Other uses of lighting were also interesting, in the scene where the twins go to the cinema, the light flickering onto their faces made it look very real and the fun fair and bar signs that were flown in gave extra set effects to the night time town. Also lights were used to make the tableaux more effective, it darkened or shed blue lights to where the tableaux were going on while spotlighting the narrator. The tableaux were not the only time that the purples and blues were used, at scenes were Mrs. Lyons is going mad all the lighting reflects her melancholy, while scenes such as when Linda was flirting with Mickey or when they played in their childhood they used warm colours to reflect the weather.
The sets portrayed the lives of two very different classes in Liverpool, the stage right was the poor area where the Johnston’s live and the stage left was the rich area where the Lyons’s lived. This was all shown in the minor differences in the houses. Where one side had a lot of doors closely packed next to each other, the other showed houses with doors quite separate from each other and with pillars either side of the door. There were even differences in the flooring. The stage left floor had wooden flooring while the stage right had brick floors. On the first set there was a brick wall with graffiti on it in between the two sides and behind that you can just make out a backdrop representing the city at night this backdrop would have stars on it, made by fairy lights. On the second set, however, the wall was wheeled off onto either side, leaving a backdrop and tree cutouts either side of the stage representing the countryside then in the scenes where they went to town, the town backdrop was used again. Near the end of the story, a bridge for the characters to walk over was flown in. it was probably the Runcorn Bridge. When the set was Mrs. Lyons’s living room, Mrs. Johnston’s kitchen or Mickey’s living room, Scenery was flown-in, also with minimal portrayal, letting the audience’s imagination develop. In front of the fly-ins were placed furniture, often brought in by the characters or the narrator. There was even a wonderful part at the beginning of the play where the Narrator pulled on a washing line. I thought that this way of setting the scenes and bringing on props, however non-naturalistic, was not only quick and efficient but also very effective.
The music, as I mentioned earlier, came from the orchestra set on the second floor of the sets, and thought the music was live, it also came from the big speakers set at the front of the auditorium. The characters almost all had a solo each but the ones who sang most were Mrs. Johnston and the Narrator, because the narration was almost always in songs and Mrs. Johnston narrated the story sometimes also.
I found that the music in this musical was much more jazzy and contemporary than many other musicals where there are whole orchestras playing classical tunes for the characters to sing to in the orchestra pit at the front of the auditorium. Another thing was that there were not so much songs in the play, when most musicals have less speech than song, this one had about the equal amount of each or maybe even more speech, there wasn’t much use of harmony used either, the only ones I noticed were the times the narrator put a bottom part into Mrs. Johnston’s singing and when Mickey and Eddie sang the end of ‘My friend’. The use happy music when Eddie and Mickey played with each other and the use of tragic music when Mrs. Lyons is going mad also helped emphasise the characters feelings. Other sound effects were also used, such as the sound of Mickey, Linda and Eddie shooting at a tin can with an air gun and the gunshots at the end. They often came from different parts of the auditorium and I believe they were all done live.
Costumes were also made to fit the social status of each character, Mickey always wore scruffy, dirty, torn or normal working class clothes the first top he appears with is so worn he can stretch it over his knees (he also wears mostly jeans when he is older) and his hair was always messy and spiked up. Eddie, on the other hand, is clean, tidy and generally seen in his school uniform (when he is older he wears things that are not jeans, long coats etc.) his hair is smoothed down and split down the side.
The acting, I thought was very good indeed. The actors were so convincing that they actually looked the age they were acting, whatever age they were acting they did things like speak deliberately in a contralto voice and making dithery movements when they were young, acting cool and strong when they were in their teens and being as an adult in their class would do when they are older. Also things such as the imaginary horse, the imaginary gun, the cinema and the school bus ride were done to make it look like things were there when they weren’t. That is an amazing part in non-realistic theatre. Humour also played a big part in the musical, as it kept the audience interested and balanced out the sadness and conflict in the play.
This play made me consider Social Status and Class difference, It seemed a bit ironic how the Johnston’s lived on the breadline at the beginning, happy with whatever they managed to get, even being able to eat properly was a luxury to them. On the other hand, I saw the Lyons’s, never content with what they had, always wanting what they did not have. The portrayal of their lives and characterizations were so vivid that it shocked me. I know how much most mothers love their own children that I almost felt the physical pain and guilt that Mrs. Johnston portrayed on stage. I also watched how such small things as being given sweets made Mickey happy. This play really made me think of the lives that many people lead in that time and the lives that people are still leading even nowadays.
