room. She seems confused and has difficulty finding her way back from her visions to the reality of the evening. After Ernest Beevers tried in vain to interest Hazel in himself and to gain a foothold in this social circle, he said goodbye angry and disappointed. During the concluding game of hide and seek, the children confess their love to Robin and the two become engaged to the great disappointment of Alan, who is in love with Joan. Finally, all family members gather in the blue room to discuss the great success of the evening and to make plans for the future. Everyone designs their future in the brightest colors, because nothing seems to be able to destroy the happiness of the family. The contrast to Kay's vision couldn't be greater and Kay is torn between what she saw and what she sees. She reacts in a completely incomprehensible, almost panic-like manner to some future images for everyone except Carol. Almost hysterically, she wants to learn from Alan what important insight he had given her in her vision. Mrs. Conway attributes Kay's strange behavior to overexertion and fatigue and wants to comfort her with a song. Alan also promises Kay that one day he will be able to tell her what she really wanted to know.