Mickey sings a song about how he wishes he was ‘our Sammy,’ who is his older brother. We see that the ten year old Sammy spits, plays with matches and pees through their neighbour’s letter box. It is clear that Mickey idolises Sammy and wants to be like him. The playwright is highlighting how our behaviour is shaped by those around us.
Edward appears on stage and the difference between the two boys is striking. Edward is well spoken, dressed immaculately and stands in an upright position. Mickey is the complete opposite to Edward and he can’t believe it when Edward gives him a sweet when he asks. Mickey teaches Edward some curse words, which Edward says he will look up in the dictionary but Mickey has never heard of a dictionary.
When the boys realise that they were born on the same day, they decide to become ‘blood brothers.’ The playwright is using dramatic irony in this scene as the boys are unaware that they are twins, but we, the audience, know the truth,
When Mrs Johnstone enters, Mickey says, ‘mam, this is my brother,’ and she is completely stunned thinking that he has learned the truth. She gets very angry with the boys and tells them to go inside. Alone on the stage with Edward, she tells him to go home and never come back again. She threatens him with the bogey man to scare him into running home.
At home that evening, Mr Lyons gives Edward a toy gun and he pretends to shoot his father, who pretends to be dead. This is foreshadowing events later in the play. While his parents talk, Edward is looking up the bogey man in the dictionary and Mrs Lyons tells him that is something a silly mother would tell her children to scare them.
A knock on the door comes and Mickey storms into Mrs Lyons’ home and asks if he can talk to ‘Eddie.’ Mrs Lyons figures out who he is and tells him to leave. Edward is very angry and shouts at Mrs Lyons and tells her that she is ‘a fuckoff.’ He has clearly heard this language from Mickey but does not understand how to use it properly. Mrs Lyons slaps him across the face and shouts at him telling him, ‘you are not like them.’
The scene moves to the young kids of Mickey’s estate playing a game, while singing a song. The focus of the game is shooting one another but they innocently sing that ‘if you cross your fingers and count from one to ten, you can get up off the ground again.’ This foreshadows future events in the play and how the innocence of childhood cannot last forever.
- The play has jumped forward seven years, what type of boy is Mickey Johnstone, based on what you have watched? Explain your answer.
- What is your impression of Sammy, based on Mickey’s monologue?
- How does the director show the differences between the two boys on stage? Explain.
- How do you think Mrs Johnstone feels when she see Edward for the first time?
- How does Edward try to insult his mother? How does he manage to get it wrong?
- What are the kids doing in the game? Do you think that this might foreshadow future events in the play? Explain why.
- Do you find the play funny? Highlight a moment in the play so far that you found funny and explain why.