The scene I have chosen to analyse is the final scene, when everything comes to a dramatic end. The scene is quite episodic, as it begins with a discussion on the previous night’s events, then a description of a lady surfing, then a discussion of the surfboard, then Binks coming to cause mayhem, then a romantic ending. In this one scene the direction changes often, but works very well. Stephen Greenhorn grew up on TV, and American Films, that are also episodic, and that is where he gets a lot of his inspiration from. The beginning of the scene is very descriptive, giving the audience a visual image of the surroundings. It then changes as Alex, the main character describes the beautiful image of Mo, surfing the waves. The pace at this point is quite slow, and descriptive, without a lot of movement from the actors, but this changes when Mo runs onto the stage, and gets the audience ready for Binks’s entrance. When Binks comes on, seen by the audience, but not the rest of the characters, it increases the audience’s anxiety of what’s going to happen next. Binks’s scene is then very fast paced, dramatic, and extremely funny, although has serious undertones. The pace of the scene has slowly, changed throughout to this climactic ending. However Stephen Greenhorn cleverly brings the scene back to a slow and romantic conclusion. He leaves the audience with the image of love, and hope, again bringing back to the overall message of being happy with what you’ve got.
Alex has most of the dialogue in the final scene. He has put the thought of the psychotic Binks behind him, and seems to be enjoying Mo’s surfing, but this changes dramatically, when Binks appears behind him. His fear of being caught and eventually hurt badly by Binks is coming true, and his persona changes immediately. He has gone from being in awe of the surfing, to total fear. This is shown mainly by the stuttering line “What…..what’re you doing here?” which is how he welcomes Binks. When Binks leaves however, Alex reverts back to the carefree, spiritual person he became throughout his journey to Thurso. His final statement, “I’m just letting it happen”, leaves the audience in no doubt this person has grown on his Journey on the run from Binks. Binks himself has shown to this point to be quite mad, but he becomes very unstable, as the scene develops. He keeps talking to his imaginary brother Ronnie, and when he can’t hear him, he starts to stutter quite badly, “I….I…..What?.....I don’t know….I can’t….”. He then starts to cry, which is not the image he normally portrays, and visually works very well. He shoots the car, and runs off, which is the perfect ending to show his instability. Shaper remains calm throughout his dialogue with Binks, even though Binks continually points a gun at him. This is shown when he calmly asks Binks to “put down the gun”. Shaper is also shown as a spiritual character in this scene; he can remain calm, because he is confident within himself. Mirren shows her keenness for Alex, in the conclusion of the scene, when she asks “what now”. This shows she is interested in him, and her line “I’m going that way” confirms her desire to be with him. Brian, who initially came along for the ride, shows his development as a person when he agrees to take a job of “apprentice shaper”, therefore putting his old lifestyle behind him.
The language contributes to Binks arrival with the introduction of swearing for the first time in the scene. Prior to his arrival, no-one had sworn at all, but within a few seconds, Binks, Alex and Brian had all uttered at least one swear word. People that don’t normally swear, only begin to do this when there are emotionally unstable, and having a gun pointed at you is one way of having these emotions. It also confirms Shapers coolness towards the situation, as he never swore once.
Word Count 936
