The Social, Cultural, Historical and Political context of
The Women of Lockerbie

The Women of Lockerbie is a play written by Deborah Brevoort; set in town of Lockerbie sometime after the bombing of Pan Am 103, a New Jersey couple visit there to search for the remains of their son who was killed in the attack. They find a group of women there who are protesting against the American government to obtain the clothes of their departed ones, but the government plans to burn them.

The play focuses and is based around how people cope with devastating news and loss. This is clearly shown through the characters as is made more believable as it is based off a real event and set in a real place. This time period that the play is set in is shown to be a time of moving forward as well, as the characters are trying to move forward with their lives, but are being held back. The play handles and displays the government as being the antagonists. This is to emphasise when the play is set, as it is set in a time where people were scared and nervous. The way I would portray these emotions would be by speaking my monologue in a low pitch and tone, which gets across the feeling of sadness and depression which is what the overall context of then play is. It makes the characters seem very pessimistic.

The play contains a lot of chorus like sections. These are used to get the sombre feelings that the play brings up. It fits with the overall pace and themes of the play as it is about coping with depression and the death of loved ones, and these chorus sections are to remind the audience of a funeral.

To sum up, the overall context of the play is that it focuses around the depression, fear and sense of loss that was present in the time of the bombing. The characters all keep and talk very pessimistically and the use of chorus like acts that act as an interlude between main events keep with the pessimistic tone and allow the audience to take in what has happened so far.