Keatley uses the structure to create suspense by withholding information. When Margaret takes baby Rosie away from Jackie, we have to wait three scenes before we see how that element of the plot develops. By mixing the time periods up, the audience can see how Jackie and Rosie behave together both before and after Rosie’s birth mother is revealed. The structure also creates irony. We see all three mothers doubting whether they want to have children:
Doris What makes you think I wanted children?
Jackie, although reluctantly, gives Rosie away, and rejects the role of a mother. Margaret also had no intention of having children.
Margaret I’m not going to have a family, babies and all that.
It is therefore ironic that as Rosie is growing up, she has three mother figures. Jackie is her real mother, and Margaret raised Rosie as her own. Doris the takes on the role at the end of the play when she is living with Rosie after both Margaret and Jackie have lost her. The final scene also shows irony. Margaret and Jackie are standing upstage; each dressed how they were when they lost Rosie, while Rosie has just completed the game of solitaire. Doris is also standing, ecstatic at the prospect of getting married, and her life truly beginning. Doris and Rosie are at the start of their lives, yet we know the reality of Doris’s future. We see Jackie and Margaret nearer the end, having lost what they both strived for. Doris’s joyful monologue has the effect of being ironic, yet still creating a more upbeat end to the play, amongst the nostalgia of the other characters.
Keatley uses monologues at several points in the play, most poignantly in the last scene. By ending the play with a monologue, and in particular one that is so positive, it links back to the start of the play, and emphasises the concept of generations repeating behaviour. We see the same optimism in other characters that we see in Doris at this point “I’m so happy, SO HAPPY!” The ending also creates dramatic irony, in that we see the aims and ambitions one character had, knowing that she will never fulfill them.
Unlike Ibsen’s A Doll’s House, Keatley’s claims to not use naturalistic language in My Mother Said I Never Should. Despite the use of informal, contemporary language including slang, “fucking brill!” the majority of the dialogue is littered with subtext, and each line is carefully chosen to convey certain themes.
Rosie She needs…
Margaret What does she need?
This piece of dialogue shows Margaret’s resentment for Jackie; when performing the scene, I’d imagine her saying it particularly bitterly. The interruption followed by the question suggests she is impatient, and is taking her anger out on Jackie. Rosie however, does not pick up on this point, and answers the actual question, creating dramatic tension.
Keatley clearly shows a contrast between each character’s style of language, as well as the same character at different ages. Because the play is not in chronological order, it is possible to compare the language characters use at different ages. In the final scene of the play, we see an enthusiastic and optimistic Doris “This is the beginning of my life!” However, in Act one, scene 2, set some years later, she is almost the complete opposite. When attempting to get a young Margaret into bed, she avoids certain conversation topics, and is very impersonal:
Margaret Do you…..do you?
Doris I’m saying goodnight now.
This contrast of language and behaviour emphasises the unrealistic expectations Doris had of married life, and she even admits this later on “You expected too much. So did I”.
Margaret’s language changes significantly throughout the play, linking to the idea of genetic inheritance of personality traits. As a child she is inquisitive and imaginative “Does Hitler fly over out house?”, and at age twenty is convinced she can break social barriers and not conform to the idea of becoming a house-wife. However, Margaret loses this passion as she ages. She assumes some of the bitterness of her mother; becoming far more negative “Why did you have to try! All by yourself? Didn’t you believe me?” In practical performances, I portrayed Margaret as a child with much more enthusiasm and optimism using varied vocal tones, with few hesitations. She seems, at a younger age, far more impulsive. However, once she has children, and especially after Ken leaves her, I used more uncertainty in her tone. It also became considerably firmer, and more on one level. In some scenes, such as in Act 3 scene 2, I used an exaggerated positive tone, whereas my facial expressions were more negative. I used this contradiction to suggest that Margaret is perhaps not as successful in masking her emotions as some of the other characters.
Jackie What did she say?
Margaret Oh – nothing much.
Keatley also uses language to emphasise the difference between the generations, by contrasting the names they have for their mothers. In the opening scene, the children use the words “mam” and “mummy”. In the following scene, we see Jackie ask why Margaret calls Doris “mother”. This reinforces the idea that each woman views their relationship with their mother differently. The generation differences in language are also apparent in 1940, when Doris corrects Margaret on her grammar.
Margaret Can’t we?
Doris Mayn’t we
However, in 1987, Rosie shouts “fucking brill!” and Doris hardly flinches. This shows how attitudes vastly changed over the eighty years in which the play was set.
My Mother Said I Never Should sees characters having to adjust to the new language created by new generations, as well as others trying to mimic more sophisticated language to impress past generations. When Rosie enters Margaret’s office, she uses longer sentences, and even shows off her new Italian vocabulary. The child scenes also show imitation,
Margaret Whose mummy?
Doris Yes, whose mam?
In 1987, when Doris and Rosie are talking, Doris mentions that she buys her “smalls” from Top Shop. This is a clash of language from two generations: the term “smalls” is from Doris’ childhood, yet Top Shop is from Rosie’s. This use of a brand name typical of a specific time period also aids the audience’s understanding of when each scene is set. This technique is also used when the radio is on in 1971 playing “Honky Tonk Women” and with the use of the brand “Austin Healey” instead of “car”.
Margaret and Doris both dramatically change their language from in Act one scene one where Doris corrects Margaret, to where they can finally speak comfortably “Your Father…stopped ‘wanting’ me, many years ago.” They both give up on sophisticated language, and are much more personal. Keatley uses pauses and broken sentences to emphasise this more emotive language “…I wanted to – to be desired (pause)” Although Margaret speaks honestly here, throughout the play she has to hide the real identity of Rosie’s mother. She always refers to Rosie and Jackie in the same breath so as to not give anything away “Jackie and Rosie don’t even like cocoa”. This could however, through over-use, mean that Margaret actually convinces herself that Rosie is hers, and finds it even harder to let go of her.
Other characters have the same difficulty when talking to Rosie, especially Jackie. She is forced to talk to her as a sister rather than as a daughter, and ends up with a combination of both “Well you shouldn’t! NEVER, ever -”. This leads to Rosie being confused about their relationship; she seems to either hate or idolise Jackie. At age 8, she claims she hates her, yet at age 15, she wants to move in with her. Doris is the only character who manages to talk to her at the same level; when they speak, the age gap is not apparent.
Doris They work too hard.
Rosie You shouldn’t wind them up.
At some point in the play, every character does speak truthfully, and reveal their genuine emotions. Some manage it in dialogue, such as Rosie and Doris “My outside’s the same as my inside. That’s why when I talk Mum thinks I’m being rude”, yet others are only honest in their monologues. In Act one scene nine, Margaret is concealing the birth of Rosie from Doris, who is one the phone. When performing this scene, I played Margaret, and tried to emphasise her dishonesty by using contrasting facial expressions from the language. I wanted to make it seem I was thinking of excuses during the pauses in the conversation. The first three generations suppress their anger and resentment through use of sarcasm and clichés, while Rosie refuses to play their games, and questions them,
Doris Well, Rosie will need bed linen
Rosie What for?
Doris You never know.
Rosie I’ve got a duvet.
Margaret Rosie.
Rosie I have!
