ABSTRACT
The use of a narrator to describe aspects of the action was an ingredient of medieval drama. When examining the use of narration in the creation of drama, it is useful to consider its use both from within and from outside the action of the play. Judging by the literature of the time, narration tended to be used more widely in the educational drama of the 1970s because of the greater reliance on narrative progression and continuity. Narration in drama is generally recognised as fulfilling a number of functions. N. Morgan and J. Saxton also draw attention to a potential problem, ‘narration is a technique which must not be over-used or be so long that it becomes the teacher’s story and not the pupils’. The narration is rather part of the drama itself, setting the appropriate mood and atmosphere. The use of narration in R. Bolt’s play has an aesthetic as well as functional role.
