ADOLESCENT PROBLEMS AND PARENTAL WORRIES IN APRIL DE ANGELIS’ JUMPY

Year 2021, Volume: 9 Issue: 29, 258 - 269, 20.12.2021

Ajda Baştan

https://doi.org/10.33692/avrasyad.1037423

Abstract

April De Angelis has been one of the most significant female playwrights in the
contemporary British Theatre since the last years of the 20th century. Continuing writing plays in
the 21st century, De Angelis deals with the topics of adolescent problems and parental worries
in her comedy play Jumpy which was performed in 2011. The title of the play derives from a
monkey toy which symbolises childhood. Jumpy focuses on a middle class family dealing with
the disobedience of a teenage daughter and her conflict with her mother who is going through
her own dilemma. Therefore, De Angelis’ play primarily deals with two contrasting characters’
relationships between mother Hilary and her adolescent daughter Tilly. According to Tilly, her
mother's advice is ridiculous, her rules are strict, and her prohibitions are meaningless. De
Angelis emphasizes that the anger and problems in adolescents are a temporary process, and
families should be aware about this situation. The play reflects various psychological emotions
of adolescents and the difficult experiences of parents. In De Angelis’ Jumpy parents are
warned of the risks which adolescents may go through. The playwright explains the devastating
problems that adolescence might experience by tackling unprotected sexual contact, drugs,
entering terrorist groups, cell phone addiction, and social media. Nevertheless, the topic that De
Angelis emphasizes in Jumpy particularly is adolescent pregnancy. By making use of the
contradictions of the female characters and disclosing multiple disputes, Jumpy opens the door
to new inquiries. Therefore, the play represents the positive and negative characteristics of the
21st century’s human beings in social life.

Keywords

April De Angelis, Adolescent Problems, Family, Parental Worries

References

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• Billington, Michael, 2011, “Jumpy-Review”, The Guardian, Pub.20 Oct 2011.
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