This line is very important in the play because Mrs Lyons would say it like she was desperate for a child. Another line that is spoken differently is when Mrs Johnstone says: “Give one to you?” This line is said with slight shock because Mrs Johnstone wasn’t expecting Mrs Lyons to say anything like that. Mrs Johnstone wants to give one of her children away, but in another way she doesn’t because it is her child and she wants to keep it, yet she knows the child will be better off with Mrs Lyons because Mrs Lyons will be able to care for the child and give him/her whatever he/she needs. Mrs Johnstone knows she cannot afford to keep the child, but is unsure whether she wants to give one away. There are various stage directions within the play as well. I would stick to using most of the stage directions already put in, in my scene.
When the stage directions indicate for Mrs Lyons to grab a pillow and start to arrange it beneath her dress, then I would change it slightly so that she would still grab the cushion, then Mrs Johnstone would grab it from her and refuse to give her the child. Then I would make Mrs Lyons grab the pillow back off her and talk Mrs Johnstone into giving her the child. Then Mrs Lyons would continue with the pillow. A final stage direction that I may change slightly would be when it indicates for Mrs Johnstone to nod but still be uncomfortable. I would change this and indicate for a long pause at first, where Mrs Johnstone thinks for a while.
Then, Mrs Johnstone would finally nod, still looking and feeling uncomfortable. Sound effects that could be used could include a jukebox, which would be part of Mrs Lyons’ home, playing classical music really quietly in the background, but not too loud so that it overpowers the characters. Gestures characters would use could include Mrs. Lyons face ‘lighting up’ when Mrs Johnstone tells her that she is having twins. A special effect I would use would be that when Mrs Johnstone is singing about how she can’t cope with two extra children. I would darken everything else out and just have the spotlight on Mrs Johnstone.
Props I would use would be cleaning equipment that Mrs Johnstone would be holding (maybe a bucket and a mop). I would use a freeze frame when Mrs Lyons says: “Twins? You’re expecting twins?” Everything would freeze after she had said this and then the narrator would come on stage and say his bit, and then when finished, everything would remain normal. When characters are singing, I would put the spotlight on them. While Mrs Johnstone is singing, she is also still frantically cleaning in order to please Mrs Lyons. However, Mrs Lyons is following her, ribbing her fingers across furniture that Mrs Johnstone has just cleaned, eager to find dust.
In my scene that I have chosen, there are two characters present – Mrs Johnstone and Mrs Lyons. I have chosen Mrs Lyons to focus on. The role of Mrs Lyons in the scene is very important. She has to play the part of a wealthy woman that has everything she wants apart from one thing that she longs for…a child of her own. In this scene, when she discovers that Mrs Johnstone is pregnant, she takes the opportunity while she can and uses it to get sympathy from Mrs Johnstone in order to talk Mrs Johnstone into giving her one of her twins when they are born. Mrs Lyons knows that Mrs Johnstone will struggle when the two children are born and so she twists it around, saying that Mrs Johnstone’s child would benefit from being brought up with her because she could give him/her everything he/she needed.
This is made quite clear when Mrs Lyons sings: “I’d keep him warm in the winter” and “And he’d sleep every night in a bed of his own” and finally “I’d always be there if his dream was a nightmare.” Mrs Lyons uses all of this to persuade Mrs Johnstone into giving her child away. Mrs Lyons is obviously very desperate to have a child, as in my chosen scene she states: “Please, Mrs Johnstone, please.” Mrs Lyons is obviously so desperate to have a child that she begs and begs Mrs Johnstone. Mrs Lyons sings to get sympathy about how: “Every day I look out from this window… etc,” until Mrs Johnstone finally gives in.
To conclude this, I can say that both characters play a very important part in my chosen scene. My chosen character, Mrs Lyons, plays an important part because she has to persuade Mrs Johnstone to give her one of her children when they are born, using mainly the sympathy vote. There are many significant events used in my scene. The main event is Mrs Lyons persuading Mrs Johnstone and Mrs Johnstone finally giving in. All in all, this scene is, in my opinion, the most important in the play because this is what the whole play is about – twins being separated at birth.
