The whole play is based on motherly love. Mrs Johnstone is the mother of Eddie and Mickey among lots more children as well. She had to give up Eddie. The only reason Mrs Johnstone gave up Eddie was because she could not afford to feed another mouth. The council would have taken some of Mrs Johnstone’s children and put them in care, so to prevent that from happening she had to give one of her sons away, Eddie. However, she never forgot her son. Alternatively Mrs Lyons looked after Eddie as if it was her own flesh and blood and never told him that he was adopted and never made him feel that way either.
“One was kept, and one given a way.” this is what is said. There was a good reason why Mrs. Johnstone did that, she received no joy in that, she got no pleasure out of it giving her son away either as an alternative she was given grief. The play made it clear to me that when Mrs. Johnstone gave Eddie the locket with her and Mickey photo in it, she hoped and wanted Eddie to remember them and wouldn’t ever forget them. This scene was quite an emotional scene as Mrs. Johnstone was saying goodbye to her son for the second time. It was hard letting go the first time but it illustrate to the audience it was harder the second time because her son knew that this “Lady” was his friend’s mum, not knowing that she was his mum too.
The play was directed using many techniques to demonstrating the director’s points. One of the best techniques he used in the play was the mini nightmare sequence and the narrator sang the song “the devils got your number” standing behind either Mrs. Lyons or Mrs. Johnstone. That created a tensed atmosphere and made the character feels regretful. It also conveyed to me, as a member of the audience that the narrator was the conscience of both of the mothers. However I felt that narrator was more of a devil figure in the play. Because he manly said negative thing and constantly created a pessimistic vibe. For example I saw both of these characteristics of the narrator come though in a part of a scene. This occurred when Mrs. Lyons refused Eddie to meet Mickey ever again. She looks at the narrator (conscience and devil) and pulled her eyes away, which denoted to me that see was either running away from her conscience or sees the devil within her and ignores the fact that she knows that she is doing something heartless.
The best part of the play was when Mickey and Eddie were 7 years old. I loved the way the actors played their characters. They made the character so believable. They also made the character believable by doing some of the things a 7 year old would do, For example, pretend that they are getting on a horse and riding on it and stretching their jumper to make it fit around his knees. It actually made me, the audience; feel that we are watching little 7 year olds playing. I never at any point in the play feel that “ this is an actor”. Their make up was also like a 7 years olds too; they were dirty with mud and dust on their faces. That’s how 7 year old boys look when they are playing.
I feel that, by having songs in the play are very effective, because it contributes to the effect the director is trying to make. I also feel that is there is a sad scene and there is sad music on in the background, it adds an effect that makes the audience cry or upset. And having dancing in it adds the finishing touches.
I also sense that lighting in a stage production is compulsory, I think this because when we do pieces of drama in our lessons and we use lighting, the drama looks much better than before because the lighting changes the whole mood of the story, for example when Mrs. Lyons sits on the floor and cries, red gels drop down on her, which makes us think that she is in the wrong. Also when the narrator (devil and conscience) comes and stands behind her the gels drop. That mainly happens in the mini nightmare sequence.
I reckon that the best costumes in the whole play were Mickey and Eddie’s costumes, because I feel that those costumes suited the character and his status. If you look at Mickey’s clothes you can see that his clothes are torn and have holes in them, from there you can see that the nor he or his mum can afford better clothes for him, on the other hand, Eddie is dressed in posh and expensive clothes to show that he is rich and can afford all these clothes.
I judge that the stage was set beautifully in the play, when I say this I imply, it had backdrops that changed at the interval to show that the have moved into a new house. It also changed when Mrs. Lyons comes to Mrs. Johnstone’s house to talk to her then a kitchen backdrop was dropped. On the stage there was always a lamppost in right-hand corner of the stage, which was a continuous prop. The actors acted around the lamppost styling it out.
As this has been the first time I have seen a professional drama performance, I submit to myself that, nearly all the actors in the play made their character incredibly believable, the three that stood out the most were, Mickey’s actor (Stephen Palfreman), Eddie’s actor (Mark Hutchinson) and Sammy’s actor (Daniel Taylor). All three of these actors preformed tremendously. And made their characters so believable that I didn’t think for one second that they were acting. For example when they were performing the song, kids play. The way they were running around was like they don’t have a worry in the world and that’s how 7 year olds are.
As I said before this is the first stage production I’ve ever seen, and from my experience I feel that this was a remarkable piece of drama. I feel this way because of the acting, the story, the technical side and the musical side too. I really don’t think that there is any room for improvement, because it is a marvellous the way it is.
