Starter quiz
- What do we find out about Enid's upbringing in Jamaica in Scene Four of 'Leave Taking'?
- Her mother encouraged her to migrate
- She grew up in rural poverty ✓
- Her uncle raised her
- She was an obeah woman
- Brod sent her the money so she could migrate
-
- In her introduction to 'Leave Taking', Pinnock tells us about her parents. What do we find out about them?
- They were overwhelmed by the welcome they got in England when they migrated
- Her father encouraged her writing
- They grew up in poverty in Jamaica ✓
- They divorced when Pinnock was little ✓
- They had been educated to think of Britain as a wonderful place ✓
-
- In Scene Two of 'Leave Taking', whilst Brod criticises England, Enid maintains that "England been ______ to me".
- 'good' ✓
- In Scene Two of 'Leave Taking', Enid slaps Del during a fight. Enid justifies the slap saying, "People grow up in ______ think they can talk to you anyhow. Well, they can't."
- 'England' ✓
- In Scene Two of 'Leave Taking', Enid speaks of some of the sacrifices she has made for her children. She tells Del she works hard "so that you can dress like those children who have ______".
- 'fathers' ✓
- In Scene Eight of 'Leave Taking', Enid opens up to Del about some of her experiences in England saying, "You could work fifty years with people and they still don't know your name...You don't ______".
- 'exist' ✓
Exit quiz
- Pinnock drew on some of her mother's experiences in creating the character of Enid in 'Leave Taking'. What similarities can we see between them?
- both wanted to become writers
- both experienced divorce ✓
- both had two children
- both migrated to England from Jamaica ✓
- both grew up in poverty ✓
-
- What does Pinnock say audience members would say to her after the play's first performances of 'Leave Taking'?
- how much they related to the character of Mai
- that the play inspired them to write too
- that the intergenerational conflict was very relatable
- that it was a good decision to reduce the cast list to just five
- how much they related to the character of Enid ✓
-
- In what ways might someone consider 'Leave Taking' universal?
- It is about the Windrush scandal which is topical for a contemporary audience
- Enid is universally acknowledged to be based on Pinnock's mother
- Regardless of time period, audiences can connect to its themes and characters ✓
- Enid migrating to England is a universal experience
- Its characters and themes remain relevant ✓
-
- Artistic Director Madani Younis revived 'Leave Taking' in 2018. What reasons did he give for wanting to revive the play again?
- Younis wanted to be the first person to produce 'Leave Taking' on stage
- It is his favourite play
- He knew the theatre could afford it because Pinnock had reduced the cast list
- The play continues to be relevant despite being written in 1987 ✓
- He considers the play an important example of work by black British playwrights ✓
-
- In Scene Two of 'Leave Taking', Del accuses Enid of ignoring racial discrimination in England and simply "______ and scraping" to her "beloved England".
- 'bowing' ✓
- In her introduction to 'Leave Taking'. Pinnock describes her parents as growing up in "plantation villages where the legacy of enslavement was still evident in the wretched ______ they endured."
- 'poverty' ✓
Worksheet
Loading worksheet ...
Presentation
Loading presentation ...
Video
Lesson Details
Key learning points
- Enid’s experiences of oppression and marginalisation are somewhat based on Pinnock’s own mother’s experiences.
- Scene Two explores Del and Enid’s differing experiences of oppression and marginalisation.
- Intersectionality is a term coined by Kimberlé Crenshaw.
- It recognises that oppressions faced by different marginalised groups intersect and create specific experiences.
- The universal themes and characters in the play must be balanced by the specific experiences of Pinnock’s characters.
Common misconception
'Leave Taking' is either universal, or about specific experiences and characters.
Like with many texts, we must hold both the idea of Leave Taking's universal themes with the specific experiences of its characters.
Keywords
Intersectionality - a term describing how certain social categories (for example ethnicity, class, gender) can combine together to create unique combinations of disadvantage or advantage
Marginalise - when society treats a person or group of people as if they are unimportant, isolating and disempowering them
Oppression - unjust treatment, often of a group of people
Universal - when audiences, regardless of time period or circumstance, can relate to the ideas or characters in a text
+