Hello there, my name is Mr. Barnsley.

Thank you for joining me today as I'm gonna guide you through today's learning.

Today's lesson, we're taking a deeper dive into Winsome Pinnock's "Leave Taking".

You are gonna need to make sure you have got a copy of the text at hand.

And today, we're gonna be looking at temporal ellipsis.

You might not be sure what that means, but I promise you by the end of the lesson, you'll feel really confident about discussing it.

All right, I think it's time for us to get started.

Let's go.

Right, let's have a look at today's outcome then, shall we? By the end of the lesson, you will be able to evaluate how Winsome Pinnock's use of off-stage events contributes to the play's drama.

So there are five keywords we're gonna be looking out for.

The main one is temporal ellipsis, and this is the deliberate omission.

And omission is our second keyword there.

And omission means the act of leaving out or excluding something.

So, the deliberate omission of certain events in a narrative which allows us to focus on the aftermath rather the events themselves.

Now, aftermath is another one of our keywords.

You can see that at the bottom of the screen.

And an aftermath is the results that follow a significant event, often one that is destructive or disruptive.

Two of the keywords to look out for are nuanced, and this is where something has subtle or slight differences that add complexity and depth to something.

And if something is profound, it has a deep meaning or significance.

So keep an eye out for those.

See if you can use them in your own discussions and work today.

So, there are two learning cycles in today's lesson.

We're gonna be thinking about temporal ellipsis in drama as a whole, and then in the second half of the lesson, we will focus on how temporal ellipsis is used in "Leave Taking".

So, let's start by thinking about temporal ellipsis, what it is.

So, it's a key device used in drama by playwrights.

And here is the Latin etymology here.

So looking at this, temporal, relating to time, ellipsis, to leave out, what do you think this phrase might mean when we apply it to a play? Why don't you pause your video, have a think about this? If you've got a partner, you can think with them.

Otherwise, you can just think through this independently.

All right, pause the video, have a think, and press play when you've got some ideas.

Welcome back.

So well done if you had remembered some of that definition from our keywords.

It's the omission of certain events or actions in the timeline of a play.

So key moments are skipped over on stage and the audience is left to infer what happened during that missing time.

So Andeep, one of our eight pupils, says, "Well, I understand what it is, I understand what temporal ellipsis is, but why would a writer choose to deliberately have some events take place off-stage rather than just show them to the audience directly?" A good question and something that some of you might be thinking as well, but what would your response to Andeep be? Why might it be useful for playwrights to sometimes use temporal ellipsis to sometimes have some of their events to happen off-stage? What do you think? Why don't you pause the video to think through this question? If you've got a partner, you can think with them.

Otherwise, you can just think through this independently.

Over to you.

Welcome back.

Let's have a look at some of the things that you might have been saying then.

So, you might have said that temporal ellipsis builds tension because it allows certain events to occur off-stage.

And that leaves us as an audience to imagine or speculate about what might have been happening.

They can also be used to enhance dramatic irony, allowing us to know or infer more than some of the characters on stage.

But in many plays, temporal ellipsis actually creates focus on the aftermath, the consequences to the events rather than the events themselves.

So it directs our attention to often emotional or psychological consequences of events.

And so you've got to think about actually what is a playwright saying about what is more important for us as an audience to be seeing the event itself or the consequences of that event.

Really interesting ideas, and well done if you said something similar.

So, let's take a look at some examples of temporal ellipsis in classic works of drama.

So we'll start by thinking about "Macbeth", one of Shakespeare's most famous plays, and this centres, the play, if you have not seen it or read it, centres around the plot of a character called Macbeth and his wife, Lady Macbeth, to kill the king, King Duncan, and take his throne.

So, quite a major event there, the killing of the king, but this actually happens, this murder happens off-stage.

Why might Shakespeare have done that? Why might he chosen not to murder the the king on the stage? What dramatic purpose does it serve? Why don't you pause and think about this? And obviously, if you know the play of "Macbeth", you'll be able to go into a bit more detail here, but otherwise, you can just think about like just on the surface, why might you choose to have that murder take place off-stage.

All right, pause the video, have a think with partners or by yourself, and press play when you're ready to continue.

Welcome back.

Here's an answer you can see on the screen.

How does it compare to yours? By keeping the murder off-stage, Shakespeare lets the audience imagine the horror, which makes it more disturbing.

I think that's a really kind of interesting point there.

Like obviously, there's only so much you can do on stage.

There's only so graphic or gory you might wish to be on the stage, whereas leaving it to the audience's imagination then, well, that murder can be as disturbing and horrific as each individual audience member chooses to make it.

It also, though, put much more focus on Macbeth's guilt.

So, if you know the play, you know Macbeth's guilt and the breakdown he has in the aftermath is really important to the plot, possibly much more important than the murder itself.

So, the focus here, rather than being on the violent act of murder, is much more on the emotional impact that this has particularly on Macbeth and Lady Macbeth.

Now, you might have studied "Romeo and Juliet", another one of Shakespeare's plays, and this centres around the marriage of two young teenagers, Romeo and Juliet, but they're from rival families.

They shouldn't be in love, but they are, okay? The marriage, though, itself is not shown on the stage.

So again, let's think about why might Shakespeare not have shown the marriage on the stage.

What dramatic purpose might that serve? Again, if you know the play of "Romeo and Juliet", you can probably talk about this in more detail, but if not, just think about why might you choose not to have the wedding, the marriage clearly a really important event between these two young people from rival families.

Why might you not have that on stage? Pause the video, have a think in pairs or by yourself and press play when you are ready to continue.

Again, why don't you compare your thoughts to what you can see on the screen now? In "Romeo and Juliet", the marriage happens off-stage to let the audience focus on the consequences rather than the ceremony itself.

So, by skipping the wedding, Shakespeare highlights the urgency and secrecy of their relationship, okay? So there's two levels here, like yes, we're focusing on the consequences, but kind of a bit of deeper analysis here, it reflects the secrecy of what this relationship has to be, even we, the audience, don't get to see it.

So it completely continues to increase this tension because we know that this is such a secretive wedding between these two people from rival families that even we weren't allowed to see it as an audience.

Some really nice ideas there, and well done if you said something similar.

Okay, let's do a very quick check to see how we are understanding everything we've discussed so far.

So, which of the examples below can be considered a temporal ellipsis? Is it A, a character returns on stage and discusses the funeral they just attended? Is it B, two characters reveal their secret plan in a private conversation, deciding to go ahead with it? Or is it C, a soliloquy details a character's inner turmoil, with them insinuating revenge is likely? A, B, or C.

Pause a video, have a think, and press play when you're ready to find out the answer.

Well done if you said A.

The key event there, the funeral, is happening off-stage, but what we, as the audience, are gonna focus on is the aftermath, the consequence of that funeral, particularly we imagine for this character who has returned.

Right, onto our first task then.

We're gonna continue to think about the role that temporal ellipsis can have in drama.

So, what I want you to do is think about an example from a play or a dramatic work that you've looked at.

It could be a film.

It could be even a book that you've read.

I want you to try and think of an example of temporal ellipsis where a key event kind of occurs out of the view of the audience.

So obviously, this is much easier to do with a play or a film, but in a book, you could think of something where it, you know, the event isn't written about if you're struggling to think of a play or a film or a television show.

Okay, so I want you to, with your partner, tell them about an example you can think of in some drama of your own and then I want you to explain how that impacted things like the pacing, the tension of the story, the audience engagement.

What impact did it have on the story that a key event wasn't witnessed by the audience? All right, over to you.

If you've got a partner, I think this is a fantastic opportunity to share some ideas with each other, but don't worry if you're working by yourself.

You can just think through an example or maybe even two examples of your own.

All right, pause the video, give this a go, and press play when you're ready to continue.

All right, welcome back.

I'm sure you were finding loads of great ideas of different dramas that use temporal ellipsis.

You might think, "I've never heard of this before, but now I can think of so many times that I've seen it happen in shows that I've watched, in plays that I've watched," and now you're like, "Now I know what it is and why it's being done." All right, before we move on to the second part of today's lesson, why don't we just take a moment to reflect on the discussions that we just had.

So I want you to just ask yourself these two questions about the discussions you've had.

Did you manage to provide an example of temporal ellipsis and did you manage to identify the impact of the temporal ellipsis on dramatic tension, pacing, and audience engagement? Take a moment to reflect, pause the video, and then press play when you're ready to continue.

All right, welcome back.

Before we move on, then, in the example of temporal ellipsis you have given, how would it be different if the event was shown on stage? Let's push that thinking further.

Let's push that thinking a bit further.

What would've been different if we had seen the event, okay? How would that have changed things? Pause the video, have a think, and press play when you're ready to continue.

All right, welcome back.

We've done some great thinking so far about temporal ellipsis in general.

Now we're gonna think about what it looks like in Winsome Pinnock's "Leave Taking".

So here are some examples of really important events that happen in "Leave Taking".

What I want you to do is remind yourself which of these happen off-stage.

So we've got Mooma's death, we've got Enid slapping Del during an argument, we've got Brod being thrown out of Enid's flat after they've had an argument, we have Viv walking out on one of her English exams, we have Mai giving Enid an Obeah reading, and we have Enid and Viv cleaning the flat ahead of the pastor's visit.

Look at these.

Can you remember which of these happen off-stage? Pause the video, have a think, and press play when you think you know.

Welcome back.

Well done if you remembered that Mooma's death, Brod being thrown out of Enid's flat, and Viv walking out of her exams were all things that happened off-stage so they could all be considered temporal ellipses.

Let's have a think then.

Why do you think Pinnock decided to have these specific events take place off-stage? So, let's bring in some of the learning that we were discussing in the first part of the lesson.

See if you can now apply this to "Leave Taking".

Pause the video.

If you've got a partner, you can discuss with them.

Otherwise, you can think through this independently.

All right, over to you.

Welcome back.

Now, I'm sure many of you have been saying these off-stage events like Mooma's death, like Viv walking out of the exams, these are used to really drive the on-stage action.

So, whilst they're not directly shown, they really have a profound, a really powerful influence over the character's decisions and emotions.

And actually, what Pinnock is drawing our attention to is the key characters' responses to these events.

And you know, particularly, we know these two events are very kind of impactful on Enid, you know, her mother dying and her daughter, who she was so proud of doing well academically, choosing not to sit her exams. So by omitting, by leaving out these events, Pinnock is allowing us to focus on the aftermath, okay? And really think about the emotional state of the characters rather than just the events themselves.

We're focusing on kind of emotion rather than action here.

And that's, I think, arguably what makes this such a powerful play because emotions are so easy for us as audience members to resonate with.

So when we are thinking about temporal ellipsis or any other different dramatic technique Pinnock's used, but, of course, in today's lesson, we're focusing on temporal ellipsis, we really need to kind of help frame our analysis by thinking about kind of the surface level like why is this being done and kind of the deeper analysis of, you know, what else might this be telling us? So let's just remind ourselves difference between kind of surface level and deeper analysis.

So, in a surface-level understanding of anything, we show that we understand the text and we have a point of view, we have an opinion on it, whereas a deeper analysis will also have a really nuanced understanding.

We'll start to kind of understand different elements and we might see that, you know, look at different viewpoints.

And our viewpoint of something might be a little bit more critical.

It's not just that we kind of think, oh, this character is presented in this way, but we can be quite critical of, you know, maybe how that character is used to explore messages about.

With a surface-level understanding, we have our clear argument, and we stick to it, but with deeper analysis, we use an evaluative or critical thesis, so our overarching argument is quite evaluative or critical, and then we hang all of our arguments off that.

Our surface-level arguments will show that we understand the plot, we understand the characters, and we understand what the writer is trying to tell us whereas for deeper analysis, we want to have a really razor-sharp focus on what that writer's central message might be.

And we're always thinking how the plot and the characters support the central message from the writer, in this case, Pinnock.

And for surface-level understanding, your ideas show an understanding for the conventional interpretations of the text.

You know, you're looking at kind of how most people, you know, you understand the text in the way that most people would, whereas for deeper analysis, you start to bring your own or alternative interpretations to the text and use those to enhance your argument.

So both of these things, you know, and across an analysis, you will see some surface level, but we always want to use that surface level to dig deeper and that's what we're gonna be doing today as we think about temporal ellipsis in "Leave Taking".

So, let's take a look at an example then.

So, let's think about that moment when Viv walks out of her exams. What impact do you think this temporal ellipsis has? Why don't you pause the video, have a think with your partner or by yourself.

Press play when you're ready to continue.

Welcome back.

So, a surface-level response to this might be that Viv's exit from the exam, it isn't depicted directly.

By omitting this moment, Pinnock leaves the audience to infer Viv's emotional and mental state as she steps out.

She might feel relief, disappointment, or frustration.

So it's, you know, it's saying we don't see it because then it allows a little bit of kind of open to interpretation about what Viv might have been thinking in that moment because there are many different things.

And that's like surface level.

Why might we leave it on? Because it gives the audience more things to think about.

I'm not gonna ever say anything that general.

It's not on stage, so the audience can make up their own mind.

I want to be specific here about the play, so I want to be specific about Viv here, but it's still a relatively general comment, okay? It, you know, it focuses on what's absent.

It tells us what's absent, but it doesn't really deeply analyse why it's been omitted.

So, further surface-level analysis might look like this.

By having Viv walk out of her exams, Pinnock emphasises the struggle of children in migrant families who are torn between their individual aspirations and their family sacrifices.

So again, this is relatively surface-level understanding.

It relies on our typical interpretations, okay? We know, you know, kind of, we feel quite confident that this is about, you know, one element of this text is about the expectations that Enid, as a first generation immigrants, puts on her daughters because she wants them to have the best life possible.

So, the expectations put on second-generation immigrants by first-generation immigrants, that's, you know, we know that's an important central idea to this text and that uses that central idea to say Viv walking out tells us, you know, tells us to or makes us think about the impact of this kind of high expectations.

But again, it's not really exploring here any unique insights and it's not really critiquing what Pinnock might be offering.

It's good.

It's good.

Nothing wrong with this, but we can make it better by going deeper.

So, let's have a look at what deeper analysis might look like.

In leaving Viv's emotional exit unseen, Pinnock compels the audience to consider the power dynamics at play.

Viv is shaped by forces that don't care to see her fully as she is, only as she performs. This absence echoes her own sense of invisibility in a system that only acknowledges her outcomes and performance rather than her own identity.

Love this.

Okay? It links this idea of something happening off-screen or off-stage, sorry, so we don't see it.

It says, well, this is symbolic of how Viv doesn't feel seen in the education system.

Her identity isn't valued in the way that her performance and her outcomes in exams are.

Really clever.

We don't see this.

This represents something else that feels unseen.

Much deeper analysis there.

Can you see that? Can you see how that works? Let's have a look at another example.

This temporal ellipsis could be interpreted as Pinnock's way of calling out the broader system's indifference towards Viv's emotional journey.

The audience, who were denied access to this moment, mirrors how society often fails to witness the personal sacrifices of young people under immense expectations.

Again, this mirroring of we don't see this, this could represent something else that society fails to see.

And again, this summarises what we've just said there, how, you know, this thing that we, as an audience, don't see represents Viv's struggles that go unnoticed.

Okay, temporal ellipsis in drama often focuses on what of key events rather than showing the events themselves? Is it A, the beginning, B, the aftermath, C, the resolution, or D, the buildup? A, B, C, or D, what do you think? Pause video, have a think.

Press play when you're ready to continue.

Yeah, well done if you said that was B.

Great job.

All right, onto our final task then into today's lesson.

Mooma's death is another key example or key event, sorry, in the play that happens off-stage as a temporal ellipsis.

Discuss the following for me.

What is the surface-level impact of this event? Things to consider: how the temporal ellipsis affects Enid and her daughters, how this a mission might shape audience understanding of Enid and Mooma's relationship.

And two, what is the deeper impact of this event? Things for you to consider: how this temporal ellipsis reflects larger themes of cultural disconnection, migration, unresolved family dynamics so deeper link it to wider themes, how Pinnock's choice might comment on the emotional costs of migration and cultural separation.

All right, so we think what does it mean at the surface and then dig deeper.

Pause the video.

Over to you, give it a go, and press play when you're ready to continue.

Okay, welcome back.

Let's have a look at some of the things that you might have said.

Of course, these are not the only answers.

You might have had other things as well.

These are just some model examples.

So you might have talked about how Pinnock's decision to leave Mooma's death off-stage shows how Enid is left to process this loss quietly.

She doesn't have closure.

You could also, by omitting Mooma's death, Pinnock makes the audience feel the distance, the disconnect between Enid and her mother, okay? So this is surface level.

It highlights Enid's reaction but doesn't really explore the more complex emotional underpinnings or the symbolic meaning of loss.

We could also say this is surface-level as it notes kind of the audience impact without analysing how that ellipsis reflects kind of broader themes of family estrangement and disconnection.

For deeper analysis, we might have said Pinnock's choice to exclude Mooma's death from the stage critiques the hidden emotional toll migration takes, particularly on women like Enid who must leave their past and loved ones behind them without resolution.

We could have said the off-stage death represents the deep cultural rift between Jamaica and London, showing how Enid's migration came at the cost of an unhealed, unspoken separation from her mother, okay? Deeply critical.

It evaluates the ellipsis as a commentary on migrations' invisible costs.

Wow, what a really interesting thing to be saying.

It, you know, it also is deeper analysis 'cause it's connecting Mooma's death to Enid's emotional isolation.

It examines how migration shapes her identity and her estranged family ties.

Well done if you said anything similar that you can see on the screen.

These are some great, great ideas.

Okay, that is it.

We have reached the end of today's lesson and what a wonderful job you have done.

We've learned today that temporal ellipsis emphasises the aftermath of key events in drama and these off-stage events can influence character emotions and relationships significantly.

We've also thought about how sometimes, an audience may engage more deeply by imagining those missing moments rather than seeing them on stage.

And we've talked about how Pinnock uses ellipsis to enhance themes like grief or conflict, migration.

And we've also talked about how we can have both surface-level understanding, but it really is that deeper analysis that's gonna make for really, really impressive arguments.

All right, great job today.

I'm so glad you joined me, and I hope to see you again in one of our lessons in the future.

Have a great day with the rest of your day, however you choose to spend it, and see you all soon.

Bye-bye.