The Show Must Go on is the Drama Script in English Which is a Humorous Play

The Show Must Go On is the drama script in English which is a humorous play. This drama script is written by Richard A. Via and published in 1976. This drama script tells about four students who will play the show. Not only the students but also the teacher director is nervous. However, each of them show their nervous in the different ways. I will explain about this drama script based on my analysis to fulfill my final project in Intro to Literature class. I choose this drama script for my final project because the genre of this drama script is a farce or a humorous play which I love the most. This drama script also contains many different meaning of words and a lot of symbolism for a life. The sentences of the drama script look like conversation in the real life. Moreover, the drama script is simple, easy to understand, and meaningful. Actually, understanding the humorous part of this drama script is not easy as I thought before. However, after I read it several times, I got the joke of this drama script which I will explain it in the last part of my writing. At first, I would like to share about what is in The Show Must Go On ad what I get from it. As far as I know, the title of this drama is really suitable with the story. The statement ‘The Show Must Go On’ is really having a big deal in this drama. Even though all people in the drama really nervous and even though Mr. Gage fainted, Frank will make the curtain up on time. Therefore, no matter what happens the show must go on. Next is about the story of this drama. The setting of the drama is in the dressing room of an auditorium. The story begins around 7:45 p.m., before the show. The story begins with preparation situation. Everybody was very nervous, but they show it in the different way. As we could imagine, everybody who in the dressing room is nervous, so the situation there becomes mess up. The people there were thinking the same thing; “Can I? Everybody will look at me. I am not ready enough. How if I make a mistake? How if I forget my lines? Everybody will laugh at me. I am afraid.” When Mr. Gage comes to the students, he talks to the students giving them last minute direction. Suddenly, Bob shows his nervous. Because of his action, the others become more nervous too. It makes Mr. Gage busy to take care of them. The situation becomes more mess up when Frank asks them to go to the stage. Mr. Gage suddenly fainted. However, the curtain of the stage should up on time. No matter what happen, the show must go on. The next is the analysis of Characters in “The Show Must Go On”. There are six characters in this story. They are Mr. Gage, Bob, Joe, Helen, Linda, and Frank. Mr. Gage is the teacher and the director of the show while the others are students. However, Frank is not only the students, but also the stage manager of the show while the others are taking role as player in the

show. The interrelationships among the characters are: Mr. Gage is a teacher or Bob, Joe, Helen, Linda, and Frank who take the role in the show. Frank is a student who also becomes a stage manager while Bob, Joe, Helen, and Linda are the players. The last analysis of characters in “The Show Must Go On” is about the characterization. The characterization of Mr. Gage is a teacher and a director of the show. He is patient and good director, but sometimes got emotional easily because of nervous and a mess condition. Both the feeling of nervous and a mess condition happened because of he should work under the pressure of the limited time. Frank is a student who also becomes a good stage manager who will open the curtain up on time. He is discipline. That is stated in the scripts when Mr. Gage ask Frank to forget what he has said, there is a description in the parenthetically ‘(But Frank is a good stage manager and will get the curtain up on time)’. The rest of the character is the player of this show and all of them are nervous. Therefore they become act badly to each others. However, they are responsible with their job. No matter what happen, they go to the stage to play the show. I appreciate the author. He is genius. He could handles characterization by conversation and the actions of the characters. It can be seen in the script from the conversations among them when they nervous and Frank tell that they should go into the stage and the actions or the brief explanation in parenthetically. The point of view of this drama is third point of view. It is proved because there is a narrator in this drama who tells about the monolog of the drama. The narrator will lead the audience to understand the story of this drama by telling some understandable statement which is stated in the beginning of the drama script before the drama begins. However, everything will be judged by the audience. Finally this is the time to share about the most interesting part that I got in the drama script. It is about the theme, genre, and moral value. In my opinion, the theme of this drama script is professionalism. No matter what happen, no matter how nervous they are, as entertainer who will play for the show, they should stand up to the stage when the curtain up. Moreover, in my prediction, they do it because they are forced by Frank. The genre of this show, as stated before, it is a farce or humorous play. Therefore, the genre should be comedy. When I first read this drama script, I don’t really get in which part this script can be called as a farce. However, when I read again the first paragraph of this scripts ‘Humor will be attained by playing it honestly, and not trying to be funny.’ Therefore, I imagine this script be played in front of me naturally. I can see how fun it is when the mess in the dressing room happen; when Linda’s black dress is covered white powder because of surprise by

Bob’s voice; when Mr. Gage started to be emotional just because of the children’s nervous, I bet he also facing his own nervous that way (showing his emotion); when Mr. Gage check Bob’s Make up, can u imagine how fun his face is? A face with too much lipstick and one eyebrow is about an inch higher than the other. Just think about it make me smile, then laugh by myself. It is also fun when everybody looks for the cold cream but actually the cold cream is hold by Linda all the time. Imagine these entire run naturally makes me smile and a little laugh comes out sometimes. Can you imagine how fun it is when Helen sits on the ice cream and Linda laugh crazily while grabs Mr. Gage’s arm? That makes Bob has misplaced eyebrow again. Most of the action of this drama actually fun if you want to read it carefully while imagine those actions run smoothly and naturally. The moral values that I can learn from this drama are don’t be too nervous and mess up the preparation of the show. Do the preparation carefully! We should be professional in everything that we do. Keep the show go on! All in all, it is a nice drama script. I love the last part when they should go to the stage avoid their nervous and their pity on Mr. Gage. They are become wiser by doing the show even though they are unprepared. From the beginning I just see their childish act due to nervous, but finally in the end I can see their professionalism in the show. It will pay the hard work of all the members of the show especially Mr. Gage who fainted just before the show started. I wish I can really see the show of this drama. Not only imagine it and laugh by myself.