Hello, my name is Miss Grant, I'm so glad you decided to learn with me today.

We're in the Modern Text first study unit and our modern text is "Leave Taking".

Today we're gonna be looking at the character of Brod, what is his dramatic function? I can't wait to hear all of your fantastic ideas.

I'm gonna be your support and guide as we work through this lesson together.

Let's get started.

So by the end of today's lesson, we're going to be able to explain the dramatic function of the character of Brod.

We're gonna look at what he says, what he does, and the impact of his dialogue and actions throughout the play.

There are some key words which are gonna help unlock our learning today, and they're gonna be referenced throughout today's lesson.

The first one is dramatic function.

Now, this is the purpose of a particular character or prop in a play, what they or it help us understand further about the playwright's messages and today we're gonna look at Brod's dramatic function.

Social criticism, work that explores issues in society, especially issues of injustice.

Political criticism, work that explores political issues and policies in society.

And we're gonna see that Brod himself, he acts as the voice of social criticism and political criticism within this play.

And, finally, belonging, the feeling that you're accepted in a group, community, or society.

We know this is a central idea to Pinnock's "Leave Taking" and this is gonna be one of our key words for today.

If you'd like to jot down any of these words and their meaning, pause the video now.

Otherwise we're gonna move on with the rest of our lesson.

So our lesson outlined for today, we're going to start off with looking at the character of Brod, recalling his actions and dialogue.

And then we're going to move on to answering this question, what is the function of the character of Brod? And I'm really excited to hear all of your argumentative ideas, your interpretations of this character.

Let's start off with Brod: actions and dialogue.

So I'd like you to discuss what do we already know about the character of Brod? I'd like you to pause the video and think what are all the different things we know about this character after having read these eight scenes? Pause the video and discuss this question now.

Some fantastic discussions there, showing off really great knowledge of the play but it's also really nice to see people flicking through their play, making sure that their ideas are completely accurate and in that way, seeing some new ideas, some things that they have forgotten about this character as well.

So always important to have your play script next to you whenever you are doing any work on a particular play.

So some ideas that you might have had about the character of Brod.

Well, we know that he's a family friend of Enid and her daughters.

We know that he's meant to be played by an actor in their late 40s and 50s and it was nice to see people looking at the cast list so we know what Pinnock wanted for this character.

We know he drinks to excess and sometimes this seems like a bit of a joke in the play and sometimes it seems much, much more serious.

We know he's lived in London for 30 years, that he was angry that he had to pay to become a legal citizen in England and this is explored really fully in Scene Two.

He's known Enid since childhood.

He encourages Viv's curiosity in the West Indies.

She says "Uncle Brod told me that I should go there, that I won't know who I am until I've been there." And we know that he has conflict with Enid about the way she brings up her daughters.

So Enid and Brod are very close but they do have conflict, they do have arguments.

His wife and children live in Jamaica.

Now this idea, this fact, comes quite late on in Scene Seven when Brod is having a conversation with Del.

And we know that he tells Del about her father's abuse of her mother in that quite hard scene in Scene Seven.

Fantastic to get all of these ideas about the character of Brod, so we've got a really secure understanding of who he is and some of the key facts about him in this play.

Now, in a play, each character serves a dramatic function.

This is our keyword, one of the keywords from today's lesson.

Let's look at the definition in a bit more detail.

So dramatic function is the purpose of the character, how they help the playwright develop, emphasise, and reveal the ideas they want to explore in their work.

Now, in her introduction, Pinnock tells us that when Liverpool Playhouse Studio first commissioned "Leave Taking" she was asked to cut her original cast as "The budget would only allow for five characters." In this way, the dramatic function of Brod becomes even more significant.

Pinnock could have cut him but chose not to.

So that's why I'm really excited to focus entirely on Brod in this lesson because she really, she could have chosen to cut him out.

So we need to think well, why didn't she? What dramatic function does he serve? So let's consider this aspect of the character of Brod.

He's known Enid since childhood.

So what's his dramatic function? Well, Del and Viv don't know about Enid's past.

Brod is the only character who can help them (and the audience) understand her past, and her feelings towards her past.

Obviously, Enid meets Mai for the first time in Scene One when she is older.

So May does not have access to her past.

She can ask questions, but she doesn't fully understand it.

Brod is the only other character, the only character who can help Viv and Del understand their mother's past.

So that could be one of his dramatic functions, his important dramatic functions.

So now I'd like you to discuss why did Pinnock choose to keep the character of Brod? What is his dramatic function? We're gonna use what we know about him to support us in this discussion.

So all the ideas you had before, he's a family friend of Enid and her daughters.

He's played by an actor in their late 50s/40s, sorry, early 40s/50s.

He's known Enid since childhood.

He tells Del about her father's abuse of her mother.

He migrated from Jamaica.

He encourages Viv's curiosity in the West Indies.

He has conflict with Enid about the way she brings up her daughters.

Drinks to excess.

His wife and children live in Jamaica.

He's lived in London for over 30 years and he's angry that he had to pay to become a legal citizen in England.

So with all of these ideas that you came up with, this is what I know about the character of Brod, I'd like you to discuss, well, what then is his dramatic function? So you're gonna pause the video, look at all of these ideas and think why did Pinnock choose to keep the character of Brod? Pause the video and discuss this question now.

Some fantastic discussions there really showing off your knowledge of this word dramatic function.

So of course it's important to be immersed in a work and to think about the characters almost as if they're real.

But as analytical students of English we need to think, we know that these characters are creations and we need to think of them a bit more objectively.

So what is Brod's dramatic function? Now, lots of people grouped their ideas together, their ideas about Brod, and said well maybe all of these ideas together, that's what contributes to this particular dramatic function.

So, for example, the fact that he's a family friend of Enid and her daughters, played by an actor in their late 40s and 50s, has known Enid since childhood, and tells Del about her father's abuse of her mother.

Well, this could all serve to offer an insight into Enid's past.

So all these factors contribute to this dramatic function that he serves to offer an insight into Enid's past.

Then these ideas grouped together, migrated from Jamaica, encourages Viv's curiosity in the West Indies, has conflict with Enid about the way she brings up her daughters.

Well, he serves as a contrast to Enid here and here we've got a dramatic device, a writer's method here, the idea of contrast and definitely Brod, even though he's very close with Enid, he does often serve as a contrast to Enid.

And then we've got the idea that he drinks to excess and his wife and children live in Jamaica.

And I really enjoyed hearing the discussions about Brod here and what this might serve in terms of a dramatic function.

And I think that you were right in saying, well, it develops Pinnock's exploration of isolation.

It can be quite a sad moment to think about Brod and his reliance on alcohol, it's the first thing Enid mentions when she sees him, when he comes in Scene Two and this idea kind of develops over a number of scenes.

And then to hear in Scene Seven that he does have a wife and children, but that they live in Jamaica and he's upset about this.

So it does seem to help us understand Pinnock's exploration of isolation.

And, finally, we know that he's lived in London for over 30 years and he's angry that he had to pay to become a legal citizen in England.

And this is where I heard people bringing in those other keywords that we had at the beginning of our lesson, the idea of political criticism, of social criticism.

So yes, here Pinnock is developing ideas about identity and belonging, but it's also giving the play a political edge because Brod directly explicitly criticises the Home Office for the way they have dealt with the idea that he needs to go through the naturalisation process to become a legal citizen of Britain.

So some really, really nice ideas there, some clear ideas about the dramatic function of the character of Brod.

We've got that he's a contrast to Enid, developing ideas about isolation, giving the play a political edge, offering an insight into Enid's past.

Fantastic discussion there.

Okay, so let's have a really clear idea of what some of Brod's dramatic functions are before we move on to the rest of our lesson.

So what are some of Brod's dramatic functions? We've got A, voices some political and social criticisms. B, drinks to excess, C, serves as a contrast to Enid, D, is secure in his identity and sense of belonging.

I'd like you to pause the video and select your responses.

What are some of Brod's dramatic functions? Pause the video and select your responses now.

Well done if you selected A and C, you've got a really clear idea of what Brod's dramatic function is so that you can use that in the second part of this lesson where we start thinking, well, let's develop our argument about what is the most important dramatic function of the character of Brod.

Now, I'd like you to reread Scene Two from the stage direction "Broderick enters wearing an old suit" to "Queen Nanny come down from the Blue Mountains".

And as you read, I'd like you to collect quotations which support ideas about Brod's dramatic function.

So we've got those dramatic functions we were talking about earlier in this learning cycle.

The fact that he's a contrast to Enid, that he develops ideas about belonging, and he serves social and political criticisms. And I'm looking for one to two quotations for each idea.

And you're gonna put those in the table that is on the board.

So, get your play script.

You're gonna reread Scene Two and you're gonna, as you are reading, collect quotations which support ideas about Brod's dramatic function.

Pause the video and complete the task now.

Always a pleasure to hear people rereading scenes, bringing a new understanding, a new interpretation to those sections once they've read the full play.

The first time you read a play it's so exciting, you're thinking what is going to happen? I just want to go through and see what's gonna happen to these characters with a real focus on plot.

And then when you reread, you can start thinking more carefully about what the playwright is doing.

And I saw lots of people thinking about new ideas they had, particularly in relation to the focus for today's lesson, which is of course at the character of Brod.

Let's have a look at some of the quotations that you might have selected to support the idea that Brod's dramatic function is either to contrast Enid, to develop ideas about belonging, or to add some social and political criticism.

So, a contrast to Enid.

Lots of people selected this quotation where Brod says to Viv "Your mother don't like to talk 'bout back home.

Me, I dream about the land a wood and water." And Enid's response to this is that she doesn't dream about Jamaica because England is her home.

Brod also says to Enid, "You teaching these girls all wrong, these girls got Caribbean souls." This is a response to Enid saying "I'm proud of my English girls." So here we see this real clash, the section of dialogue where really Brod and Enid are showing a complete difference in terms of how they think about Viv and Del and how they think they should be brought up.

Now, developing ideas about belonging, we've got Brod "All my life I think of meself as a British subject.

I had to pay 50 pounds to become a citizen." And we see here that this has really destabilised Brod's sense of who he is.

He was always thinking I am a British subject and then suddenly this kind of bolt from the blue that he had to pay to become a British citizen, incredibly destabilising for this character.

And Brod is also angry.

He says, "They call me a alien.

As if me live the last 30 years on the moon instead of on this blasted estate." So he feels really out of place.

We can see that through this metaphorical language "Alien" and "Live on the moon." So we get the sense here from this piece of dialogue that Brod has been really hurt by this letter that he's been sent and the naturalisation process that he's had to go through.

So here we're developing these ideas of belonging by kind of looking at its opposite, the idea of not feeling like you belong.

And then social and political criticism.

So Brod says of Jamaica, of the families in Jamaica, that Brod and Enid have left behind "An why they poor? Because of colonialism.

They suck the blood outta the island, suck them dry." And lots of people selected this quotation as this kind of powerful moment where Brod is saying, look, the fate of Jamaica, how Jamaica is at the moment, the reason why we Enid and Brod had to leave because of that poverty, it has nothing to do with Jamaica itself, it's to do with this legacy of enslavement and colonialism.

We've also got Brod giving an anecdote about one of his friends.

He says "One mornin' Gullyman wake up to find him lovely car covered in S." So this racist incident, we can see how that really affected his friend Gullyman, but it also affected Brod himself and he's criticising the hostility that he's finding in Britain and he and his friends are finding in Britain.

So we've got the social and political criticism.

So all within Scene Two, and not even the full scene, just this short section, we can see how important the character of Brod is in terms of exploring some of Pinnock's central ideas.

Well done for selecting such clear quotations to connect to Brod's particular dramatic functions.

We're gonna move on to our second learning cycle.

Now, what is the function of character of Brod? And that table you just created, the rereading that you just created, the thinking you did about Brod in Learning Cycle One is going to be so important to Learning Cycle Two, it's gonna help you write some really interesting ideas about the character of Brod.

Now, a student wanted to answer this question, what is the function of the character of Brod? And this is their argument.

Pinnock's Brod appears in just three scenes of "Leave Taking", but his impact is enormous.

He opens up Enid's past and is explicit about his experiences of injustice, giving the play a political edge.

What a fantastic, powerful way to start an essay.

Love this argument.

I'd like you to discuss why is this a powerful idea? So pause the video, look at the argument again, and think why is this so powerful? Where does its power come from? Pause the video and discuss the question now.

Beautiful discussions there.

Looking really closely at some writing about "Leave Taking", which shows me you understand really what good writing looks like and means that you are good writing and really excited about getting that onto the paper later.

So lots of you said, well, I like the way it starts, Pinnock's Brod, because it acknowledges that Pinnock crafted this character.

Then we've got the idea that his impact is enormous and that's a really, really clear argument.

And, finally, the student justifies their argument.

He opens up Enid's past, he's explicit about his experiences of injustice, giving the play a political edge.

Well, this is the way that his impact is enormous.

So this kind of overview of the character of Brod, his dramatic function, and why this particular student thinks what they think.

So a really, really nice opening to this essay.

I would like you to discuss, after looking at that student's really powerful idea about the character of Brod, what would your own powerful idea be in response to the question what is the function of the character of Brod? Now I'm just gonna put up all the ideas we had from Learning Cycle One about Brod and they're gonna support you in your response.

So remember he's a family friend of Enid and her daughters.

He tells Del about her father's abuse of her mother.

His wife and children live in Jamaica.

He's played by an actor in their late 40s/50s.

He has conflict with Enid about the way she brings up her daughters.

He encourages Viv's curiosity in the West Indies.

He drinks to excess.

He's lived in London for over 30 years.

He's angry he had to pay to become a legal citizen in England and he's known Enid since childhood.

So all these ideas are gonna support your discussion, but so too will the table that you created in Learning Cycle One.

I think that's gonna be really important in supporting your discussion as well.

So pause a video and using the resource on the board and the table that you created, discuss this question, what is the function of the character of Brod? Pause the video and start your discussion now.

Some really beautiful discussions there and I always find it so interesting, we've all read the same text and yet our ideas about that text are so different about what is really important about the playwright's intentions.

And this is where the really interesting work begins because we're interpreting the play and thinking what do we think is the most important and how can I make sure that my idea holds up in response to my peers' ideas? Now let's have a look at some ideas from other pupils and have a think about whether they match with your ideas, whether they echo your ideas, or whether they are complete contrast.

So we've got Izzy who says "Pinnock uses Brod to develop our understanding of each character in the Matthews family.

Without him, we would have no access to Enid's past, a past which helps both Del and Viv know and accept who they are." And I really like this final sentence in particular of Izzy's, the idea that Del and Viv benefit from Brod's kind of delving into Enid's past.

And it's really important for them in terms of their identity.

So linking Brod's dramatic function to these two characters.

But Jacob says, "While Brod offers support to other characters, Pinnock uses him to develop our understanding of isolation.

Brod is presented as dependent on Enid and on alcohol, and bitter about his experiences in Britain.

He feels little sense of belonging, a feeling Pinnock shows as destructive." So Jacob has a completely different idea, rather than thinking about identity and Del and Viv, he's focused on the character of Brod and this idea of isolation.

So two students, two completely different interpretations of this character.

Now, after crafting their main idea, the student wrote a topic sentence in answer to this question, what is the function of the character of Brod? And they wrote, Pinnock uses Scene Two to present Brod as a character who (unlike Enid) voices political and social criticism of 1980s Britain.

So really nice use there of our key words for today's lesson.

Now I'd like you to discuss what evidence could they use to support this idea.

So this is gonna be their topic sentence.

They obviously need evidence in order to develop it into a main body paragraph.

Think about the play.

What evidence could they use to support this idea? Pause the video and discuss this question now.

Lovely discussions there.

And again, people always returning back to their play, looking through their play thinking I'm gonna look here, that is going to support me getting the most precise, accurate, interesting, rich, deep answer.

So everyone focused on the Scene Two, of course, because that's what the student topic sentence is focused on.

Pinnock uses Scene Two to present Brod as a character who (unlike Enid) voices political and social criticism of 1980s Britain.

So here are some ideas that I heard.

So Brod is hurt and angry at being called an alien by the Home Office and this is obviously a really important quotation from the play, so good to see people relying on it.

Brod feels the letter was heavy handed and wrong, given that he's lived in England for over 30 years and has always been proudly patriotic.

He exposes the poverty in Jamaica as a result of British colonialism and exploitation.

I hope people are returning to their table in order to get that accurate quotation, to really understand that Brod is criticising Britain, British colonialism and its legacy on Jamaica.

And through the anecdote about the racist attack on Gullyman, reveals a Britain where black people face racial discrimination.

So, again, relying on those ideas from Learning Cycle One in order to support this topic sentence from Learning Cycle Two.

And finally, all of this is in contrast to Enid who doesn't criticise England.

And I heard lots of people think about this idea of contrast, which is really nice to explore a dramatic method within your main body paragraph.

So all of these ideas would definitely support this student's topic sentence that Pinnock uses Scene Two to present Brod as a character who (unlike Enid) voices political and social criticism of 1980s Britain.

Well done for selecting really precise evidence and evidence that you could explore in this main body paragraph.

Now I'd like a check for understanding, just so that we've got a really secure sense of what a powerful idea can be in answer to the question what is the function of the character of Brod? So we've got A, B, and C.

I'd like you to read through each of those ideas and think what is the most powerful idea in answer to the question what is the function of the character of Brod? Pause the video, read through those ideas, and select your response now.

Well done for reading through those ideas really carefully and thinking what would be a powerful idea to start and answer this question.

And well done if you selected C, Brod's function is often to expose what the character of Enid wants to hide, her past.

So a clear topic sentence, nice and succinct, but has got a really, really powerful idea in there.

The idea that his function is to expose Enid's past.

So B, we wouldn't focus on B for a powerful idea to start our essay because the focus on that quotation, that would come later on in the essay in the main body paragraph.

Now you've crafted your own powerful idea in response to this question what is the function of the character of Brod? We discussed it earlier in this learning cycle and we compared your ideas to the ideas of Izzy and Jacob.

Now I'd like you to add to this argument with a developed paragraph that has a topic sentence and evidence from the text.

And you can use the student's topic sentence if you wish, which, as a reminder, was Pinnock uses Scene Two to present Brod as a character who (unlike Enid) voices political and social criticism of 1980s Britain.

So you can use this topic sentence if you wish but if you want to come up with your own, then of course do that.

So you're gonna pause the video now and you are going to add to your original argument about the dramatic function of Brod with a developed paragraph that has a topic sentence and evidence from the text.

Pause the video and complete this task now.

Really beautiful to see people writing so perceptively and thoughtfully about the character of Brod, using the ideas from throughout this lesson in order to craft a really, really developed paragraph.

Now, before we celebrate your writing, I'd like you to self-assess your work using the following questions to guide you.

Do you have a powerful idea to start your writing? Does your topic sentence clearly explain what the paragraph will be about? And does each paragraph include evidence from the text to support your topic sentence? So pause the video and read through your paragraph, editing is such an important part of the writing process and I'd like you to use these questions to guide your editing and reflection.

Pause the video now.

Amazing to see people editing, reading through their work, and reflecting on its strengths and where they could make it even stronger.

Doing that with such energy, with such drive, with such precision.

So, in summary, a dramatic function is the purpose of the character, how they help the playwright develop ideas they want to explore.

Pinnock could have cut the character of Brod but chose not to.

Brod offers insight into Enid's past and Brod voices political and social criticisms. It's been such a pleasure to explore the character of Brod with you, and I look forward to seeing you next time.