Absurd Person Singular

by

Sir Alan Ayckbourn

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Musical Dancing Symbol Analysis

Musical Dancing Symbol Icon

The play concludes with a bizarre game, organized by Jane Hopcroft and Sidney Hopcroft. In this game, the characters must dance and then stop at the same time as the music. Players who continue dancing earn a forfeit—an object they must hold or wear, which makes further dancing harder. The Musical Dancing game is humiliating for its players, and yet they all participate, because they want to impress Sidney Hopcroft—the man who, in Act Three, seems to be making more money than anyone else. In all, the game symbolizes the sycophancy and “sucking up” in which all the characters engage at different times, in the hopes that they’ll be rewarded with some material gain.

Musical Dancing Quotes in Absurd Person Singular

The Absurd Person Singular quotes below all refer to the symbol of Musical Dancing. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
The Middle Class Theme Icon
).
Act Three Quotes

SIDNEY: That's it. Dance. Come on. Dance. Dance. Come on. Dance. Dance. Dance. Keep dancing. Dance . . .

Related Characters: Sidney Hopcroft (speaker)
Related Symbols: Musical Dancing
Page Number: 93
Explanation and Analysis:
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Musical Dancing Symbol Timeline in Absurd Person Singular

The timeline below shows where the symbol Musical Dancing appears in Absurd Person Singular. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Act Three
The Middle Class Theme Icon
Materialism Theme Icon
Fortune  Theme Icon
Sidney explains that they’ll be playing a game called Musical Dancing . The point of the game is to stop dancing at the exact moment when... (full context)
The Middle Class Theme Icon
Materialism Theme Icon
Fortune  Theme Icon
Gender Roles Theme Icon
...bizarre appendages.” Eventually, Sidney no longer stops the music at all: he just yells out, “Dance. Dance. Dance. Keep dancing. Dance …” And the curtain falls. (full context)