Time And The Conways by J.B. Priestley

Time And The Conways Reviews

• 
  Jon

  The first play I've ever liked more when I read it than when I saw it performed. With two intermissions and without the freedom to read quickly over the boring charade game in the first act, it dragged on a bit too much.
  
  But the idea is intriguing. The first act is set in 1919, the second in 1939, and the third back in 1919--all in the same room. The play demonstrates how little careless actions in the present can have devastating consequences in the future. The third act is quite enjoyable because we have just seen where each of the characters will (or might?--the play is ambiguous here) end up, and we are therefore keyed in on lines that would otherwise seem trivial and mundane. If nothing else, the innovative structure and the comment the play makes about time makes it a worthwhile read.
• 
  Manuel Alfonseca

  ENGLISH: Together with
  An Inspector Calls, this is my favorite play by J.B. Priestley. This is the seventh time I have watched or read this play.
  The Linden Tree is also very nice, with a title quite difficult to translate into Spanish, as in English it has a double meaning.
  
  Priestley was somewhat obsessed by time, and tended to believe in a cyclic time, in the way of Hinduism. His plays where this can be best noticed are
  Dangerous Corner and
  I Have Been Here Before, both of which I didn't like. But in "Time & the Conways" this is scarcely noticed, while the story of the family destroyed by time, which we can see through Kay's eyes in the second act, is quite moving. Only Alan's words, speaking of the circle whose center is God, point at a cyclical view of time.
  
  ESPAÑOL: Junto con
  Llama un inspector, esta es mi obra favorita de J.B. Priestley. Esta es la séptima vez que veo o leo esta obra.
  El árbol de los Linden también está muy bien, con un título bastante difícil de traducir al español, ya que en inglés tiene doble sentido.
  
  Priestley estaba algo obsesionado con el tiempo y tendía a creer en un tiempo cíclico, a la manera del hinduismo. Sus obras de teatro en las que esto se nota más son
  Dangerous Corner y
  I Have Been Here Before, que no me gustaron. Pero en "Time & the Conways" esto apenas se nota, mientras que la historia de la familia destruida por el tiempo, que podemos ver a través de los ojos de Kay en el segundo acto, es conmovedora. La única alusión al tiempo cíclico son las palabras de Alan respecto al círculo cuyo centro es Dios.
  
• 
  Esdaile

  This play was broadcast starring Vanessa Redgrave by the BBC some 40 years ago. God, what a wonderful play it is! JB Priestly has presented two important truths about human psychology in this tale which are strikingly obvious, but which are singularly absent from nearly all literature. One is how words, dismissive comments thoughtlessly uttered or written can cause devastation, can cut and hurt beyond redemptioon, we cannot make them good again but we didn't mean them, at least not mean them to be so toxic, resentment which turns into hatred, destructive comments which can cause appalling damage. The other point is how easily persons can be influnced for the good by persons who are deeply good themselves (the writer tells us that Carol is "simply delightful":)) and how important those good persons are, important and I mean this very sincerely, not just to happines but the way the human species is going, to human survival itsself. The tragic death of one young girl, Carol, who is an angel (and JB Priestly succeeds brilliantly in representing in Carol a truly good person, an angel from God, with no oppressive piety no prigishness to her at all) who is sunshine and goodness and whose unfortuitous departure from life signifies disaster for the fortunes of her family, spiritual and material. I wish more people knew this play. I think in a way it "saved" me, I mean by saved that it turned me away from becoming a much worse kind of person than I in fact, hopefully, became. Because Carol dies the world is a worse place. I love Carol, a character in fiction, but she is so alive it is impossible to believe that she is really an invention at all. We should cherish the Carols of this world, for such persons do exist and they do not clamour for fame like our wretched polticians and preachers and profiteers of growth exploitation and destruction. They live within the confines of small circles of friends or quietly try to repair the damage that the boasters of terrorism and misery proclaim to the world in their arrogance and their nihilism. The Carols of the world are modest, withdrawn very often, not clamouring and they are too few. I ask myself why God's creation is such a vale of tears and dayly our wretched fallen species seems to make life worse for itsself and certainly for the non human species condemned (the only appropriate word now, condemned!!) to share its fortunes with the killer ape that is Homo sapiens -famine, torture and waste everywhere we look. One girl died too young in this play. Let those with their wits still about them read or better watch this play and learn what is there to be learned by anyone who also finds Carol "simply delightful".
• 
  Tom O'Brien

  The first act drags a little, the second is depressing and the third fractious and frustrating. Despite all that, and in many ways because if it, this is a strong play.
  
  Cleverly put together to give the reader/audience a poignant overview of the disintegration of family happiness through the ripples of society, their own hubris, stray comments, or words left unsaid. None of the characters are saints, though the younger daughter Carol could have been a catalyst for good, given the chance. None of them are monsters either; even if Ernest runs that title close he gives context for his behaviour at least.
  
  Socially prescient, politically committed and technically well put together, this sits well with the more compact An Inspector Calls in Priestley's work.
• 
  Stuart Aken

  This exploration of family unity, loyalty and dishonesty is structured through three acts to use time as a clever ingredient of viewing, and attempting to predict, the future.
  It depicts a typical upper middle-class family of the era, showing the inherent snobbery, their patchy understanding of the world they occupy, and how time and experience can fracture the internal relationships of a family. None of the characters is a monster, and none is a saint. Their levels of selfishness, self-satisfaction, ignorance, superficial charm, ambition and blindness reflect those of the society in which they exist.
  In many ways, this is a play of its time. So much that it says has become common knowledge in the intervening years, which demonstrates Priestley’s prescience and contemporary observation.
  It’s not a play I enjoyed, but I was engaged by the characters, as well-drawn as is usual with this playwright. A somewhat depressing play for me.
  
• 
  Becca

  I like how the didacticism (the "Christmas Carol" message of change your life before it's too late) is subdued by the ambiguity of the ending. I also enjoyed how the "rule" of chronological time was broken - also breaking away from the somber reality of the second act.
• 
  Maru

  I've read a few plays for college and I think this is the one I enjoyed the most so far. I liked how the author played with the concept of time, especially the future, and it kept me thinking, can we really change our future or it's already written?
• 
  Toti

  Very well-written but kind of depressing.
• 
  Matt Whitworth

  Kay laughs in affectionate amusement at his bachelor's horror.
  
  Madge enters. She is very different from the girl of Act I. She has short greyish hair, wears glasses, and is neatly but severely dressed. She speaks with a dry precision, but underneath her assured schoolmistress manner is a suggestion of the neurotic woman.
• 
  Ujjwala

  Good. This is the second play that I have read by J.B. Priestley and I enjoyed it.
  
  The Conways were an eclectic bunch. Responsible and calm Alan, kind-hearted Carol, intelligent Kay, idealistic and later cynical Madge, greedy and vain Hazel, and feckless and irresponsible Robin. And in the midst of all this -their Mother- the snobbish Mrs. Conway. I liked Alan, Carol, and Kay. I also liked Madge and even her cynical turn later in the life (it was largely due to her family, loss of a loved one, and the society). However, Hazel, Robin, and Mrs. Conway were not likable in either Act I, II, or III.
  
  I also liked the secondary characters - Gerard and Ernest. And I wish they got their happy ending. Joan - made her choice and got what she deserved. Although at the end, I held hope that she will stop pining after Robin and make a life for herself.
  
  This play also features part of the poem, "Auguries of Innocence by William Blake" which I found really lovely.
  
  It is right it should be so
  Man was made for Joy & Woe
  And when this we rightly know
  Thro the World we safely go
  Joy & Woe are woven fine
  A Clothing for the soul divine
  Under every grief & pine
  Runs a joy with silken twine
  
  The discussion regarding "time" in the play was a surprise because I thought the play was supposed to be about a family. However, I did enjoy reading about it especially the fact that time is not linear. It was interesting.
  
  Overall, I liked this play.
• 
  Vel Veeter

  This play is another of the time plays and the one that puts the concept into the best situation. There’s very little said about the theory and nothing too crazy happens. It just imagines the theory in practice.
  
  The Conways are an ebullient family, despite the recent death of their father, a man who suddenly drowned. It’s right near the end of WWI and they’re awaiting the oldest son’s return. It’s a get together and they’re playing the old family games, having the old family squabbles, and the old family dramas. Two figure not in the family are also there. One, a family friend who is clearly in love with one of the daughters, and another man, a friend from the war of the brother who returns this night, with the awful name of Ernest Beavers (and he deserves it).
  
  The second act is twenty years in the future. The family is not in the worst of situations, but several bad choices have led to disastrous personal lives and sad interactions. There’s a sense of loss at what might have been.
  
  In act three, the daughter Kay, whose birthday it had been in act one, has awoken and realized that act two was a dream. This leads her to press certain issues more that were unspoken in act one.
• 
  Doug

  The imminent Broadway revival of this - along with earlier enjoyable readings of Priestley's 'An Inspector Calls' and 'Dangerous Corner' - impelled me to pick this up. Although a serviceable and undoubtedly innovative drama for its time, I hate to say it, but now it just seems nothing more than a quaint curio - and can't for the life of me fathom why someone feels it Broadway worthy at this point in time. I thought perhaps the figure of Mrs. Conway (originated by Dame Sybil Thorndyke and to be embodied in the current production by Elizabeth McGovern) might provide one of those deliciously camp diva roles - but she is offstage more than on, and doesn't seem to do much with her stage time anyway. Much like Kaufman & Hart's 'Merrily We Roll Along' from 3 years earlier, its chief Raison d'être is to play around with chronological time and show how the innocent idealistic ideologies of our youth lead to the soured dashed dreams of middle age; while that is now an accepted universal truth, I suppose it was somewhat revolutionary back in 1937.
• 
  Daniel Alejandro

  Another book I had to read for my English class. This play consists of three acts, from which the second is the most enjoyable one, whilst the others (apart from the finale) are rather uninteresting and had too much filler for my taste. These two acts describe the time when The Conways used to be happy and their goals in life were still a dream for them.
  The conversation between Alan and Kay was, in my opinion, the peak of this play. There are plenty of deep thoughts there, when sadness prevails over joyful situations described in acts I and III, and that is also the part where we can appreciate the actual message that Priestley wants to tell us, which is how we face the test of time and how we are consumed by it. There is a good use of a non-linear time progression, and this twist is also the other strong point of the play.
  
  "Man was made for joy and woe; And when this we rightly know, Thro' the world we safely go."
• 
  Joshua

  J.B. Priestley is relatively new to me. I simply bought the book because it was a Penguin. Time and the Conways is knowledgeable when it comes to the use of time. To see the outcome and the seed to which everything falls apart. I wish this play was frequently stage than the overrated ones we watch today. I now have a great admiration for this author.
• 
  Laura

  From BBC Radio 4:
  Classic drama of 'joy and woe' cutting back and forth in time as it follows a Yorkshire family's fortunes.
• 
  Shannon

  I picked this up after it having been on my shelf for a whole two years, and it really couldn’t have turned up at a more suitable time; definitely written in the stars.
  
  In the situation we are in, it would be impossible not to immediately relate the events of the plot to our Covid pandemic.
  
  The Conway’s carefree nature after the war directly reflects the reactions of so many in relation to the relaxations of lockdown; Mrs Conway turns down the hefty offer for her house while half a million people flock at Bournemouth beach, neither giving a single rational thought to the devastating effects this would have in the future.
  
  It took me a while to interpret the point towards this play, as I am one who is easily swayed by happiness and hope in literature. I had originally fixated on ‘joy’ than ‘woe’, and on ‘safely through the world we go’. But after some reflection on the structure of the three acts, I now see that in fact, all hope can often be delusion. Life is not at all a dream; it is as real as reality may be, and while believing otherwise is best to maintain our sanity, the universe is ultimately tending towards chaos.
• 
  Bobbie Darbyshire

  Next up in our book group’s between-the-wars season is J B Priestley, so we chose a play for a change. Act 1 takes place in 1919 in a back sitting-room where the Conways are dressing up to perform charades at a 21st birthday party. Act 2 revisits the room for a fraught family conference on the same birthday in 1937. Act 3 returns to 1919 as the party winds up. Great writing: the ten characters came alive even on a solitary read-through. I look forward to the group read-through before we descend en masse on a local production by a reputedly good am-dram company. The time shifts are thought-provoking, and the message about how best to live and evaluate one’s life is telling but not overdone.
• 
  Jason Wilson

  Like the Inspectir, this is a play that explores time. Time is shown here as affecting and destroying us all, and simply moving us “ from one peep hole to the next “. There is little sense here though if the way time can also redeem.
  
  The drama starts in a family’s life earlier in the twentieth century , showing us their dreams and aspirations them thwart to show where they’ve gone, them back again to show the seeds of what went wrong. There are points made about the power of words and the gap left by the truly good , as well as contemporary political concerns such as strikes and social progress .
  
  A grim but engrossing drama .
• 
  Rehab Saad

  The play works on the level of a universal human tragedy and a powerful portrait of the history of Britain between the Wars. Priestley shows how through a process of complacency and class arrogance, Britain allowed itself to decline and collapse between 1919 and 1937, instead of realizing the availability of immense creative and humanistic potential accessible during the post-war (the Great War) generation. Priestley could clearly see the tide of history leading towards another major European conflict as he has his character Ernest comment in 1937 that they are coming to 'the next war'
• 
  nikivar

  This realistic piece tells us about the time. We make a trip in the future and back again. And it's really sad. The life of 40 years aged person is not the same as one he think about when he was a young men.
  What is the time? Is it kind? Is it cruel? Can we change our future? Do we have an free will or are some acts irreversible for human beings?
  This piece is very rich of sense. I think it must be read by young people.
• 
  Rosaleen Lynch

  Expecting the tight plotting of Priestly's An Inspector Calls and having recently read and not been enthralled by Tracy Letts family drama August: Osage County, I probably didn't give Time and the Conways family drama a fair go of it. A good reminder to me of the importance and unfairness of context.
• 
  T.J.

  ALAN: No, Time's only a kind of dream, Kay. If it wasn't, it would have to destroy everything – the whole universe – and then remake it again every tenth of a second. But Time doesn't destroy anything. It merely moves us on – in this life – from one peep-hole to the next.
• 
  Cheryl

  Aldiss says this is SF.
• 
  Shaz

  4.5
• 
  Megan

  Honestly, it was a really good play. It became more relatable as it went along and although it was slightly depressing, it was very much worth the read.
• 
  sarah

  everyone in this story is so unpleasant (except carol). like the worse more bitter version of little women with men who hate their women. still good though.