The opening scene leads us straight into the dramatic device of monologue, when the character Shirley speaks directly to an inanimate object or directly to the audience/camera. Through this we see that Shirley doesn’t need to be with anyone else to carry a conversation (she can do it quite happily by herself), but also gives a sense of isolation, and not quite being accepted by the people around her. The relationship she has with the wall, and the way she speaks to the wall shows her as being lonely and that she has nobody better to talk to, she just doesn’t have anyone to talk to. The wall is the only object she feels comfortable talking to because the wall won’t answer back, interrupt or start being rude. Also the wall can’t judge her, which is what she wants to be able to do, talk without being judged. The purpose of this monologue is to allow the audience to share Shirley’s perceptions, her thoughts and feelings. This enables the audience to empathise with Shirley, and this has a lasting effect on the audience, as it allows us to see her life through her thoughts. Automatically, the audience begins to rely on Shirley to provide insights. She, therefore, through monologue creates a sympathetic relationship with the audience.
The relationship is further developed through the use of flashbacks. A Flashback is a dramatic device that allows us to see in to the past of the characters life. Shirley has a flashback of an incident with the headmistress at her school, in this incident a the Head Mistress of a school is carrying out a ‘public pop quiz’ in the school hall, a young Shirley Valentine knows the answer and raises her hand with excitement shouting as if the world was about to end
“Me Miss, I know miss, miss, miss me miss”. Shirley says in the monologue “My hand was up because for once I knew the answer, but head mistress she took one look at me and said, ‘oh put your hand down Shirley, you won't know the answer.’” This incident increases the audiences’ sympathy for Shirley because we can feel as if we were there or as we were in her place.
Through this flashback, we begin to understand the pattern of Shirley’s life. In play, movies and alike we want the ‘Goodies’ to win this is a strong pattern in human nature which in the play is there to, we want Shirley to have a better chance for herself, a fair chance.
A voice over is another dramatic device, which allows the audience to understand a characters perception of a scene or event, while the scene is actually is taking place. It is when a character thinks in there head and if that was put into words, like when you are thinking something in your head, saying it in your mind. For example: when (young) Shirley bumps into Marjorie and says, (thinking it)
“Well Marjorie, you’ve waited a long time for your revenge but you’ve got me good style now, haven’t ya’? Well go on, spare me the torture, just put the knife in quick an’ lets get it over with; come on tell me all about you bein’ an air hostess on Concorde.” She’s thinking it but doesn’t say it out loud, the effect of Shirley using this voice over is, that the audience shares her opinion of Marjorie they expect her to be this horrible, stuck up person, this gives us an idea of someone even if they haven’t said a anything and/or if another character has not even interacted with them. Willy Russell has used voice-overs to allow the audience to hear Shirley's true thoughts and not what she says because we don’t always say what we mean, we can only know what a character is thinking (truthfully) if the use of voiceovers and alike are used. In this way we are invited into Shirley's mind and to dive deep into the very essence of her and delve into her minds eye. When we (the audience) see this technique being used it is as if were us being addressed personally it makes her thinking for personal and more of a conversation which us, almost a narrative because Shirley is explaining to us the person, but a narrator is an invisible third-person, however Shirley is a real character. The main reason for this technique is to create the effect of companionship.
Shirley waits for what she ‘believes’ Marjorie Majors is like to brag about she ‘great’ life, but instead the stereotype that Shirley had in her mind collapses. Instead Marjorie invites Shirley into her hotel room and she opens up to Shirley and tells her she didn’t get a good high class job, she became a high class escort, and tells Shirley that she envied her. This makes the audience think people can change and turn into totally different people, but Shirley on the other hand has been the same ‘Shirley Valentine’, but just grown-up even Marjorie notices this. Shirley saw how Marjorie’s dream to have failed and to everyone’s surprise Marjorie turns out to be a ‘hooker’ which is another example of collapsed stereotyping and to add humour to a rather reflective, sentimental moment, almost to break the ice/silence.
After this we meet a character called Gillian. She is a stereotypical, middle class woman who lives in a nice house has, 2.4 children, has nice clothes etc. She is very up with the trends and believes to have a lavish lifestyle and is not at all shy in showing that off. She tries very hard to keep up with trends, she is a vegan and her whole family have turned vegan even the Bloodhound Dog! Shirley replies to this with the humorous comment "Oh. I thought you were still Church of England". This would amuse the audience, and this highlights the class divide between the rich and the working class, as does the fact that Gillian only feeds her dog (the bloodhound) muesli. The name ‘Bloodhound’ just is screaming to Shirley that this dog cannot be fed muesli and is unhappy and mal-nourished. Shirley finds this incomprehensible and feeds the dog her beef steak that she got for Joe's tea. This incident leads to the play's main confrontation. This is when Joe (Shirley’s husband) gets in back home from work, to find ‘egg and chips’ on the table, he is outraged because it is a Thursday and on Thursdays he is supposed to have ‘Steak and chips’. Joe raises his voice and says "Egg and chips?” he shouts “I ‘m not eatin’ this, It's a Thursday, not a Tuesday… I want ‘Steak and chips’". Shirley later tells Joe that she fed the steak to the dog and explains etc. Joe feels that she has given his only satisfaction of a day when returns home to a dog.
This highlights the need for routine in working men’s lives, they get up, go to work, come back home and carry out the same daily routine. If something wasn't the way they thought it should be, they could be totally bedazzled and if you didn’t know about it you would definitely find out (talking from a housewife’s perspective). Another dramatic device is then used which is ‘humour’. Shirley says how she's going to Greece. Joe is again extremely sceptical and replies with her ‘out of the blue’ statement with "Greece? Wha'd'ya want to go there for? You have all you need here." This highlights how little Joe knows about Shirley in general and Shirley's life. He thinks that Shirley is content with ‘just being a housewife’ when really she has ambitions and dreams just like anybody else, he on the other hand thinks she is looking forward to a new cooker hood. This highlights the sexism, chauvinism and how little known by most English men in the play.
Confrontation can be seen in a ‘character in itself’, in the play. In the play Shirley confronts herself and those around her, this shows how she has changed from the begging of the story of the play and how she wants to change and it willing to if she is given the chance. Another collapsed stereotype occurs before Shirley confronts herself, Gillian knocks at the door and comes into Shirley’s house following Shirley shouting out the window her daughter. Gillian and gives her a silk dressing gown, telling Shirley she admires her for how ‘brave’ she is, Shirley looks in the mirror and confronts herself about who she really, the real ‘Shirley Valentine’ and she sees what time has made her become, then she sees the real her, the young Shirley in the mirror, this could be seen as a flashback but the scene did not change which is clever use of a dramatic device by Russell. She questions herself and comes to the conclusion that she will travel to Greece with her feminist friend Jane for a well needed holiday.
When she leaves for Greece it is like she is leaving the world and/or turning her back on the world. All she leaves Joe is a note, saying goodbye and that her mother will come round to fix the dinners or he can have microwave food. This symbolizes the divide between her and Joe, in terms of housework in how they have different sections, Shirley is the housewife, and Joe is the ‘hunter-gatherer’ who brings in the money. The fact that Joe and Shirley were once deeply in love and are now distance and growing further away allows the audience to sympathise for her.
On the plane Jane, the feminist I might add meets a handsome man and goes off with him as soon as they hit Greece, which sees yet another example of collapsed stereotype. Shirley gets judged, for being a woman by her self on holiday because in the 1980’s in was thought in-proper for a woman to be by herself. Shirley was judged by people on holiday aswell and confronts them with an addition of humour.
A major issue at the time was racism people had xenophobia, which is a fear of those who are of a different race or culture. They didn’t like change and expected people to change for them. Shirley on the other hand goes to Greece to experience and gain insights into cultures which were new to her, which other British people on holiday there would find rather unusual because the only reason they would go there was for: sun, sea and sand. Shirley confronts a British woman in a Greek restaurant (on holiday) where the woman is complaining and ‘taking the mik’ out of the Greeks. Shirley enlightens a group of British tourist who have a lack of Greek knowledge to say the least. Russell here makes it known to the public (in Greece) that Shirley Valentine is not scared of anyone and is proud to stand up for herself and what she believes in, this is also showing the audience what you can become. ^^^Changed^^
With all the dramatic devices in play leading the audience into sympathising and empathising with Shirley as if she were our selves. Russell tries to persuade the audience to join Shirley’s adventures and trying to get themselves something they are passionate about and happy about, just like Shirley did when she found happiness in Greece. When she made the decision to not go back to England and in Greece, she was doing a ‘Shirley Valentine’ kind of thing and not a ‘Shirley Bradshaw’ the women we had come to know and she can come to hate. It is like we and Shirley are saying goodbye to ‘Shirley Bradshaw’, the boring deadbeat of a housewife who spends her days looking after her husband. We are just getting to know that lost girl called ‘Shirley Valentine’ who is the strong hearted, free spirited and mainly fun person she thought was “alright”.
If the play didn’t have such dramatic devices as ‘flashbacks’ and the story was shown in the order of time then we would not understand the whole legend that has come to be ‘Shirley Valentine’. We would have missed the main turning points and not feel as empathetic or sympathetic for Shirley’s cause. We (the audience) may not even like Shirley or may even feel ‘against’ her. In my opinion the main reason the play was written in the way it was, was to show the harsh reality of the decade (time), Russell allowed us to see the truth of Shirley’s experiences without us prejudicing and/or discriminating her etc. The play showed how other people can be so judgemental to people who to be accepted as who they are for example: Shirley wanted to be Shirley Valentine and had to rediscover herself by going to Greece where she was ‘reborn’ as Shirley Valentine. Most characters in the play all have the same desire to be accepted and do all they can to be so, they change there personality to suit others and society, and so are not true to themselves. Shirley decided for herself, that if the people she cared about the most didn’t accept her for who she was and/or didn’t want to know who she ‘really’ was, she didn’t want to know them.
Shirley breaks free from all types of prejudice and becomes her true self Shirley Valentine, this gives the audience hope that maybe they can do the same, the play is very hopeful for people in terms of seeing a ‘average’ person actually be happy without the restraints of modern day life.
In conclusion to the title ‘Describe, Examine and analyse how Willy Russell uses Dramatic devices to highlight themes and issues in the play “Shirley Valentine”’. I believe that the use of dramatic devices highlights themes and issues in the play very well, using old and new devices to make the audience see everything through the person of Shirley Valentine; he is able to make them ‘be’ her when they watch the play. It is not a story about Shirley Valentine more than in my opinion stepping into the shoes of Shirley Valentine and to see what she has put up with in a decade of change, revolution and turmoil and how she survived it. Willy Russell is able to show the audience how stereotypes can form and how they can collapsed and how the audience should no to approach anything with prejudices and discriminative attitudes as the people did towards ‘Shirley Valentine’ in the play.
Bibliography
All contextual information was taken from the following:
http://www.d.kth.se/~d97-ask/blood/Willy/willyinfo.htm
Some other contextual information was also taken from:
English Theatre (virtual city)
