It was then later developed by Mrs Lyons by her saying
“Come on or the bogey man will get you”.
This makes the theme of superstition more effective because the script makes more than one reference to it. Also this themes back up the theme of innocence with
the children because Edward believed it and so this also helped the
theme develop. Another big theme in the play was class. This was
clearly shown from the start because of Mrs Johnstone working for Mrs
Lyons. When Edward and Mickey first meet, the simple fact that they do not realise that they’re twins, especially when they find out that their birthdays are on the
same day, shows that their physical appearances must have been changed
quite a lot by their parents and environment.
Mickey: “When’s your birthday?”
Eddie: “December 12th”.
Mickey: “So is mine.”
It does not give any specific images of any of their appearances but
you would expect Eddie to have a side parting, clean face and may be
chubbier than Mickey due to a better diet and he would have been more
knowledgeable about hygiene. Mickey would probably be quite a grubby
boy and perhaps not as tall as Eddie but he will probably be stronger
than Eddie because of the amount of time spent outside playing. Eddie
would probably have watched the TV or played on a computer because it
was available to him.
Their language, accent and ability to use language contrasts greatly.
Mickey appears to have a posh accent, or just a lot more posh than
Mickey’s. When they first meet the language differences are
highlighted.
Mickey: …..”because I’m pissed off”.
Eddie (awed) “Pissed off! You say smashing things, don’t you?”
Mickey says things like pissed off and he later says ‘the F word’. He
doesn’t know what they mean but has probably heard them being said
around the house or estate by older people who he wants to be like.
Eddie obviously hasn’t heard words like this before as he was brought
up in a well-spoken family and environment and compared to Mickey has
had very little taste of the outside world. He also says words like
smashing which you would never hear Mickey say. He’d probably say
something like great or any much simpler word and when he’s older he
would probably swear somewhere in the sentence. Their accent
obviously isn’t heard but it is extremely likely that Mickey has a
broad Scouse accent whereas Eddie probably has a normal slightly posh
accent.
Mickey is a lot less educated than Eddie is. This has much to do with
the wealth of their parents and the time that they have for their
child. Mickey is the last of 8 children in total, so he will have had
a lot less time with his mum in a single parent family. “With seven
hungry mouths to feed and one more nearly due.” Eddie looks up words
that he doesn’t know in a dictionary. Just after Mickey tells him the
F word he says “Fantastic. When I get home I shall look that up in
the dictionary”. Mickey responds with “In the what?” This highlights
the difference in intelligence between them. Eddie knows what a
dictionary is and also how to use it and Mickey doesn’t know either.
Eddie is also very polite to most people, especially Mickey’s mum, and
doesn’t tend to do as many bad things as Mickey. For example Mickey
talked about how he dealt with policemen and Eddie appears to have
never spoken to one, or at least respects them and the law a lot
more.
Later on in their lives, Eddie achieves a lot more financially that
Mickey does. This is almost purely due to do with his family because
he takes over the job from his dad. Mickey later finds out that the
job that he has at the moment is only his because Eddie got it for
him, otherwise he would probably be unemployed. However, Mickey is
married and has lot more friends that Eddie. For example when they
are talking in the factory:
Eddie: …..”What’s wrong?”
Mickey: “Look it’s …… its the other lads …. They’re looking”.
Here, Mickey doesn’t want to be seen with Eddie because he’s the boss
and his friends don’t like him talking to him.
Generally, Willie Russell puts over his views about the nature/nurture
debate very clearly. Mickey has a poor upbringing and becomes poor
whereas Eddie has a good upbringing and becomes very successful.
Then when the boys grew up and were seven, it was shown by the
clothes they were wearing and the way in which they spoke.
Then once they were old and at secondary school it was shown by the
fact that Edward was going to a private school and Mickey to a local
state school. Once they were much older it was shown by the fact that
that Edward went to university and became a local councillor and
Mickey went to work in a factory and eventually went to prison. This
was in my opinion the main theme of the play and so is why it was so
well developed and there were so many references to it.
The interventionist’s narrator role was to tell the story of the play
and to add thought into the audience’s mind and to really make them
think about what is happening. He is trying to play the two mothers
off against each other and try to make the audience decide between
them. His job is also to add things to the play, for example add
props, costumes or to speak about the characters. He appears to be
watching the whole story, that’s why he is always seen on stage
somewhere looking onto the performance and making decision about the
characters and their actions. He is a very effective dramatic tool to
make the performance really hard hitting and to make the audience look
further into the performance than what they would otherwise.
Dramatic effects that were used in the play were things like Action
Before Narration. This was used at the start of the play, it had to
the two bodies on stage covered over. This was very effective because
it showed that the play would end in tragedy, however it did not give
too much away about the story. Other techniques used were soliloquy’s,
which were used in the form of the songs, and symbolism. Symbolism was
used in several ways, physical and spiritual. An example of spiritual
symbolism is the fact that Mrs Johnstone always referrers to Marilyn
Monroe as her idol. An example of physical symbolism is the locket that
Mrs Johnstone gives to Edward as he moves away with a picture of him
as a baby but she tells Edward that it is her and Mickey and he does
not know that it is actually him. This backs up the theme of innocence
and is also an example of dramatic irony.
The songs in the play acted as a way in which the character could
express their true feelings. They could, in the song say what they
thought, felt and wanted without other characters knowing. They added
another layer to the performance without making it a musical. The
songs enhanced the production because they made it much more
interesting as opposed to normal soliloquy which does not involve
singing and music.
Based on the performance at Cathkin High School in 2002
The lighting in the play was very effective. For example the lighting
at the beginning of the play (action before narration) was effective,
the red patches on the wire curtain with the while light shining
through the curtain. This I felt was very effective and showed that
something tragic was happening. Other lighting effect were when
spotlights were used for when the interventionist narrator was
speaking. The stage lights dimmed and a bright white spot light was
used on the narrator.
From the performance I have seen the set was also very interesting.
There were to distinct area of the stage, the upper class house was on stage
left and the lower classhouse was on stage right. This was very useful and helps in the
understanding, so that it did not get too confusing. Another good
point was the way in which the set was as if it was the street and so
you can see the doors of the street and so the director used this to
his advantage and it was a very effective way to show the divide as he
showed the interior of the upper class house which was a great
contrast. I felt it was also good that the interior of the upper class
house moved on and off the stage when needed.
The costumes emphasised the social contrasts well between Mickey and
Edward. At the beginning of the play Mickey is wearing a jumper too
big for him with holes in it that is probably a hand me down. He is
also wearing baggy long shorts that have a hole at the crotch. Willy
Russell’s intentions are to show the audience that Mickey is from a
poorer class who cannot afford to have nice new clothes like Edward
who is from the richer middle class. At the beginning Edward is
wearing clean shoes, long socks pulled up to his knee. His jumper is
well fitted and neat. When they get older Edward wears a university
fashion scarf to show that he has had a high education. However Mickey
wears a parker jacket that looks thin which shows that he needs
warmth.
In my opinion I think that Willy Russell’s main intention was by the end of the play was to show the difference in social class. That no matter how similar you
are, if you are brought up in separate classes you can be worlds
apart. I also think that Willy Russell is trying to get a moral across
that brothers and family are always meant to be together. That if they
are separated they will always find each other because how close they
are in blood relation and that they are never meant to be separated.
