Barbara has a crush on their teacher, Mr Shaw
“…’I derived great pleasure from reading this essay. Eighteen out of twenty.’ ‘Barbara, would you read yours out loud?’ ‘I wish some of you would take a leaf out of Barbara Proctor’s book.’ ”
When Bernadette imitates Mr Shaw to Barbara and they talk about him, this shows their immaturity, which shows, again, how much they are like typical teenagers and the audience can understand this. The two girls also try to pick fault with the teacher, Miss Arthur, who Mr Shaw is to marry
“ Bernadette She’s got a nice face…
Barbara Up to a point. Hellish legs, you must admit.”
This is to make Barbara feel better about herself, as she is ‘in love’ with Mr Shaw. This is very typical of teenage girls, to reassure each other.
With ten different acting areas, the audience could easily confused and, without Lochhead’s lighting directions, various props and how the characters return to ‘their’ space, they would.
B., who is the first character onstage, takes to the middle of the stage with her one, main prop, a box, and remains there for the rest of the play, even when she isn't the focus of the audience’s attention.
“B. drags a big dusty old cardboard box across centre-stage…”
When it is time for the audience to look at B., they know it’s her because of the box. This is the same with other characters
“…are ironing in unison, and the dads sit on armchairs behind newspapers.”
“Barbara drops her boring magazine, grabs Bernadette’s and peruses.”
This established prop for each character makes it clear in the audiences mind, resulting in the play being easier to. The audience know it is the place to look because of the lighting, which comes up on B. when it’s her turn and goes down when her part is finished. This is the same for other characters to, in the various scenes spread over the stage.
Lochhead has used the characters well, especially the chorus which is used for many different functions.
The chorus, part of ancient Greek theatre, has been modernised by Lochhead to fit in her play. In ancient Greece, the chorus were a group of elders of the town who commented on what was happening within the play; the actions of the characters.
In Cuba, Lochhead uses the chorus in more then just this way, though.
When we first see the chorus, they make up a tableau – the picture that B. holds up – of a school photograph.
“The Chorus in the form of that school photograph of a grammar school form of fourteen/fifteen-year-old pupils…”
This is a good way of showing what it was like, what the photo is, as the audience wouldn’t be able to see the real thing.
While they’re in this form, they recite by rote a poem from Palgrave’s Golden Treasury.
Although the Tableau doesn’t disappear, we still hear from the Chorus. They are used as the voice of many different things.
“Chorus Suitable fabrics: seersucker, glazed cotton. Misses Petite Capri pants or toreadors…”
Here, the voice of the instructions.
“Chorus You’ve got your whole future in front of you so see you watch your handbag and stick in at the school.”
The Chorus repeat the family’s homilies.
“Chorus To whiten grubby elbows, rub with a cut lemon, daily.”
In this part, the Chorus become the voice of the magazine
“Chorus Your fortune in the cards
A Queen for a lady, A King for a gentleman
The suit according to his colouring – Hearts if very fair…”
The fortune-telling book is read by the voice of the Chorus.
“Chorus …The purpose of these bases can be none other than to provide a nuclear strike capability against the west…”
The radio is the sound of the Chorus’s voice
“Chorus
Hobgoblin nor foul fiend
Can daunt his spirit;
He knows he at the end
Shall life inherit.”
Here, the Chorus read out a prayer in assembly. There are also more places where the Chorus take part in the play. All the above quotes are proof that the Chorus has been modernised by Lochhead to fit the play. However, she manages to use the people that make up the Chorus as characters, too.
“…all the girls in the Chorus become a classroom seated in pairs, Barbara and Bernadette in the middle.”
This shows how Lochhead is creative with her characters, using them for more than just one function, making the play more interesting and creating a variety of sound textures to the play.
The imagination of Liz Lochhead causes the play to have a broad spectrum of linguistic techniques. The main reason for this is because Lochhead is a poet, therefore it’s natural for the language within the play to be poetic and ever changing. She is very interested in what effects the language has on the audience and how it functions.
“And in Nagasaki a man saw a burning horse in the heart of the city and its foal ran by it side and there was no skin or flesh on it, just bare sinews and muscles, and its eyes peeled and its mouth screaming.”
The highly charged emotional speech of Barbara creates tension. It’s a very serious moment. The repeated use of ‘and’ in this section gives the dialogue a fast paced and hysterical impression. This has a rhythm, which isn't the same in the rest of the play.
“Mrs Proctor What are you supposed to be making anyway?
Mrs Griggs What colour is it supposed to be going to turn out?
Barbara Toreador pants
Bernadette Golden sequins
Mrs Proctor Jim, did you hear that!
Mrs Griggs What your dad will say I don’t know!”
The alternation of conversations between the two families is very different from Barbara’s speech concerning the horse. It adds texture to the play, as does the characters speaking in unison.
“Mrs Proctor and Mrs Griggs Darling it isn't the end of the world!
Barbara and Bernadette Don’t say that!
This makes the play more interesting for the audience, to hear text presented in a way that isn’t everyday conversation.
But it isn't just the text that’s different. Language on a whole is different.
“Miss Arthur Exactly. A blockade is a naval siege. Such as President Kennedy is currently conducting on Cuba. But he didn’t actually use the word ‘blockade’ in his speech…”
In the three separate classes, jargon is used, appropriate to the subject. In this one, Modern Studies, there are words such as ‘blockade’ and ‘navel siege’ used. Not only does this lesson give a variety of language, but it also informs the audience. Teenagers, who might not know too much about the Cuban Missile Crisis, can gain more of an understanding of the situation at hand.
The language sets an atmosphere.
“Barbara John Wayne favours fish dishes”
The same kind of atmosphere is set in the conversations between Barbara and Bernadette.
“Bernadette She’s got a nice face…
Barbara Up to a point. Hellish legs, you must admit
Bernadette I mean, I like her.
Barbara I like her. I did like her till she got her hooks in Mr Shaw
Bernadette She’s a good teacher.
Barbara He’s a brilliant teacher.
As this is in a gossipy style, the audience feels relaxed which is quite unlike the atmosphere set during the radio announcement scene.
“Chorus – a quarantine on all ships carrying weapons to Cuba”
Here, the mood is serious. It makes the audience wonder how the characters will react to the new news.
The family’s homilies create a rhythm for the audience
“Dr Proctor and Mr Griggs Cut according to your cloth –
Dr and Mrs Proctor/Mr and Mrs Griggs A stitch in time saves nine.
Dr and Mrs Proctor Many a mickle makes a muckle
Mr and Mrs Griggs Watch your handbag”
This, again, just makes the play more interesting for the audience to watch and listen to.
The difference these techniques make to the play is immense. Instead of a play with ordinary dialogue, Lochhead has stepped out to break new ground, entertaining her audience with a variety of rhythms and types of language.
Time within the play jumps a lot. We start off with B. with her box on the stage, and then it seems we go back in time to see what B. is talking about. We get retrospective flashbacks.
There are three main storylines, which go on throughout the play. The story of Barbara’s crush on Mr Shaw and the Cuban Missile Crisis entwine them selves around the main storyline, Barbara and Bernadette’s friendship. This is the first thing in the play to be established and is also the last to be mentioned, the other stories weave in and out of them. However, when we near the end of the play, all three storylines come together to create a wonderful, dramatic climax.
Barbara and Bernadette’s friendship is tested when they get into trouble and, when Barbara doesn’t own up to what she’s done, Bernadette takes the blame, getting expelled. Their friendship breaks.
When Mr Shaw tells the headmaster about what the two girls have done, Barbara’s liking for him becomes less. Her crush on him also breaks.
The tension of the Cuban Missile Crisis has been building up. All the characters onstage would have been thinking ‘Is the world going to end?’ But when Khrushchev gives in, the tension breaks.
All three storylines all have a moment when tension is caused. In Barbara’s highly emotional speech about the horse in Nagasaki, she is in Mr Shaw’s class and part of her reason for crying is because Mr Shaw is going to marry Miss Arthur. When the naval quarantine is announced on the radio by the Chorus, the tension is very high. This, unlike the other two stories’ build up of tension, is early on in the play, where as the others are nearer the end. For Barbara and Bernadette’s friendship, the build up is at the end when they’re waiting for the conclusion of the graffiti.
This play, full of variety of text and rhythms is difficult not to admire. The information it gives adds to the wonderful poetic writing Lochhead has given us. Because it was written so well, the audience bonds with the characters. They want certain things to happen to them and they get an understanding of how the characters are feeling during the performance. The play doesn’t lack in keeping the audience entertained, mainly because of Lochhead’s many language techniques and the use of characters. Lochhead has broken new ground purposely to entertain us.
