7. Themes
Class divide
Family
Growing up
Superstition and Fate
Hopes and Dreams
Nature versus Nurture
8. Themes
Class divide
Family
Growing up
Superstition and Fate
Hopes and Dreams
Nature versus Nurture
Love and Marriage
9. Characters
Mrs Johnstone
Mickey
Other children including Sammy
and Donna-Marie
Linda
Mrs Lyons
Mr Lyons
Edward Lyons
Narrator
Chorus to play minor roles such as
Miss Jones
12. Techniques
What dramatic techniques are used by Willy
Russell in order to
Engage the audience?
Communicate themes?
13. Techniques
Parallel scenes to bring out class differences
Use of key episodes to give a flavour of life,
since play covers a long period of time
Use of songs – monologues/soliloquoy
Use of motifs
Narrator and chorus
Flashback – starts with final scene
Dramatic Irony
14. Language
The working class characters speak in Liverpool
dialect, which makes them sound natural, warm
and likeable.
The middle class characters speak in standard
English, with Received Pronunciation. This is a
cause of humour when the boys first meet.
15. The Role of the Narrator
What does he do?
How does he do it?
16. The Role of the Narrator
Comments on the action
Tells the story and involves the audience
Links episodes together
Warns of danger by appearing on stage at crucial times
Points out themes
Asks audience questions
18. What do the songs add to the Play?
Link scenes and draw parallels
Remind the audience of key themes
Link the two halves of the play by using some of the
same words / tunes, such as ‘Easy Terms’
Mood and atmosphere
Humour and pathos
Fill in parts of the plot
20. The tragic outcome is inevitable from the very
start. Discuss.
Theme of Superstition and Fate
Starting with final scene
Continual warnings from the narrator
The Marilyn Monroe motif
The gun motif
Nurture – Johnstone family are in trouble from the start. E.g.
Sammy’s behaviour and Mrs Johnstone’s fears for Mickey
Class divide
21. To what extent do you feel sympathy for Mrs
Johnstone?
At the start, very little: ‘a stone in place of a heart’, but
gradually, as the story unfolds, we feel much more:
Husband walks out leaving her with little money
Mrs Lyons pushes her into it
She does it ‘for the best’
She’s a loving mother to all her children
She stays cheerful and makes the best of things
But do we also feel she could have controlled her children
better, been harder on them?
22. What does this play have to say about class?
The class divide is unfair
Russell shows that two people with identical DNA can
be so different in what they achieve because working
class people were denied the chances to develop
Russell poses the question: ‘could it be what we, the
English, have come to know as class?’
Money can’t buy love but it can buy power.
23. Now you try…
What has this play to say about mother / child relationships?
How is the theme of love presented? You may consider family love,
romantic love and married love.
How far do you think Russell presents the working class characters
in a more favourable light than the middle class characters?
Canyouthinkofanyotherquestions?
