English Notes

Linda storms off in a rage because Mickey won’t kiss her and we see how uncomfortable he is with the situation. When Linda leaves Mickey is alone on stage and says all the things that he wants to say to Linda but it is clear that he is unable to express his feelings.

Edward appears on stage and the two boys are unaware that they know each other as it has been seven years since they last saw one another. They sing a song once again about how they would like to be each other, highlighting their own flaws and insecurities as they sing. When the song finishes, Mickey asks Edward for a ‘ciggie,’ Edward tells him that he doesn’t smoke but he can go get him one. Mickey asks, ‘are you soft?’ This is echoing his earlier comment when Edward handed him a bag of sweets and he realises that it’s Edward he is talking to.

When Edward asks him if Linda is his girlfriend, he replies, ‘yeh. She’s one of them,’ acting cool as he does so. When Edward admits that he doesn’t have a girlfriend, Mickey feels confident enough to admit that he hasn’t got one either and confides in Edward that he finds it hard to say the right words. Edward tells him that he has read about it and then tells him that there’s a film in the cinema that they should go to see. Edward offers to pay for Mickey but Mickey refuses the money saying that he will get money from his mother. 

Mrs Johnstone sees Edward again and asks him about the locket she gave him. She gives the boys money and teases them about the film they are going to see as they run off to the cinema. As they do, Mrs Lyons appears on stage accusing Mrs Johnstone of following her. She also admits that she doesn’t feel like Edward’s real mother. She offers Mrs Johnstone a lot of money to move away again but Mrs Johnstone refuses saying that she now realises that she would spend it on junk and trash. She is proud of the life she has built and will not move. Mrs Lyons tells her that she is a shadow constantly following her as she grabs a kitchen knife and attempts to stab Mrs Johnstone. Mrs Johnstone overpowers her and tells her that she’s mad. Mrs Lyons replies, ‘I curse the day I met you. You ruined me!’

The boys emerge from the cinema amazed at what they just saw. They meet Linda and her friend and try to pretend that they were at a different film but the girls tell them that they also went to Nymphomaniac Nights and Swedish Au Pairs. The friend leaves Linda with Edward and Mickey when a policeman comes along, reminiscent of their brush with the law in Act 1. They play the same joke that they pretended about when they were younger before sprinting away from the policeman. 

Time passes as music plays and the three of them appear to be having a great time as the narrator tells us that they’re innocent, immortal and just fifteen. The three of them are shown at the fair playing a game with a rifle. (Again foreshadowing future events.) They don’t win a prize but the rifle man throws them a coconut and they play ‘piggy in the middle.’ The game freezes when Linda is in the middle symbolising the problems coming down the track between the three of them. The narrator echoes this by telling the audience, ‘who’d dare tell the lambs in spring what fate the later seasons bring?’ This tells us that bad things are going to happen to all three of them. He also says that Linda will pay a price for being stuck in the middle of the two boys. This foreshadows future events.

1. What does the song at the beginning of the scene show us about the two boys? Does this tell us anything about the way humans behave?
2. Why do you think Mickey lies about Linda being his girlfriend? Does this tell us anything about Mickey?
3. Why has Edward got the ‘right words’ to say to Linda?
4. Why does Mickey turn down the offer of money from Edward? Do you think that this is significant?
5. Why does Mrs Lyons attack Mrs Johnstone with the knife?
6. What does the narrator tell us about the friendship between Mickey, Linda and Edward?
7. What does the narrator tell us just as the scene ends? Is this foreshadowing?