My favourite scene was when the children played Cowboys and Indians. The poorer children were wearing tattered, old clothes. Eddy was wearing a clean, posh school uniform looking outfit. This was effective as you could see the contrast between the two classes. They use an upbeat song to show the different characters in their game. Mickey, Linda and Eddy were Indians, they used imagination to make ‘pretend’ weapons, this is effective because it makes you believe more that the actors are children.
Another scene I liked was when the boys were living in the countryside and were both going to school. They were now 14 years old, you could see that the age of the boys has changed because of the way they dressed and their characterisation skills to show they had got older. There was one actor that played both teachers in Eddy’s school and Mickey’s school. It was effective because the teacher made the transition from one teacher to another on stage, he started of as the posh teacher and then changed to the more lower class school he took of his robe and ruffled his hair. It helped the audience to understand the differences between the classes.
I also thought the scene when Mickey and Linda were arguing over the medication Mickey was on was effective because the actors made a realistic, emotional argument. They managed to create real tears and this made the scene really life like. Their use of facial expression was effective because they looked upset and angry. The set was effective because the bedroom made the argument realistic, it allowed you to understand how a real argument would be structured.
The role of the narrator in my opinion was death because the narrator was in every scene watching over the characters, and seemed to get more involved when something bad was going to happen. He was never really there to the characters but plays a big role to the audience. The narrator was dressed in black to symbolise death, it relates back to a funeral. This is effective as if the narrator is ‘death’ he is a dark, mysterious character he uses costume to demonstrate this.
Sometimes the narrator interferes with what the characters do for example when the narrator hands Mrs Lyons the bible or when he takes a picture of Mickey, Linda and Eddie. This is effective because it shows the narrator knows what is going to happen and when so the audience understands clearly what is happening but he doesn’t stop it.
The narrator also sings the song ‘The Devils Got Your Number’ throughout the play this is effective because the narrator could symbolise the devil and bringer of bad so the song is sung when an act of evil is committed.
I really enjoyed the play because it kept me interested and in captivated throughout. I liked all of the key scenes including the beginning and end scene, when the two boys met and many more. If I had to pick a favourite scene it would be it would be when the children were playing cowboys and Indians. It was my favourite scene because it was a bubbly fun scene where the adult actors playing children successfully with amazing use of characterization skills. I also liked it as you could see the contrast from children to adults when they where playing with toy guns and then later on at the play Mickey kills himself and Eddie with real guns this was effective as it shows how the characters have grown and developed over the years.
In some scenes I felt empathy for the characters. In the scene where Mickey and Linda argue over Mickey’s medication I felt sorry for Linda as she was only trying to help Mickey but he still argued and upset her.
