'Of all those that betray Waters, McBrain is the one the audience despises the most.'
Rachel Scott
‘Of all those that betray Waters, McBrain is the one the audience despises the most.’
How Far do you agree with this claim?
McBrain’s act is the fourth to commence. By this time in the play, the audience has built up a stable view of McBrain’s character, a fair, funny, decent man. McBrain’s act however, totally contradicts this view of him that we as the audience have built up in our minds.
When McBrain comes onto the stage in the club, Griffiths tells us, through stage directions, that McBrain is ‘sweating freely’. This shows us that he is nervous, which we could interpret to mean that he was not so much nervous about performing, more about betraying his wife and Waters. McBrain begins his act with a lyric that is insulting to women, as it suggests that women are mere objects that are to be owned by men. Within the next five sentences in his act he has insulted, ‘Women, blacks, Jews and the Irish’ which seems odd to us as he himself is Irish, and we know that he does not have a problem with Jewish people as Samuels, one of the comedians, is Jewish and McBrain has never, until now, said one word against Samuels’ faith. McBrain’s act goes on to concentrate mainly on insulting his own wife. He makes many jokes about his wife being a slut, he even says to the audience in the club, “But see my wife, God she’s a slut though.” After McBrain has finished his act, Griffiths once again uses the stage directions to show us how McBrain is truly feeling. We are told that McBrain is ‘sweating, a bit concerned’ this shows us that if McBrain is still sweating even after he’s finished his act that he was not nervous about performing, which supports my view that he was in fact nervous about the betrayal. When Griffiths says that McBrain is concerned, I believe that he would be concerned more about what Waters will be thinking and feeling rather than whether he has impressed Challenor or not. Griffiths also tells us that McBrain is ‘stiff with tension and not looking in Waters’ direction’ This shows us as the audience that McBrain is ashamed of what he has done as he cannot look Waters in the eye. The last thing that Griffiths tells us is that, ‘McBrain breaks, disappears.’ The use of the word ‘disappears’ is significant as it portrays more of a shocking image, it is a stronger image than if Griffiths had just said, ‘McBrain leaves’.
