We also did a role-play which was very similar to hot sitting were Mrs Lyons went to see a therapist. This was similar to hot sitting because towards the end of the role-play Mrs Lyons began to be totally honest with the therapist and let the audience get inside her head. I learnt that my interpretation of Mrs Lyons’ character was not as cold hearted as I originally thought from the text. She did care for her Edward and felt a great deal of guilt at his death. However, she did place most of the guilt on Mickey and Mrs Johnston and had an attitude that they weren’t as good as her because of their class. This attitude is still present in today’s society and is similar to the attitude involved in racism.
An exercise we did at the very beginning of the workshop, which started to show the contrast of Mickey and Edward was a freeze frame of the last/opening scene. Mickey and Edward were both lying on the floor and the different characters, which belonged in the two different worlds, were standing on their own side. For instance, Linda was standing on Mickey’s side, and Mrs Lyons was on Edwards’s side. We decided to put Mrs Johnston in the middle of the two, as she felt she belonged in both of their worlds. I played Mickey, which I didn’t find too challenging because all I had to do was lie there lifelessly. However it did give me a real sense of the atmosphere that I would expect to find in a situation like that. This was important as it helped me understand just how great the tragedy was, and how important it was to the plot. This exercise also showed me how Mrs Johnston invokes sympathy from the audience, were as Mrs Lyons is given hardly any.
One of the important moments in the play, as far as Mrs Johnston is concerned is her “Marilyn Monroe” song were she earns her sympathy by telling the audience how unfortunate she’s been. We explored this scene, and therefore her characters past by creating a sequence of still images which revolved around the lyrics to her song. We also marked the moment by doing a role-play in time to the music. We decided that the most important part of her past was when her husband walked out on her, because it was then that she would start to financially struggle, and that struggle would continue for the rest of her life. I played the husband, and I feel I did this successfully. I tried to be over exaggerated with my body language and facial expressions, and represent the stereotypical bad husband/father.
These financial troubles were passed on to Mickey, which is how the play ended up as it did. Mickey would of never gone to jail and therefore, never been addicted to anti-depressants, if it wasn’t for his financial troubles. Throughout the workshop we got to know Mickey’s character, and I find it hard to believe that Mickey would of committed the robbery if he wasn’t in desperate need for the money. That’s why we explored Mickey’s options by using thought tracking. We improvised a role-play in pairs were Sammy, had to try and persuade Mickey to do the robbery. Then when Mickey was forced to make his mind up by Sammy, he spoke directly towards the audience and went through his options and his reasons for agreeing. This was useful because it helped everyone see how desperate Mickey was and showed why, even after he committed the crime, the audience still liked Mickey. The arguments for committing the crime were:
- Mickey needed the money
- Linda deserved better
- The people he was stealing from could afford it
- No one would get hurt
- It was near Christmas
- They wont get caught
The arguments against committing the robbery were:
- He might get caught
- It was wrong
- He didn’t trust Sammy enough to know that no one would get hurt
- Linda would be suspicious as to were the money came from
Another exercise which amplified the poor, rich divide in the play was a role play we did, again in pairs. A situation was put to us by our teacher were Mrs Lyons came to visit Mrs Johnston at her home before Mickey and Edward were born. The two ladies were still on good terms at this point so we tried to show Mrs Lyons being polite but embarrassed at being in Mrs Johnson’s house. Towards the end of the role-play we tried to convey a sense that she immediately wanted to get out of the house. We also decided that Mrs Johnston would probably be slightly embarrassed by the situation as well, and that we should make it clear that Mrs Johnson is please by Mrs Lyons sudden exit. To contrast this, we also improvised a role-play set in Mrs Lyons house. Mrs Johnston was cleaning when Mrs Lyons walks in. This immediately shows status, which was amplified by Mrs Johnston being on her knees cleaning, and Mrs Lyons immediately looking and finding faults in her work. However we decided to show Mrs Johnston’s strength of character by making her choose to ignore Mrs Lyons’ illustration of power, and not letting her be offended by it.
In conclusion, I think Willy Russel did a good job of illustrating the social issues and class issues which were present in that time. I think our explorative strategies helped us fully understand the text and help us understand how the themes of the play affected the characters’ lives. We see from the start of the play how Mickey was destined to be the unhappy one, and Edward seemed to have everything given to him. However both of the twins fate ended in the same way, this shows that while they did lead very different lives, they both died the same way, and had both their mothers to blame, hinting at the tragic inevitability which represents our lives, and the issues existing in our own societies.