Title: Dirty Linen

Subtitle: a play in one act

Author: Tom Stoppard

Date of publication: 6^th April 1976

Place of publication: London

Dramatis personae:

Maddie: she is the new clerk of a Select Committee of Members of Parliament. She is known by Miss Gotobed.

Withenshaw: he is the chairman of Select Committee on Promiscuity in High Places. His name is Malcom Withenshaw.

Chamberlain: his name is Douglas and he is another member of the Committee.

Clocklebury: he is another member of the Committee.

Mcteazle: he is a member of the Committee too.

Mrs Ebury: she is a member of the Committee too, and her name is Deborah.

French: he is another member of this institution, and his name is Tony.

Plot:

A group of journalists are in a meeting room for House of Commons business in the tower of Big Ben. They are members of a Committee. They are in a meeting to report on moral standards in the House. The members and the new clerk, Maddie, sitting to report on rumours of sexual promiscuity by certain unspecified Members, which might tend to bring into disrepute the House of Commons an d possibly the Lords and one or two government departments including Social Security, Defence, Health…

Space, time and other aspects:

The play passes in an office where there are a meeting of Members of Parliament. As a consequence, is a close space.

The time of the play is the present. The play has a chronology order, without flashbacks.

The language is colloquial and formal. Although the play is written in English, some parts of it are written in French. The play has few pauses and silences.

I must to empathize that at the beginning of the play, it gives a description of the room in which members are.

Personal opinion:

I think that it is an easy play to read, since it is a short play. And it use an easy vocabulary. In general Tom Stoppard plays are short and are easy to understand. In my opinion Dirty Linen is a good play and I think that it is interesting and entertaining, for this reason I recommended it.