T.C. SELÇUK UNIVERSITY SOCIAL SCIENCES ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE
ILLUSION AND REALITY IN SIR ALAN AYCKBOURN’S PLAYS: WOMAN IN MIND, JUST BETWEEN OURSELVES, PRIVATE FEARS IN PUBLIC PLACES AND IF I WERE YOU
Ebru YAYLA HINIZ
MASTER’S THESIS
Supervisor
Assist. Prof. Dr. Ayşe Gülbün ONUR
KONYA, 2015 ii
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I would like to express my special appreciation and thanks to my supervisor
Assist. Prof. Dr. Ayşe Gülbün ONUR for her guidance to me. I would like to thank her for encouraging my research and supporting during the research and writing process. I would also like to thank my committee members for serving as my committee members even at hardship and letting my defense be an enjoyable moment, and for their brilliant comments and suggestions. I have a special thanks to my mother İsminaz YAYLA, my father İbrahim YAYLA and my brother Emrah
YAYLA for all of the helps that they’ve made on my behalf. I would also like to thank all of my friends who supported me in writing, and incented me to strive towards my goal. At the end I would like express my appreciation to my beloved husband Gökhan HINIZ who spent sleepless nights with and was always my support in the moments when there was no one to answer my queries.
Ebru YAYLA HINIZ
KONYA, 2015
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Bilimsel Etik Sayfası ...... Hata! Yer işareti tanımlanmamış. Yüksek Lisans Tezi Kabul Formu ...... Hata! Yer işareti tanımlanmamış. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ...... iv ÖZET ...... vii ABSTRACT ...... viii CHAPTER 1 ...... 1 SIR ALAN AYCKBOURN ...... 1 1.1 Objective of the Study ...... 1 1.2 Biography of Sir Alan Ayckbourn ...... 2 1.3 A Glance to the Reflection of His Life to His Works ...... 7 CHAPTER 2 ...... 10 COMEDY OF SIR ALAN AYCKBOURN ...... 10 2.1. Differences in Sir Alan Ayckbourn Comedies Compared To the Other Comedy Plays...... 10 CHAPTER 3 ...... 12 ILLUSION AND REALITY ...... 12 3.1 Illusion...... 12 3.2 Reality ...... 13 CHAPTER 4 ...... 16 SUSAN: MAIN FEMALE CHARACTER IN WOMAN IN MIND ...... 16 4.1 Summary of the Play: Woman in Mind ...... 16 4.2 Sir Alan Ayckbourn’s Point of View on Woman in Mind ...... 19 4.3 Illusion and Reality in Woman in Mind ...... 21 4.4 Man as a Disregarding Figure and Woman Disregarded and These Two Figures Depictions in Woman in Mind ...... 54 4.5 Stylistic Examples from Woman in Mind ...... 59 CHAPTER 5 ...... 66 VERA: MAIN FEMALE CHARACTER IN JUST BETWEEN OURSELVES . 66 5.1 Summary of the Play: Just Between Ourselves ...... 66 5.2 Sir Alan Ayckbourn’s Point of View on Just Between Ourselves ...... 69
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5.3 Illusion and Reality in Just Between Ourselves ...... 70 5.4 Negligence of a Man and Neglected Woman in Just Between Ourselves ...... 77 5.5 Stylistic Examples from Just Between Ourselves ...... 79 CHAPTER 6 ...... 83 CHARLOTTE AND NICOLA: MAIN FEMALE CHARACTERS IN PRIVATE FEARS IN PUBLIC PLACES ...... 83 6.1 Summary of the Play: Private Fears in Public Places ...... 83 6.2 Sir Alan Ayckbourn’s Point of View to Private Fears in Public Places ...... 86 6.3 Illusion and Reality in Private Fears in Public Places ...... 88 6.4 Man as an Ignoring Figure and Woman Ignored In Private Fears in Public Places ...... 95 6.5 Stylistic Examples from Private Fears in Public Places ...... 99 CHAPTER 7 ...... 102 JILL: MAIN FEMALE CHARACTER IN IF I WERE YOU ...... 102 7.1 Summary of the Play: If I Were You ...... 102 7.2 Sir Alan Ayckbourn’s Point of View on If I Were You ...... 103 7.3 Illusion and Reality in If I Were You ...... 104 7.4 Man as a Patronizing Figure and Woman Patronized in If I Were You ...... 110 7.5 Stylistic Examples from If I Were You ...... 111 Conclusion ...... 113 References ...... 114 Özgeçmiş ...... 117
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T. C. SELÇUK ÜNİVERSİTESİ Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü Müdürlüğü
Adı Soyadı Ebru YAYLA HINIZ
Numarası 104208002008
Ana Bilim / Bilim Dalı İngiliz Dili ve Edebiyatı/ İngiliz Dili ve Edebiyatı Programı Tezli Yüksek Lisans Doktora Tez Danışmanı Yrd. Doç .Dr. Ayşe Gülbün ONUR Öğrencinin Tezin Adı ILLUSION AND REALITY IN SIR ALAN AYCKBOURN’S PLAYS: WOMAN IN MIND, JUST BETWEEN OURSELVES, PRIVATE FEARS IN PUBLIC PLACES
AND IF I WERE YOU
ÖZET
Bu tez Sir Alan Ayckbourn’ un oyunlarındaki yanılsama ve gerçeklik olgularının incelenmesini ve özellikle ana kadın karakterler tarafından deneyimlenen ve erkek karakterlerin ilgisiz tavırlarından kaynaklanan travma ve psikolojik durumlarının ortaya koyulmasını amaçlamaktadır. Bu tezle hedeflenen söz konusu kadınların yanılsama yaşamalarının ve gerçeklikte hissettikleri kafa karışıklıklarının nedenlerini araştırma adına yöntem önermektir. Bu dört oyunda biçimsel analiz yöntemi kullanılarak yaşanılan çelişki detaylı bir şekilde incelenecektir. Dilbilimsel bakış açısı ve biçimsel bir analiz kullanılarak bu oyunlarda yer alan ana sahnelerdeki diyalogları, kadın karakterlerin bakış açıları ve diğer karakterlerle – özellikle erkek karakterlerle– olan ilişkileri alıntılanacak ve incelenecektir. Bunun yanı sıra tepkileri analiz edilecek ve söz konusu bireylerin ve sosyal çevrenin kullandığı dilin yanılsamayı nasıl tetiklediği ve karakterlerin nasıl bir psikolojik travma yaşadıklarını göstermek adına yapılan alıntılara yer verilecektir. Yapılan analiz bazı ilkelere dayandırılacaktır. Böylece bu çalışma, oyun yazarının yanılsamayı gerçeklikle nasıl bağdaştırdığı üzerinde yoğunlaşacaktır. Öte yandan tüm bu aşamalar, psikolojik bir çalışmayla da bağdaştırılacaktır.
Anahtar kelimeler: Ayckbourn, drama, evlilik, gerçeklik, hor görme, If I Were You, ihmal, Just Between Ourselves, kara mizah, Private Fears in Public Places, yanılsama, Woman in Mind.
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T. C. SELÇUK ÜNİVERSİTESİ Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü Müdürlüğü
Adı Soyadı Ebru YAYLA HINIZ Numarası 104208002008
Ana Bilim / Bilim Dalı İngiliz Dili ve Edebiyatı/ İngiliz Dili ve Edebiyatı Programı Tezli Yüksek Lisans Doktora Tez Danışmanı Yrd. Doç .Dr. Ayşe Gülbün ONUR Öğrencinin Tezin İngilizce Adı ILLUSION AND REALITY IN SIR ALAN AYCKBOURN’S PLAYS: WOMAN IN MIND, JUST BETWEEN OURSELVES, PRIVATE FEARS
IN PUBLIC PLACES AND IF I WERE YOU
ABSTRACT
This study is an argument of illusion and reality in Sir Alan Ayckbourn’s plays via exemplifying the main female characters’ traumas and psychology based on the disregarding actions of male figures against them. It aims to offer a way to look for reasons that lead these women to have illusions and be confused in reality. In these four plays, through a stylistic analysis, such discrepancy will be evaluated in detail. These four plays will be approached from a stylistic point of view in other words a linguistic perspective will be maintained. Major scenes from both works will be quoted and studied in detail to support the reflection of female characters’ point of view and their conversations with the others especially male figures. Reactions will be analyzed. In the quotations, some principles will be established to explain particular choices of individuals and social groups in their use of language that triggers the illusion and causes psychological traumas for the characters. Therefore the study will focus on how the playwright associates illusions with reality. All these phases will refer to a psychological study as well.
Keywords: Ayckbourn, dark comedy, drama, If I Were You, ignorance, illusion, Just Between Ourselves, man, marriage, negligence, patronizing, Private Fears in Public Places, reality, woman, Woman in Mind.
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CHAPTER 1
SIR ALAN AYCKBOURN
1.1 Objective of the Study
This thesis mainly examines illusion and reality in Sir Alan Ayckbourn’s plays and underlines how these two subjects are depicted in the flow of Woman in
Mind, Just Between Ourselves, Private Fears in Public Places and If I Were You. It also aims to show how Sir Alan Ayckbourn uses his characters to depict the outcome of the women who are disregarded by the male figures in the plays. Sir Alan
Ayckbourn reflects this destructed world. It plays an important role in terms of having the women’s point of views and how they see the world they live in under the shadow of male figures’ dominance.
In Woman in Mind, Just Between Ourselves, Private Fears in Public Places and If I Were You, the main female characters are portrayed as psychologically weak, destructed and hopeless figures. They are oppressed and inclined to have illusions and then at the same time cope with reality. These two different paradoxical states are clearly highlighted with the dialogues and monologues of four female figures.
Especially, in Woman in Mind, it is clearly depicted with Susan's real and imaginary world. By giving specific examples from the plays, it is planned to emphasize how
Sir Alan Ayckbourn reflects weak women under the pressure of their imaginary worlds and creates two worlds: illusion and reality.
Having experienced a traumatic childhood because of his unmarried parents,
Ayckbourn has a specific interest to women characters in his plays. The Mother
1 figure for him has an important role in his life and he has a tendency to use female figures like his own mother. This thesis, with the help of his biography, will be partly built upon the female figure in Sir Alan Ayckbourn’s mind.
1.2 Biography of Sir Alan Ayckbourn
Sir Alan Ayckbourn is accepted as one of the most popular playwrights.
Besides being a well-known playwright of about 90 plays (77 full length; 20 revues and children plays), he is appreciated as a director.
Being born on 12 April, 1939 in Hampstead, Ayckbourn had a bit complicated childhood. His mother was Irene Maud Worley, called as “Lolly” and she was also a writer and wrote her books under the name of “Mary James”. Horace
Ayckbourn, his father, was a famous violinist, and one of the musicians in London
Symphony Orchestra. His mother and father had no real relationship in fact, they were not married at all, so Ayckbourn was the son of a love affair without marriage:
“Alan has no real memory of the three of them living together” (Allen, 2001: 11).
“Lolly” was born in 1906 in Basildon, Essex as a daughter of Joseph William
Worley and Lilian Worley. The father was a Shakespearean actor, and the mother was a male impersonator. Lolly was one of the eight siblings and she seemed different than the rest. After facing up with one of her siblings saying why she was different, she understood that Joseph William was not her real father: “She had not, she said, believed a word of this but had gone to tell her father who had shocked her by confirming the story.” (Allen, 2001: 4)
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Sir Alan Ayckbourn, however, didn’t know much about his father, Horace.
He just heard something about his father from Lolly. He really didn’t know his grandfather, too. Ayckbourn, as a surname wasn’t used mostly in the world and it has still a few examples all over the world. Alan’s mother Lolly claimed that it came from German name and she believed that Alan had some cousins speaking German.
However, this didn’t sound correct: “The existence of mild-nineteen century
Ayckbourns makes another of Lolly’s stories improbable; she used to say that the family’s real name was Eichbaum(‘oak tree’) but had been changed from the
German when war broke out.”(Allen, 2001: 7)
It is stated in his biographical studies that his mother had a really great influence on him as a playwright. He didn’t have parents together and his mother was the only breadwinner of the family. That’s why he stated his thanks to his mother in her funeral: “To someone…who gave me far more complexes, hang-ups, phobias, prejudices, inspirations and self-insights than any writer has a right to expect from a parent…” (Allen, 2001: 1)
Alan Ayckbourn studied at Haileybury, in which he had a crucial event for his acting career. He decided to take part in a Shakespearean play in the school, because he had a real passion to be an actor on stage. He really enjoyed the school group he was in and although he wasn’t able to get the roles that he wanted, he was inspired to play in a professional theatre. This led him not to see his mother for a long time so when he came back he understood that he had to take the responsibility of his own future. Although he was under pressure of being a university student, he
3 preferred to leave the school at the age of 17 because he aimed to have a certain job in the field of theatre that really interested him:
“The Shakespearean tours meant that he had missed two long
summer holidays but when he did go home deteriorating
relationship between his mother and stepfather was obvious.
Lolly had stopped writing, and he thought she was ‘going
under’. She was having electro-convulsive therapy, still a
relatively new treatment for depression…So the boy’s first
really adult act was to find a flat and a job.”
(Allen, 2001: 34)
He succeeded to find a job in the theatre impresario in 1956. He worked as an acting stage manager: “After two weeks’ rehearsal (when Alan wasn’t even paid expenses) the company took the night train north. He was one of two acting managers – ‘acting’ in the sense of going on stage, not of being temporary.” (Allen,
2001: 36) Throughout the three weeks, he was in the production of The Strong Are
Lonely being staged at the Edinburgh Festival. Alan Ayckbourn had to come back and looked for a job that he could earn money. He heard that Rodney Wood,
Leatherhead’s stage manager planned to start a career in Scarborough and he was willing to work in a summer job. Thanks to this opportunity he had the chance of meeting with Stephen Joseph, who was the founder of the Library Theatre: “And, so finally, he met the most influential man in his life, the son of the very man his mother claimed as her longest- lasting lover. Stephen was to become Alan’s surrogate
4 father, within a few months of the death of the real one…Stephen defined Alan, or gave him the room to define himself.” (Allen, 2001: 46)
He was employed as a stage manager and actor at the Library Theatre,
Scarborough. Library Theatre, which is the first professional theatre of the U.K.
Ayckbourn, as an actor, played 70 different roles from 1956 to 1964. His acting career started with the play called An Inspector Calls and it was remarkable in the press although he was a bit nervous on stage. The thing that made him nervous was the way he had to articulate the words to be Eric, who is the character he played.
However, the other plays following the first made him approved by the other theatre groups. It was hard and tiring to work as an actor but he was glad to have this pleasure: “ He was beginning to do what he has done ever since, which is to express himself more freely through work and in working, not domestic or social, environment.” (Allen, 2001: 54)
Library Theatre led him to practice a new profession: being a playwright and a director. Stephen Joseph came up with the idea that Ayckbourn could write and direct the plays besides working as an acting manager. In fact, this idea emerged when Ayckbourn complained about a role that he didn’t want to play. Stephen suggested him writing his own role. This little conversation opened a new way for
Ayckbourn as a playwright:
“Ayckbourn always says that while he was playing Nicky, the
young warlock in Bell, Book and Candle, he complained to
Stephen Joseph about the roles he was getting and was told
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that if he wanted a better part he should write a play with one
in. Stephen would stage it, if it was any good.”
(Allen, 2001: 65)
His career as a playwright was in 1959 with The Square Cat. Being a playwright seemed to be difficult when he took his financial situation into consideration. He had to make a living with his family and it was clear that he earned much more money as an actor. However, he was glad to be a playwright since he felt artistically improved. He has written 76 full-length plays so far:
“Ayckbourn and his young family were close to starving in the days
when he started writing professionally as anyone actually in work can
be, but the idea that he wrote primarily to make money is absurd. He
wrote and he still writes to engage with people, something he finds as
artistically profitable as it is socially difficult. He earned £47 as his
first royalty payment – the figure is etched in his memory– equivalent
to four weeks’ wages as an actor at the highest rate he would ever
achieve in the Stephen Joseph companies. He thought it rather
handsome at the time, but he would have had to write 13 plays a year
at that rate to earn the same meager annual income as an actor in full
time employment.” (Allen, 2001:71)
Alan Ayckbourn’s directing career started with Stephen, who also encouraged him to write a play when he was a young actor. Stephen believed that Acykbourn, as
6 a talented person, should try a different path once in a lifetime: As a professional director, his first play was in Gaslight at the Library Theatre in 1961:
“He invited ‘Ayckers’ to direct Patrick Hamilton’s classic
psychological thriller, Gaslight. The play itself is pertinent. It has a
clever technical effect: the lights in the house in which it is set have to
flicker and fail. And although it takes the form of a police detective
investigation its theme is that a bullying husband trying to persuade3
his psychologically fragile wife that she is going mad.”
(Allen, 2001: 84)
Ayckbourn has directed more than 300 productions in the UK and other countries. He was named as ‘Playwright of the Year’ by The Variety Club in 1974.
He has received 35 theatre awards between 1973 and 2009: an Olivier Special Award in 2009, the Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre in 2010.
He was awarded a CBE (Companion of the Order of the British Empire) in 1987. He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II ‘for services to the theatre.’
1.3 A Glance to the Reflection of His Life to His Works
Plays can be seen as some extracts from the real life experiences. So when a playwright creates his art, it’s likely to use some parts of these experiences to form the play. Catching some details from others’ lives is a way to write a play but some playwrights make it through their own lives. As a child, Sir Alan Ayckbourn had a traumatic childhood because of his unmarried parents, and he also had some problems in his marriage so he has a tendency to reflect these to his own plays. There
7 are not many specific examples from his plays that show how he, deliberately or not, indicated his life in his works as he denied the fact that he gave some details from his life:
“It is not though - at least in the playwright's own mind - the most
autobiographical of his plays as has been suggested by some high-profile
commentators, including his biographer Paul Allen. Alan has always been
quick to deny it is based on his experiences with his mother and in 2012,
when questioned on the subject, he noted it no more reflected his life and
experiences than any other play he had written.”
(Womaninmind.alanayckbourn.net.)
As quoted, Woman in Mind is implied as a play that has some reflections of
Ayckbourn’s life. Especially, the main character Susan has something in common with his mother. The illusions that she has experienced and the marriage that Susan has seem to have an apparent connection to his mother.
The other play The Norman Conquests, written in 1973, is one of the examples in which there are some reflections of Ayckbourn’s life. In the play, there are three different plays: Table Manners, Living Together and Round and Round the
Garden. As many plays of Ayckbourn, there are only six characters in these plays:
Norman, his wife Ruth, her brother Reg and his wife Sarah, Ruth's sister Annie, and
Tom, Annie's next-door-neighbour. Not the character stated but an off-stage character an old woman in bed can be taken as an example for Ayckbourn’s mother:
“There is a kind of telescoped autobiography in that address and at least
one intimate echo of Ayckbourn’s plays; where the unseen bed-bound
8 mother in the play, got her reputation for picking up men on the sands at
Weston...Above all, it bears the author’s unmistakable signature: a ruthless frankness (those puppies, those wet knickers) has teamed up with a despairing, affectionate compassion and a reflex comic response.”(Allen,
2001: 2)
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CHAPTER 2
COMEDY OF SIR ALAN AYCKBOURN
2.1. Differences in Sir Alan Ayckbourn Comedies Compared To the Other Comedy Plays
The definition of comedy is a genre that refers to a work of art which aims to be humorous and create laughter. There are different sub-genres of comedy such as farce, burlesque, satire and comedy of manners. People or events taken as a source of humor, the way that playwright presents it to the audience, the context surrounding the events and people are the elements that create comedy, as a genre.
As it is expected, the comedy plays are mostly written to make the audience/readers to laugh with the humorous experiences that people have had.
However, Ayckbourn sees comedy as a way to reflect his characters’ disappointments, frustrations and expectations by using comic elements. The way that Ayckbourn uses while writing his plays is to show the dark sides of the human beings and reflects how a funny taste can be given to them:
“This really isn’t the choice I consciously make. I certainly don’t
decide when I sit down to write: today I’m going to write a comedy.
Simply, I’m going to write a play. The degree of lightness or
darkness is often initially dictated by the theme, but never to the
extent that I would ever want the one totally to exclude the other.”
(Ayckbourn, 2004: 3)
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Ayckbourn does not let the audience feel relieved but get attention to what is going on in the play. There is always some manners of the characters which make the audience laugh, but unlike traditional comedy playwrights, he believes that comedy does not only have a laughing purpose:
“…The audience, rather than relaxing into a fiction framed and
defined by the proscenium arch, must actively distill the business of
the stage from that on its periphery—a task made increasingly
difficult in a play which reminds us repeatedly that it is a play, à
dramatic comedy, not just about an android's personal and
professional coming-of-age, but about dramatic comedy…
Ayckbourn has said repeatedly that comedy is "tragedy interrupted."
Given that premise, the playwright's ultimate choices include:
interrupting the tragedy to end on a purely comic note, pressing on
into the realms of tragedy.” (Tuckor, 2003:88-89)
Ayckbourn’s comedies are also different from the traditional ones in terms of its endings. He tries not to use the conventional type of ending, because he believes that happy endings are not real and the audience must see the reality in the play rather than a beautiful picture of a family as expected:
“Ayckbourn may draw from past conventions, but his plays'
conclusions regularly undermine traditional comic resolution when,
ideally, an audience senses that "all's well that ends well." Common
sense argues that such endings must be ephemeral, but for that
moment when stage lights dim, before house lights rise, the promise
of a harmonious future feels real.” (Tuckor, 2003: 86)
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CHAPTER 3
ILLUSION AND REALITY
3.1 Illusion
Before analyzing the usage of illusion in literature it is beneficial to depict a clear explanation of what illusion is in its literal meaning. Illusion is related to the senses and when one or two senses of human being have a distortion, illusion occurs.
The way the senses receive or understand something malfunctions and the things seen or heard are misinterpreted. The damage that it causes in reality is huge and it has various types. However, one of the most known is visual illusions. Illusion is different from the hallucinations in that it describes a misinterpretation of a true sensation.
Every single human being is born in the world at a specific time and place and their lives are considerably short in terms of ambiguity and death. In that short time, the individual tries to adapt to the world, which is outside, in an infinite struggle against the unknown. The illusions, which can be sometimes conceived as reality may result from the boundaries of our existence, cognitive prejudices and understanding. Those illusions are knowledge and understanding, faith and certainty, time and eternity, freedom and free will and the meaning of life. When our imagination is not supported by facts, it might evolve into illusions. Illusions can make your existence more comfortable, but they may also cause you to see things differently and lead you to lose the ability of making the distinction between what real is or not. (Yacobi, 2013: 203)
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It is clear to understand why illusion is used in literature in that sometimes the characters want to escape the reality because they experience some difficult situations. Also some characters are described to have a better life in the illusion. On the other hand, the other characters force them to have the illusion and they lead them to find the solution in the illusion:
“Cosmic vision and escapist daydream are both fantasy, yet the
visionary is often forgotten, overshadowed by fantasy’s role in
popular literature. Most fantasy is dismissed by hostile critics as
‘escapist’…The kinds of fantasy varies, however, not just with
authorial taste, but with the mode of the piece. The hero’s relative
superiority or inferiority to mankind and to his environment
encourages some kinds and discourages others.”
(Hume, 2014:59-153)
As Meyer mentions in Language: Truth and Illusion in Who’s Afraid of
Virginia Woolf? , illusion is a false image and it is impossible to get a clear data from it. In this play the characters have false imaginary characters and the writer uses stage direction, language, stance and facial expression to create the ambiguity, in other words, illusion. (1968: 61)
3.2 Reality
There are many definitions of what reality is. Reality can be defined as all that exist even if it cannot be observed, perceived or understood. It is possible to make a distinction between apparent reality and ultimate reality and also between
13 physical or human independent reality and mental or human constructed reality.
Things which have physical characteristics in space such as mass can be defined physically real. Mental reality, on the other hand, exists irrespective of space and it is in the minds of individuals. However, trees and rocks or atomic particles and light quanta can be considered both mentally and physically real in terms of the human observers. Making the distinction between the different types of the reality and the representation of the reality in the mind and the reality itself is essential. (Yacobi,
2013: 202-203)
Everyone attempt to distinguish between illusion and reality when they recognize the mysterious nature of them. However, it is usually unclear whether the reality is understood deeply or what we consider as real is just an illusion. At times in which the human cannot endure the reality, he, consciously or unconsciously distort the reality to make it more resistible. Illusions are adapted by human mind in terms of one’s needs and desires. It is hard to determine the boundaries of the reality and the illusions because the transitions from one to another are not clear and consistent.
(Yacobi, 2013:203)
Brooke says in his book Jane Austen: Illusion and Reality that reality is one of the most dangerous words in literary criticism. There is no real especially, because even the camera deceives people, like the eyes deceive the viewers (Brooke, 1999: 9)
In literature, the concept of reality is used to emphasize the reply of the characters who are not content with it. So the term reality is a way to understand the reason why some characters choose to escape from it. Thomas Hardy is one of the novelists who use the concept of reality as a way of reflecting the illusion. As Vigar
14 mentions, the imaginative response is the basic element of Thomas Hardy’s novels.
She also emphasizes that the physical reality is lower than imagination in terms of its effects and the characters always experience the ‘shock of discovery or realization, and the destruction of the reality.’ Also, the reality is described with the subjective point of view. (2014:70,168,215)
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CHAPTER 4
SUSAN: MAIN FEMALE CHARACTER IN WOMAN IN MIND
4.1 Summary of the Play: Woman in Mind
The play Woman in Mind stands as a subjective point of view of the main character, Susan. It is because the illusion and reality that Susan has experienced throughout the play are seen from her viewpoint and also the audience gets all senses from her on stage until the end of the play. The play starts with a strange language that doesn’t make any sense.
Susan wakes as a stunned person in the garden of her house and sees the family Doctor, Bill Windsor taking care of her and speaking nonsense. When the doctor leaves to get her something to drink, her “imaginary family”, which is the family that she desires to have and sees as an illusion, comes to see her. The family members, her husband Andy, brother Tony and daughter Lucy tend to help her. It is lately understood with the moments that Bill ends up with her real family that she has a totally different life. She feels caught in the middle of a hopeless marriage with a ruthless, self-centered man called Gerald, and his sister Muriel, who lives with them but no real roots with the family but the dead husband. With the shock of harshly facing the reality, she faints again.
Susan spends a night in hospital and when she comes back home, the problems that the family has reveals. Muriel, her sister-in-law, brings a ground coffee and it is revealed that Rick, Susan’s son who has not been staying in touch with the family for a long time because of joining a cult in Hemel Hempstead, decides to pop
16 over for lunch. On the other hand, Susan and her real husband Gerald do not sleep together for years and Gerald is interested in history of parish which is only constituted in rural areas and the smallest unit of a local government.
The Doctor Bill comes and has a look at Susan and is invited to have lunch with the family. He is expected to have a peacemaker role between the family members. They try to grab the attention of her when Rick comes and she is forced to company them. After a long time, it is the first time that Rick speaks to her. That’s why she faints again and this is the end of Act One.
In Act Two the audience sees Susan awaking in the garden and Rick watching her worriedly. She tries to encourage him and figures out that Rick has married a girl for whose sake he has left the cult. It is also understood that he doesn’t think of meeting her with the family. Besides this shocking news, she also learns a pathetic fact that his son has never seen her as a considerate and caring mother but as a mother who always embarrassed him in front of his girlfriends. The other thing that makes her disappointed is that he forces Gerald to tell the news to the family and leaves. However, she refuses the idea that she is responsible for the events.
Then Lucy, his daughter from the imaginary family comes and tries to calm her down. It is clear that all the experiences Susan has had form the lives of the imaginary family in the imaginary world. She asks her daughter to explain their relationship to Gerald but he goes away. Her imaginary husband Andy comes and
Susan also tells him to go away and at this moment it is really complicated to understand who controls the main character’s mind. After Andy has left and Susan
17 tries to regain her consciousness, she is sure that she doesn’t want to see her family again.
Although Susan loses herself in the illusion world she creates, she wants to learn from Doctor Bill if she is really taken by the illusion. Bill is partly sure that it can be an option, but he insists on the fact that all these illusions are the result of a stressful life she has had and it is her tendency to suppress her feeling. Bill, in fact, is in love with her and he is about to Express it to Susan when Lucy, his imaginary daughter comes. Bill knows there is no “Lucy” in the garden but he pretends to see her and it leads Susan to a deep illusion. With the sense of having one more person from the reality, she makes love with Andy and Bill plays a role in this fantasy. The experience that she has had causes her to believe that the Devil has deluded her.
Through the end of the play, Gerald comes and checks on Susan if she is fine.
The manuscript which has been written by Bill as the history of Parish has been burnt and a letter is left to Muriel’s room, which is supposed to be sent by her dead husband. It becomes difficult for Gerald to manage Susan’s attitudes, he breaks up with her. It is the final straw for her and she feels a complete disappointment. She loses her mind and finds herself at Lucy’s wedding. It gets more complicated and the audience sees her speaking the weird language that she has heard from Bill at the beginning of the play. She makes her final speech and being twisted with illusion and reality, she stays alone in darkness. The last sentence she uses is “December Bee”, which means “Remember Me” and the play ends with the siren light of the ambulance. (Womaninmind.Alanayckbourn.net)
18
4.2 Sir Alan Ayckbourn’s Point of View on Woman in Mind
Woman in Mind is a play with which Sir Alan Ayckbourn aims to write to show how a play can be a different stage from the point of view of the main character. He believes the audience can understand how Susan feels when she loses the connection with the reality only when they see the events from her point of view.
So it makes the play more realistic and comprehensible for them:
“I was initially interested in writing a play told entirely in the first person.
That is to say, one in which all the action is seen through the eyes of its
central character. It’s an idea used in films quite frequently (for instance the
classic Dead On Arrival) but then movies are where I get most of my
playwriting inspiration, anyway. Of course, the play’s theme itself lends
itself to that convention, being the story of a woman who, throughout the
evening, gradually loses touch with reality. I felt it would be interesting and
informative for an audience to share her sense of disorientation. In the
normal run of things, when you introduce an audience to your central
character it is usually the one you say to them, this is the person you can
trust. Stick with them through the evening and you won’t go far wrong. But
in the case of Susan, she is less than reliable. As she loses touch with her
reality, so do we. When she finally completely confuses her dream world
with her real world, so do we.”
(Womaninmind.alanayckbourn.net.)
This play is also seen as one of the plays which show a sad story of a woman even though it is a comedy. Sir Alan Ayckbourn thinks that all the darkness and
19 lightness in the play makes it remarkable, but ending is not as bad as the audience expects. He mentions that in most of his plays, there is a dark side that careful ones can see. Ayckbourn also sees the play as a gradual when it is compared with his other ones. (Womaninmind.Alanayckbourn.net)
Critics see Woman in Mind as an autobiography of Sir Alan Ayckbourn, but he does not totally deny it. He expresses that he writes his plays from his experience or the other people’s experience that he has heard of and all the characters in his play are some parts that show his characteristics. On the other hand, there are some instances that show Susan as a reflection of Sir Alan Ayckbourn. He accepts that
Susan has something in common, especially the marriage that his mother has had with the bank manager. However, he thinks that it is not true to say Susan is totally his mother:
“In a sense, all my plays are autobiographical; they must be
because I usually only write about things that I’ve experienced
either first-hand or second-hand through hearsay. But, by the same
token, none of the characters can truly be said to be entirely me but
only fragments of me. So just as there’s a bit of Susan in me, there’s
also a bit of Gerald or Bill, or even Rick. I’m not really bothered by
such autobiographical misinterpretations, really. Critics and
commentators are always anxious to give you labels; they’re
convenient and that way they can file you away somehow.”
(Womaninmind.alanayckbourn.net.)
20
4.3 Illusion and Reality in Woman in Mind
This play can be considered as one of the best examples of Ayckbourn’s comedies which clearly express what the life is like in illusion and reality with all the monologues and dialogues throughout the play. In the play, Ayckbourn depicts the character Susan as a disregarded woman who has already lost her self-confidence and has no strength to face with the reality. The passes between illusion and reality are given from a subjective point of view as it is mentioned at the beginning of the play and it makes easier to reflect how Susan feels among all these traumas: “
Throughout the play, we will hear what she hears; see what she sees. A subjective point of view therefore and that may at times be somewhat less than accurate.” (Ayckbourn, 1986:
1)
At the beginning of the play, the audience witnesses a different language which is nearly impossible to understand and heard by Susan. Subjectivity is expressed from the start as an inconceivable language. The relation between the characters who know each other are questioned indirectly. Susan supposes that he says something that she does not understand fully. It is the time when Susan passes from the illusion to the reality, so she believes that the characters she has in reality doesn’t know the language that she speaks. The reason why she assumes this is that she is disregarded so much in reality and even if she speaks the language they know, they do not care what she says. This awareness, however, doesn’t make her relaxed, because at those moments, she keeps feeling nervous and helpless:
“Susan: (trying again, to sit up, alarmed): What are you saying…?
(Clasping her head) Ah! …
21
Susan: Oh God, I’ve died. That’s what it is. I’ve died. And –
wherever it is I’ve gone- nobody speaks English… What am I going
to do? What am I going to do?”(Ayckbourn, 1986: 1)
As it can be seen in the extract above, she sees the reality as death and being in hell. She doesn’t have any positive ideas about living out of the illusion, because it hurts her deeply. She thinks that she has not done anything wrong to be there in the hell: “Susan: Why have I gone to hell? Why me? I’ve tried so terribly hard, too. Terribly hard.” (Ayckbourn, 1986: 2) Her feeling lonely in the world is reflected in the fear she has as she starts to talk.
Gradually she becomes conscious but she doesn’t want to believe that she has come back to reality. She insists on saying that it is not a real world. For the first time, she is content with the idea that she is known by someone and she gets rid of the sense of alienation and helplessness. However, when she realizes that it is the doctor who recognizes her, she feels disappointed again. It makes it clear that she wants to be in the illusion where she is cared and loved. She is always a bit connected with this world to feel that she is alive.
After the process of getting conscious, Susan and Bill have a conversation on how Susan believes that it is not her garden. The voice of the dog she cannot hear takes her to the illusion again. The pass between illusion and reality is so slight at that time.
In illusion, she has a lovely family and she shares the experience that she has had while passing into the real world with them. Susan feels relaxed and self- confident in illusion. She becomes glad with every single word that she hears from
22 her imaginary husband Andy. In every word that she creates in her illusion makes her stay and not go to the real world, so it is hard for her to be away from the illusion.
Due to this fear, she hears the words from her husband, in other words, she imagines hearing these words as a wife who is cared and loved:
“Andy: I don’t want you in hospital. I want you here where we can
look after you properly. Get you into that place, we’ll never see you
again…
Susan: (calling him back) Andy…
Andy: (turning back to her) Hmmm?
Susan: Seriously. You do spoil me far too much.
Andy: Maybe. I don’t know. Perhaps. (Returning to her) If we do,
I’ll tell you why it is. Because we’d all be lost without you. There’s
only one of you, you see.(Smiling slightly) Unfortunately. And we all
need you very much. Me most especially. I mean, after all, what does
Tony stand to lose? Just a big sister. So what? Plenty of those. Ten a
penny. And Lucy? Well – girls and their mothers. We all know what
they’re like. She’d soon get over it. But me? I’d be losing a wife. And
that I’d never get over. Not one as dear and as precious as you. (He
kisses her tenderly) Whom, incidentally, I love more than words can
say…” (Ayckbourn, 1986: 6)
After the lovely and caring atmosphere, Susan comes back to real world when
Andy leaves. This is given with the fading and pausing. Susan, now, can hear the dog barking. It is understood that she passes the illusion when Bill goes to look for the
23 ambulance, and comes back to reality when he comes back to check and inform her.
However, she seems not to get back to the reality, because she tells Bill that she has just talked to her husband and he doesn’t want him to go to the hospital. In reality,
Bill knows that her real husband Gerald is not at home.
At this point, the audience starts to get some information about what her imaginary world and its imaginary characters look like with the descriptions and the dialogue between Bill and Susan. Susan describes her husband as lovely and helpful, she ignores the fact that she has a sister-in-law “short, dark, angular, grim-looking in a rather firm sort of way” (Ayckbourn, 1986: 7) Muriel but brother Tony “tall, fair, slim, good-looking in a rather weak sort of way…” (Ayckbourn, 1986:7) She chooses to have a brother, because she thinks that the reason why Gerald feels so confident is that there is someone he can trust from the same blood. However, Susan does not have this chance, so she has created Tony.
The description of the garden is also totally different from the reality. The garden has a great tennis court, it is green and cared well. She even supposes that there is a swimming pool, rose beds and even a lake in the garden. There is also someone who is in charge of cooking. All these descriptions show that she has a deep tendency to have such a luxurious life in reality. She doesn’t want to believe that she is ill in fact.
With the anxiety of understanding that all the things she experiences are just hallucinations and dream, she wants to be approved by someone especially the doctor. However, Bill cannot give this approval to her. At this time, one of the most
24 notable points about how Susan sees her reality is witnessed by the audience when
Bill describes how the garden looks like:
“Susan: (watching him) You can’t see any of it, can you?
Bill: I see – a small garden – very pleasant, very tidy, about twenty
feet wide by maybe about thirty foot long…There’s a little pond over
there. Not a lot in it – a stone frog, is it? – I think it’s a frog – the
thing I fell over, anyway. Some flowerbeds with wallflowers –
shrubs, several shrubs – one newly planted. Presumably by you. A
rockery there -”
(Ayckbourn,1986: 9)
When she hears the realities, she wants him not to talk anymore and explains that the garden he describes is like a nightmare. It is clear to see that she is dissatisfied with the house and the garden as well as her family. It is actually a typical symptom of having illusions, which makes people try to change all the aspects of realities. The only way to get rid of this suffering is to have a totally different life.
As Act One goes on, it is discovered that time perception is also different from the real life. This idea of giving a different time consciousness enlightens how
Susan has lost the understanding of what is real and what is imaginary.
With the entrance of Gerald and Muriel, her imaginary world is broken off and she faints. The reason why she loses the strength of standing is the moment the reality clashes into her face. She is suddenly aware of the reality which is a deep
25 suffering and shuts her mind down. The only difference is that she begins to remember something from the reality, and it is clear that she has had this experience recently. It is also clear that she has been just released from the hospital. It is the briefest pause in the play and she gains her consciousness with the assumption that she has slept.
In this part of the play the audience sees the conversation between Susan and her real husband Gerald. It can be inferred from the dialogue that Gerald is described as a disregarding figure and that makes Susan create her own imaginary world. Her role as a woman in reality is so pessimistic that she tries to find ways to escape from it. She feels that all the responsibilities she has taken so far do not seem important for the rest of the family. For the first time, she admits that she is aware of the fact of she is having hallucinations. She describes the imaginary world to her husband with its details which is a sign of consciousness. The only character who is seen in both real and imaginary world is Doctor Bill. The reason why Doctor Bill is chosen as the common character is that he is the only person who is aware of her illness.
In the real world within the family, they do not share and love as it used to be. At this point, it is remarkable that Susan can remember how the characters of the real world have hurt her. Susan gets rid of taking care of her family that’s why in the imaginary world she creates family members who take care of her.
The other trauma which Susan has experienced in real life is about Rick. Rick is described as a character belonging to a group that prohibits the communication with his family. With this character it is understood that Susan has a daughter in her imaginary world because she tries to escape from the responsibilities of having a son
26 like Rick. Susan blames her husband for the behaviors of Rick and they have harsh quarrel with her husband about it. At the moment in which the quarrel reaches the highest point Susan sees her imaginary child. However, she does not lose the connection with reality. It illustrates that she prefers to escape to the imaginary world when she cannot resist against the reality:
“Gerald: He always send his love, you know. Rick. When he writes.
He always sends you his love.
Susan: Does he? You must send mine back then, mustn’t you?
Gerald: Yes I usually do. When I write. Well.
At this point, Lucy, now in a light, flowing summer dress, comes
chasing past them laughing. The sound is very faint. Tony comes on
in pursuit. They chase off
Susan watches them. Gerald looks at Susan, puzzled
What is it?
Susan: Nothing.
Gerald: You looked as though you’d seen something?
Susan: Only a bee.
Gerald: A bee?
Susan: A December bee.”
(Ayckbourn, 1986: 17-18)
27
December Bee, mentioned above, is the other name of the play. It is widely known that bees do not produce anything in the winter, but they need protection and care. The reason why Susan sees December bees can be related to the need of care and protection. With the appearance of Bill, she moves away from them and sees her imaginary daughter Lucy. The moment that she sees her is when Gerald talks about his book. It is a clue that Susan does not want to hear any word about his interest which creates the distance between them.
In the illusion, Susan does not have any responsibilities as a housewife. It is also revealed that she is a famous writer in the illusion. One can conclude that a deep anger and jealousy of her arises because Gerald writes something. She wants to seem as a well-known, busy and appreciated woman, which is a big lie in reality. The book that she writes is also about history like her real husband does.
While she feels proud of herself and pretends to be modest as possible, she sharply comes back to the reality. With this immediate coming back, it is revealed that she faces the realities when she is at the top of the pleasure of living in illusion.
She returns to illusion when she feels the most helpless in reality.
The other notable part of the play that forces her to live in illusion is the sincerity of the family members especially her imaginary daughter Lucy. In reality, her son Rick has been married to someone whom they don’t have any idea about, and
Rick hasn’t shared anything about how they’ve met and his feelings. Susan tries to compensate this with the help of daughter. She shares she has met with someone who is “witty and charming and handsome and tender”. By drawing such a picture, all the things that seem impossible in reality becomes true in illusion. It is understood that
28 she imagines children who share their happiness and talk to her. After the celebration of the good news, which can be seen the peak of the happiest moments, she comes back to reality by remembering her responsibilities.
After the conversation with Lucy, Bill tries to understand what sort of hobbies Susan has. With this question, it is clear that Susan is not content with the things that she is interested in. The only hobby that she is able to show as an example is watching TV. She is aware that she usually watches something ‘trash’. It is also obvious that she wants to change this attitude because she always questions herself about why she has such a hobby. She also mentions that she reads some books related to historical romance and she sees them as not ‘the right books’. The tendency of reading history can be seen as a deep envy that she feels against her husband, who is too much interested in writing a history book. Romance, as a type of story, might be seen as a way to show how she is in need of love and caring. It is clear that she tries to create a harmony between history and romance and find something from her ideal life in the books.
The rest of the conversation between Susan and Bill is about if Susan is interested in any sports. It is revealed that she wanted to ride a horse when she was a child, but her father didn’t let her have one. He also rejected the idea of having pets at home so Susan feels disappointed with Bill’s question. From this desire, it is understood that she had a dominant father who ignored her ideas like her husband
Gerald and she has grown up with the acceptance of her weak character.
With the aim of changing the topic that has lead Susan to sadness, Bill asks some questions about Gerald’s book. It is revealed that the book is about the history
29 of parish since thirteen eighty six, which is a very long time to write. Susan insists on the idea that the book is only important for people who live in that parish although
Bill thinks that it sounds interesting. Susan feels that the time Gerald has spent writing is like the time the parish established. It is also clear that she blames her husband for having a single child because of the time he has spent for the book. It can be seen as the reason of having an imaginary daughter in her imaginary world:
“Bill: He’s your one-and-only, isn’t he?
Susan: Yes. Our one-and-only. We’d probably have had more if it
hadn’t been for my husband’s book…
Bill: Oh, yes?
Susan: That’s tended to burn up most of his midnight oils. If you
follow me.” (Ayckbourn, 1986: 22-23)
The conversation between Susan and Bill is interrupted with the coming of
Gerald carrying some drinks. Susan is delighted with the Marsala wine, which is famous for its intense alcohol and mostly popular among British families. Susan refers to it as “ what I’d love more than anything else is a glass of Marsala.” Ayckbourn,
1986: 22)Wine is depicted as a drink that commonly symbolizes death, sacrifice, forgiveness, and suffering, so it can be inferred that it symbolizes her sacrifice and suffering because of her real family and the world that she has to share with them. It is notable that she drinks champagne, which symbolizes joy, wasting, luxury and excitement, with the imaginary family, so illusion and reality in the play is clear with these symbolic figures.
30
Bill asks some questions about Rick to Gerald. The answers are not given fully and Gerald tries to calm Susan down when he realizes that she shares too much information about her family with the doctor. In this conversation, Gerald explains that Rick has decided to sell his room with all the furniture, which makes Susan shocked and disappointed. She believes that the bed and the chair in the room are the things that connect Rick to the family. She has a sudden deep depression with the news and bursts into tears and it is the moment that she sees her champagne. It is clear that she makes a quick visit to the illusion because of experiencing a shocking event that she doesn’t want to be in.
After this quick visit, Susan comes back to reality and learns that Rick is in front of the door. She hesitates to see her and stops for a while. The moment she moves reluctantly she sees Lucy again. Lucy is the imaginary daughter that she has in the imaginary world, so she sees when there is a complicated matter with her son
Rick. The imaginary world also appears when she attempts to do something that she doesn’t want to do. The dialogue between Lucy and Susan shows that Susan is aware of the real world and she knows she has to cope with the problems of her real family:
“Gerald: Susan, are you coming?
Susan: In a moment…
Gerald: He’s arrived. Rick’s here.
Susan: (sharply) In a minute, Gerald.
Gerald: (flustered) All right. All right.
Gerald goes
31
Susan hesitates and then reluctantly makes to follow. As she
does so…
Lucy appears
Lucy: Mummy?
Susan: (without looking at her) Oh, hallo, darling.
Lucy: Are you coming to eat? Everything’s ready…
Susan: I can’t today, darling, I’m sorry ——
Lucy: (hurt) What?
Susan: I have to – have lunch somewhere else.
Lucy: Somewhere else?
Susan: Yes.
Lucy: But what about us? What about the family? You can’t leave
us…
Susan: (rather desperate) I’m sorry. Another time…”
(Ayckbourn, 1986: 27)
Susan learns that Gerald hasn’t had a chance to talk to Rick, but Bill has done. Muriel, her sister-in-law, calls them for dinner. Gerald insists on Susan coming along with him and seeing Rick. It is the moment when Susan sees her imaginary brother and she thinks that she is drunk. All the imaginary family members try to prevent Susan from entering and seeing the truth. The truth is about Rick and it hurts her deeply. In her mind, she tries to prevent herself from facing the realities. Bill, at
32 that moment, the only character that Susan can see and talk to, and the imaginary family members don’t want her to talk to Bill. It is clear that they direct Susan. Lucy, the imaginary daughter, tells her she has always been hurt by the real family although
Susan does not want to accept it. Susan, with the force of the imaginary family, makes Bill go off and tries to enjoy the meal that she has with the imaginary family.
It is clear that she feels responsible for both families, that’s why she is not relieved although she is with the family she wants to have. The imaginary members are her second self which questions many things silently.
All imaginary family members try to cheer her up and Andy, the imaginary husband, talks to Lucy about her music scholarship in Cambridge. Having a daughter who is talented at music her dream that she is inspired from Bill. Before Susan deeply comes into the illusion with the imaginary family, Bill has given some details about his children and mentioned his daughter Katie has just got a music scholarship to Cambridge. It is inferred that Susan desires to have a daughter and Lucy is the one who fulfills Rick’s emptiness.
“Gerald: Steady, dear…
Susan ignores him
You’ve got children of course, haven’t you, Bill?
Bill: Yes, Katie and Caroline. Caroline I think’s going to be the
doctor. She’s at Guy’s. And Katie’s just got a music scholarship to
Cambridge.
Susan: (miserably) Lovely.
33
Gerald: (unhappily) Yes…
Andy: I know what I wanted to ask. Have we heard any news from
Cambridge about your music scholarship, Lucy?
Lucy: Nope. Not a word, yet.
Tony: She’ll get it. She’s brilliant.”
(Ayckbourn,1986: 29)
When the voices of the family members become “cacophonous”, Rick appears and it is the first time the audience sees him. He does not have an unusual appearance that it is expected and when he calls her mother, Andy, the imaginary husband, see and watch him with the other family members. Susan is the last one who sees Rick. She is shocked to hear him because he hasn’t talked to them for a long time. Rick invites Susan over for dinner and so she finds a sudden way to enter the real world. Rick tries to help her but Susan says that she manages to handle it.
However, with the shocking effect of seeing and hearing Rick she faints. The drink that she has with the real family makes her forget where she is. The suffering reality of hearing a single word from Rick triggers Susan so deeply that she loses her consciousness and Act One ends with this scene:
“Rick: (softly) Mum…
Andy, who is facing that way, is the first to see Rick. He
stops and stares. The others, noting Andy’s expression,
follow suit. Susan is the last to turn
Mum?
34
Susan: (stunned) Rick? (She gets up, rather unsteadily. She stares at
her son unbelievingly) Ricky? Is that you? Speaking?
Rick: Yes. We wondered if you were coming in for lunch?
Susan: Oh, yes. Yes, of course…(She starts to make her way,
somewhat uncertainly, towards the house)
The family continue to stare
Rick: Can you manage?
Susan: Yes. Oh, yes. (She reaches the middle of the garden and
sways) I wonder——I wonder if one of you would be so good as to
hold on to me for a moment?
Rick (moving to steady her) Mum?
Susan: I just feel a little sleepy. I’ll be fine in a —— ( As her knees
begin to buckle under her) Oh, no… Here I go again…”
(Ayckbourn, 1986: 30)
Act Two starts with the voice of Susan. The moment that she opens her eyes is given with the lights. From the lights, it is clear that the play is depicted from her point of view: “A good lighting designer, however, will serve the play, make your actors look good and add more atmosphere and texture. Search these out. They are rare breed.”
(Ayckbourn, 2004: 63)
The scene is nearly the same with the beginning of the play as she lies on the ground. The only difference is that Rick is over there looking at her mother. Susan
35 supposes that she has had a dream and seen Rick speaking to her. However, it’s not a dream. The reason why Rick speaks is he has left the group that prohibits communicating with the family members. Susan tries to understand why he wants to leave the house and learns that he has already got married to a girl called Tess without informing them about the wedding. The real world that she comes back due to the voice of her son is shattered with the disappointment that she feels because of her son again. It affects her so deeply that she sees her imaginary daughter for a while to get rid of the difficulty of the real life. It is clear that the only way that she has to choose to get relieved is to see the imaginary family members:
“Susan: You’d got married as another way to get back at us. Your
father and me. Silly idea, is it?
Rick: It’s a bloody ridiculous idea.
Susan: Yes. (She sits up with a little cry of grief) Oh… sorry. I’ll be
all right in a moment.
Rick: (muttering) I knew you’d take it like this ——
Susan: Well, what did you expect?
Lucy appears at a distance from them
Lucy: (calling softly) Mother…Mother…
Susan: Oh, do go away…
Rick: What?
Susan: Nothing.
36
Lucy, a little hurt, sits at some distance from them and
watches unobtrusively)
(Ayckbourn, 1986: 32)
Susan is aware that as a family they haven’t discussed the things that they have to cope with, so she is willing to compensate it. She offer to meet Tess, Rick’s wife, but Rick does not want to let them get together. In fact, they plan to move to
Thailand where his wife works as a nurse. It is obvious that Rick is back home, but not completely. When she learns his plans, she gets disappointed again, because she cannot get the things she wants from her son. She insists Rick on bringing Tess to meet and it is understood that Rick is not content with the family he has, so he does not want them to meet her. He has had some bad experiences with his mother about his affairs. He does not want to let this happen again. Susan gets angry with this manner and she expresses what she feels about Rick and how she sees him. She moans that she should have had a daughter. With this sentence, it is clear why she has an imaginary daughter Lucy. When Rick hears that she wishes to have a daughter, he mentions that it is not a good idea for a daughter to have a mother like
Susan. He does not have any positive feelings about his family:
“Susan: It’s a shame you told me that. Up to now, I always thought
I’d managed rather well. I should have had a daughter. I could have
coped with her (Rather waspishly) Boys are all such delicate
blossoms, aren’t they?
Lucy looks up
37
Rick: I don’t want to hurt you any more, Mum, but God help
any daughter who had you as a mother.
A pause
Look, don’t take it all personally. It wasn’t just you. There was Dad
as well. Looking them up and down. Terrified they’d turn out to be
the daughters of Beelzebub. Scarlet women after his son’s body. Tess
came straight to the group from a convent education and training.
She knows all about the theory of life. Don’t worry. But she’s still a
bit short on the practical. And she needs to be introduced to certain
elements of it gradually. Elements like you and Dad.”
(Ayckbourn, 1986: 34-35)
When Ricks leaves his mother to tell the news to his father, one of the most complicated dialogues is experienced between Gerald and Susan. It is difficult to follow the changes in Rick’s life by Gerald so managing the dialogue is tiring for
Susan. She sees nearly all the characters from her imaginary family while Gerald blames her for the events. The imaginary characters direct her at that time so she has a real self-confidence with their help and shouts at Gerald. The voices are theirs but in fact the ideas in their mind are exactly Susan’s:
“Gerald: Why didn’t he tell us?
Susan: I should have thought that was fairly too obvious.
Gerald: Yes. I suppose so. All the same, I don’t think it’s fair to lay
all the blame at your door.
38
Tony: What?
Lucy: What?
Susan: What?
Gerald: There are probably two sides.
Lucy: Mother, don’t stand for this…
Susan: My door? Did I hear you correctly?
Lucy: Her door?
Susan: My door?
Tony: Want me to shoot him?
Susan: No.
Gerald: No, I’m saying, there are usually two sides
Susan: How dare you?——
Lucy: How dare he?
Tony: Perfectly easy to shoot him…
Susan: (to Tony) No. (To Gerald) How dare you stand there and —
Gerald: Now, Susan, I’m not going to start on this. We have argued our lives away over that boy and we’re not going to do it any more. I refuse to become involved. ——
Susan: You smug——
39
Lucy: Self-satisfied——
Susan: Self-satisfied——
Tony: Conceited——
Susan: Conceited…bastard!
(Ayckbourn, 1986: 36)
She feels a bit relieved, because she is supported by the imaginary family members, but she also tries to alter her tone of voice although she repeats the word
“bastard”. Susan’s illusion is clear when Muriel, her sister-in-law, comes with a tray. When Tony, her imaginary brother, sees Muriel, he is not content with the situation and leaves the room. It shows that Susan does not want to see the imaginary characters with the real characters together:
Muriel: Here comes a lovely cup of coffee.
Gerald: (startled) What?
Tony: Yurk. I’ll see you later.
(Ayckbourn, 1986: 36)
Susan is fed up with being blamed by the others for the events that the family has experienced. She loses her temper and shouts at the others. It is the time that her daughter Lucy comes and tries to calm her down. Lucy wants her to know that the imaginary family members love her and do not blame her for anything. She also claims that she has seen some news showing Susan as the best heart surgeon, which is not true. In general flow of the play, Susan is glad to hear these words from her
40 imaginary daughter. However, she is not in the mood of lying herself. Her mind trying to deceive her also tries to show that she has to cope with the reality at that time. She shouts at Lucy and wants her to go away. When she sees Lucy cries, she apologizes and calls her again:
“Lucy: Mother? Mummy, don’t be unhappy. (Kneeling by Susan)
Can we talk about my wedding?
Susan: (rather more curtly than normal) Yes, we will do, darling, but
not just at this moment.
Lucy: Even if they don’t appreciate you, we love you, Mother.
Susan: Yes, thank you, darling.
Lucy: I think you’re just the most marvelous person—ever. Do you
what it said in the Sunday Times about you, last week? It said you
were the most brilliant woman heart surgeon there was in this
country. It said———
Susan: (snapping) Oh, do shut up, Lucy. For heaven’s sake, don’t be
so stupid. I’m not a heart surgeon. I never have been. Now go away.
Lucy: (hurt) Yes, Mother.
Her eyes brimming with tears, she rises and rushes away
Susan: (immediately remorseful) Oh, I’m sorry. I’m sorry. Come
back. I’m sorry.”
(Ayckbourn, 1986: 37)
41
After this regret, Gerald comes and accepts Susan’s apology, which is for
Lucy. Susan wants to talk about their relationship, but Gerald does not seem so willing to do it. Instead, he prefers his book and tends to leave. Susan gets furious and threatens him to end their marriage. Gerald pretends not to understand what
Susan means and leaves there. Susan loses her temper again and shouts at him but she is alone with her anger. She just looks at the sky and then the garden gets darker while Andy enters and watches her. The darkness is used to give the passage between illusion and reality. Also, Andy is the imaginary husband, and when Gerald, the real one makes Susan angry, he is there to help her. Susan creates him in her mind to fulfill the emptiness that Gerald has created in her life. She is in illusion and she is with Andy who cares her and she is so happy with the lovely atmosphere that her imaginary family provides her:
“Andy: Beautiful, isn’t it? The sunset?
Susan: (without turning) Yes, we’re very lucky. Having all this.
Andy: (moving closer to him) I hear you were angry with Lucy.
Susan: I’m sorry. Did she tell you?
Andy: She only wanted to please you.
Susan: I know, I know…
Andy: Her whole world falls apart when you do that———
Susan: All right. Andy, don’t keep on at me. I’m sorry.
Andy: (kissing the back of her neck) Forgiven.
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Susan: (wriggling with pleasure) Mmmm. How do you make me feel
so helpless? You only have to touch me and my knees give away…”
(Ayckbourn, 1986: 38)
While Susan is content with the love she shares with Andy, Tony appears with some bloody thing in his bag, which carries a fresh dead body of an animal.
Susan wonders much about it but the others want her to see it later. In this scene, it becomes clear that Susan begins to get alienated with the imaginary family members.
She supports that she doesn’t know anything about them and believes that they have altered. She starts to ask questions about why they are here and what they want from her. It is obvious that she loses the control of the imaginary life, because despite all efforts she isn’t able to escape. At the beginning, it is easy for her to go to the real world when she wants and she only sees the imaginary family when she feels that she does not have the strength to cope with. Now, it turns out that the imaginary characters direct her and they do not let her to escape. She questions why they do not go even though she tells them to leave. She really wants to see the real family but she is not able to do it:
“Susan: Andy, what has he just killed?
Andy: Oh, darling, how should I know? He shoots anything that
moves. You know Tony.
Susan: (drawing back from him a little) No, I don’t think I do know
Tony. Not any more. Any more than I think I know you. You’ve
altered. You’ve all altered, recently.
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Andy: Darling…Come on.
Susan: What do you want from me? What are you doing here?
Andy: You know that…
Susan: No, I don’t. What?
Andy: We’re here because you asked us here.
Susan: No, That’s just the point, you see. That was how it was, originally. Yes. But not now. You just keep popping. All of you. That girl. She’s taken to just coming and sitting there, now, staring at me for ages on end——
Andy: That girl’s your daughter.
Susan: Well, whoever. I was having a private conversation. Why was she sitting there?
Andy: She felt you needed her.
Susan: Well, I am. I’m telling you now. Please go.
Andy doesn’t move
Go on. Shoo. Vanish.
He smiles at her but still doesn’t move
There you are, you see. You don’t take a blind bit of notice of me, do you? I’ve told you to go. You’re still here.
Andy: Perhaps you didn’t really mean it?” (Ayckbourn, 1986: 39)
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Susan is quite sure that she wants to see her real world. She is even so determined to face with the real problems that have led her to the imaginary world.
However Andy does not let her go and suddenly they swap their bodies. It shows that she totally loses the control of her imaginary world. She desperately puts herself into every imaginary character with Andy and she tries to understand where she is and what she does. She sees Andy and ask who he is and wants him to go again. The sentence that Andy uses is a kind of summary of Susan imaginary world: “Beware,
Susie! Nothing is who it is! No-one is what he seems!” (Ayckbourn, 1986: 40) Andy goes with this sentence. And the part of the day changes into a normal afternoon. Susan is alone and happy to see that they are not here and shouts at them not to come again.
She realizes that there is something wrong with her mental health and she does not want to lose the connection with the reality despite all the traumas.
After this complicated situation, Bill comes and asks if she also wants him to go away. Susan does not expect him to come and it makes him afraid but she is relieved with his appearance. Bill is the only character for her to understand if she experiences a mental illness or not. Bill is sane while Susan is not and she is aware of this reality. Bill tries to calm her down and brings her some pills. It is understood that he has already brought some before, but Susan believes that someone evil has possessed her and directs her life. She asks Bill if it is possible to happen. The imaginary world she has created in her mind first has made her relieved and she has gained self-confidence, but when she understands she has lost the control of this world, she wants to wake up from this nightmarish dream. Bill is not able to give any clear answers for this question, so he tries to find something scientific to make her
45 feel like she is not alone. It is clear that the hallucinations seem to have happened earlier while it is clarified by Bill that it has been yesterday. He offers her to share the experience with Gerald but Susan totally rejects it. She knows that Gerald uses her weakness and makes fun of her. She has difficulty understanding what Bill says about patients who have the same experience and see hallucinations like her. She thinks that the only way to believe that she is sane is to see other people talk to the imaginary characters like her. She knows that she has created them in her mind. She is sure if she makes them captured in their world, she may get rid of them.
While Susan tries to figure out the ways of escaping them, Bill comes up with a new idea: they may be the symptom of a medical illness. He believes that the imaginary characters cannot be suppressed and ignored, so they are required to be treated by a specialist. Susan believes, however, the only person that can heal her is herself. She knows if she let them go, she cannot control them anymore. She has to find something different to get rid of the imaginary world.
Bill, who seems to have taken the place of Andy, asks about Rick and learns that he plans to get married. Susan pretends to know who her daughter-in-law is, because she wants to seem like an ideal mother. From her description, it is clear that she does not have any positive ideas about the girl. However, the conversation ends up with Bill’s flirtation with Susan. He declares that he has always found Susan so attractive since he saw her in school concerts eleven years ago. He, with the courage he takes from Susan, tends to kiss her when the imaginary daughter wanders behind
Bill. She warns him that she is here. Bill does not want to hurt Susan’s feelings about it, but in fact he cannot see any other person in the garden. He pretends to speak as if
46 he sees Lucy, who does not understand what is going on. Lucy is not content with
Bill’s presence, but Susan tries to calm her down. Tony, the imaginary brother, comes and attempts to interfere. However, Susan does not want them to do anything.
She is not willing to see that imaginary characters harm the real characters. In the imaginary world, the real characters seem ugly as Susan sees them in this way except
Bill. Andy, the imaginary husband, comes and asks what the matter is and Susan says that Bill cannot hear them. It is clear that Susan is already aware that Bill pretends to see them. She knows she is the only person who has this imagination.
After this entire quarrel, all of a sudden, Bill starts to hear all the things that the imaginary characters utter. It is obvious that Susan assumes that he is able to hear as Bill introduces himself as a different person with a different job. The other characters try to open his case, which disturbs Bill. At the end, it is understood that there is a kind of dress knitted as macramé, which Bill has mentioned as a relaxing hobby for himself. He has made it for her daughter’s first school concert. It is clear that Susan has recorded every detail that she has envied in Bill’s life and now sees it in the imaginary world.
Lucy wants to wear the dress, but Bill tries to take it back so he goes off.
When all the things happen, the weather gets darker. With Bill’s leaving, the sky gets brighter again for Andy and Susan. They start to talk about Lucy’s wedding and then they go on to remember their wedding. It is clear that Susan creates Andy with the characteristics of Bill. They mention that they have known each other for eleven years like Bill has said before, and they start to make love. Suddenly, Susan realizes that she makes love with the devil and closes her eyes:
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“Andy: He will adore you. She will be wild with jealousy, mark my
words. (Moving to her) And if you reciprocate in the slightest way,
so I will be.
He kisses her softly. They sink to the ground
Susan: (murmuring) Oh, Andy…
Andy: Shhh!
He gently lies her back on the grass. He starts to kiss her
neck.
As he does so, Susan opens her eyes in brief horror,
suddenly aware of her predicament
Susan: (as he continues kissing her, softly) Oh, dear God! I’m
making love with the Devil…”
(Ayckbourn, 1986 49-50)
After Susan’s awareness, there is a black-out as a passage to the reality. The weather is dark and there is a clap of thunder, rain and lighting. These are used to emphasize the reality is traumatic for Susan. She has nearly lost the connection between reality and imagination. When the audience sees her, Andy is not here and she lies on the garden in a nightdress. Gerald comes and finds her. It is understood that he has been searching for Susan, and he believes that Susan has started fire to burn his book. Susan claims that she hasn’t done anything like that but tells him to go away, because she hates and wants to divorce him. It is not obvious to understand if
Susan is responsible for the fire, but it is clear that she does not feel bad when she
48 hears it. Susan tries to explain that she has been out and Bill can be a witness for it.
However, Gerald knows that Bill is not at home. Susan thinks that the imaginary family members have thrown him to the lake, which Gerald cannot understand because there is no lake in the garden. The lake is the lake that Susan has created in her mind as an imaginary sightseeing she has never had in her real small garden.
Gerald tries to persuade her to think clearly about their marriage but she is determined to be free. Susan feels that she has freed every member of the real family as revenge of their ignorance. However, she feels alone at the same time, and she calls imaginary family members. She is really in a deep depression and wants to relax with the characters in her mind and the changes of feelings are sudden:
“Susan: (after him, as he goes) I don’t care. I’m free of you all now,
you see. All of you. You with prim little, frigid little, narrow-minded
little meanness. And that priggish brat who’s ashamed of me. Who’d
faint at the sight of a pair of tits. As for her with her dead husband.
No wonder he died. (Yelling) What are you hoping for, Muriel? A
phantom pregnancy? (She laughs) Too late, dear. Too damn late.
You and me both. Over the hill. Over the…(She suddenly feels sorry
for herself. She becomes more plaintive and tearful. She looks
around her. In a small voice) Where’s everybody gone? They’ve all
gone.(She sings) Rain, rain, go away…(calling softly) Andy? (She
listens) Lucy?
(Ayckbourn, 1986: 53)
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With the clap of thunder, the imaginary characters come to the stage. The passage between reality and illusion is given with the change in weather conditions.
In the real world, there is heavy rain and thunder while in the imaginary world it is sunny and the sunshine is a remarkable detail. It suddenly gets better with the help of
Tony’s umbrella which he holds over her head. This sudden change makes her happy and clears the entire gloomy mood she has.
The day is stated as the wedding day of Lucy. The images and the colours show Susan’s mental world and all the decoration and details are from films and books she has seen and read. She has idealized a world from different types of visual materials. Susan has her night dress while others are dressed up. The wedding is organized so well that Susan appreciates Andy’s efforts for this. The reason why she imagines such a beautiful and desirable wedding is that she hasn’t has any chance to see her own son’s. It hurts her so much that she tries to heal up with this imaginary wedding.
The things get complicated in Susan’s mind. She believes that the wedding is going to be held for Lucy, but it becomes clear there is no wedding, but a running race and the imaginary family members with Bill behave strangely. They bet about the race and put money on it, because Lucy is one of the runners. The characters gives irrelevant details that Susan has in her mind about the real family like Thailand, the place where Rick plans to live, thirteen eighty six, which is the date in Gerald’s book. Susan has difficulty in understanding what happens and sees Muriel with a maid’s dress and she is pregnant. Susan thinks that there is something wrong in her mind. When she comes to the illusion, there is no one from the real family members
50 except Bill. However, she experiences a different situation, because the real family members are also there and they behave as if they know each other for a long time.
Susan knows that it is weird and wants to warn Gerald to go away but Susan is ignored by all the characters, which means the dream she sees does not include her anymore:
“ Susan: (vainly, after him) Andy, wait…
At this moment Gerald enters. He is dressed as an
Archbiscop.
Andy: (greeting him, like a long-lost brother) Hey! Hey! Look who’s
better late than never. Gerry! By all that’s holy!
Gerald: (embracing Andy with equal fervor) Andy, you old devil
you…
Susan: (absolutely appalled) Gerald?
Tony: Hallo, Gerry!
Susan: What’s Gerald doing here?
Gerald: Tony, you old rascal…And there’s Billy Beelzebub himself.
Hallo, Bill.
Bill: Hallo, Gerry…
Gerald: Well, this is nice, isn’t it? Isn’t this nice?
Susan: Gerald, just go away. Go on, get away! Get away!
She is ignored. In fact, from this point on, people
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appear to be less and less aware of Susan. As if she
herself were slowly slipping from the dream whilst it
carries on without her.
(Ayckbourn, 1986: 58)
Susan sees Lucy wearing a wedding dress, with its head dress but having animal ears and race winner rosette. She also realizes that Rick is behind her with a driver costume. It is understood that Rick and Lucy have been married for months, and also the other people try to make Tess, the waitress, husband for someone else. It is clear that Susan has really lost her control over her mind. The imaginary and real family members go on talking about the race, but they do not notice Susan. It makes her so desperate that she starts shouting and stamping her feet on the ground if anyone hears her or not. The band stops playing and everyone looks at her. It shows that when the things get complicated, Susan sees reaction as a solution to understand what real is.
All the characters pretend to see as if Susan has just come and they try to calm her down that there is nothing strange. They also ask some questions to her.
The real characters ask questions about if she remembers them. They also ask if she takes her pills. It is a clue states that they try to wake her up in reality. The imaginary characters, however, ask if she has hidden away somewhere. It means that she wants to go back to reality but she has lost her conscious so it is nearly impossible to wake up despite the efforts of the real members. Muriel, on the other hand, says that the ambulance is on the way while the others try to shush her. It makes it clear that she
52 goes through a crisis. The clap of thunder is heard but it does not affect the sunny weather. It shows that she hovers between illusion and reality.
At the end of the play, Susan is encouraged by all the characters to make a speech which is divided into two parts. In the first part the speech is understandable, she explains how she is happy to have all of them together. It is clear that she has understood the impossibility of passing through illusion and reality so she has decided to have all of them in an imaginary world, which makes her relaxed. She thinks that she has got two children, Lucy and Rick. The speech goes on with the fading light, and with this the second part of the speech is incomprehensible. This is the real version of the speech and it is clear that only the real family can hear her although she thinks that she is not heard or seen anymore. She sees the blue light of the ambulance, but she keeps talking incomprehensibly. The last sentence she utters is like a phrase: “December bee?” which means “Remember me?”. The other characters get frozen. Susan cries with a deep sadness and the lights black-out:
“Susan: Dearest friend. Family. My happiest moment has been to
stand here with you all and share this, my most precious of days. I
grow hugh, summer few bald teddy know these two wonderful
children, Lucy and Rick. I cannot tell you how heaply cowed siam.
As she continues to speak the Lights begin to fade
round her until finally she is isolated
Tinny beers a show. High December how rotten high trade fat
haywood throw twig and throng hike hair share rents, Pie lank hod
hat day lid! Hens hang few saw up-short. Hang few. Hang few, hens,
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sizzle pie tart insole. Grey ice way chew…? (She hesitates) Grey ice
way…?
She is aware that people seem to be getting harder
to see. She is starting to belit now by the reflection
of an ambulance’s blue flashing light
Hair growing, hens? Goosey? Gandy? Chair old? (She pauses) Hair
shone? Hair hall shone? Tone show, fleas, Fleas, tone show.
December bee? Choose’un. December choosey. December bee?
December bee?
The others have frozen in the shadows. They appear
neither to see nor to hear her now. Susan gives a
last despairing wail. As she does so, the Lights fade
to Black-out”
(Ayckbourn, 1986: 61)
4.4 Man as a Disregarding Figure and Woman Disregarded and These Two Figures Depictions in Woman in Mind
Literary works can be seen as the reflections of the real life experience and from this point of view they might be seen as mirrors to show how people behave towards their family and friends. Especially, the concept of marriage and how couples see each other in a love affair are two of the most remarkable issues for the authors. Sir Alan Ayckbourn has written Woman in Mind as one of the plays that depict marriage couples problems and the reasons behind them.
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In Woman in Mind, Susan and Gerald are the couple who have been married for a long time and they have some serious problems with their marriage. In this play, Gerald is depicted as a disregarding figure while Susan is the one who is disregarded. Gerald is described as a man whose main interest is to write a book about the history of the town he lives in and he seems not to spend quality time for his marriage. Susan is described as a woman who thinks that her family does not appreciate her efforts for the family and she has a real mental problem.
Gerald believes that Susan does nothing to make herself busy. He thinks that she is so reckless to do something that she does not get tired enough to sleep. Susan, however, has difficulty in understanding why he does not see her efforts, because she claims that she works hard all day as a housewife to run the house. When she has the chance to express herself, she mentions what she has done so far. However, Gerald seems to expect more from her:
“Susan: At least you sleep at night.
Gerald: Only because I’m exhausted from a full day’s work, give my
body no option.
Susan: Zonk.
Gerald: I beg you pardon?
Susan: You just zonk out.
Gerald: I’ve no idea what that means. Zonk? There’s your solution.
Fill your day a bit more. Then you’ll sleep.
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Susan: (flaring) I work extremely hard, Gerald, and you know it. I
help you whenever I’m able. I run this house for you –––
Gerald: With the help of my sister, you do––––
Susan: No, Gerald, despite Muriel’s help, I run this house. I do all
the cooking, the bulk of the washing up, all the laundry– including
Muriel’s– I cope with the sheer boring slog of tidying up after both
of you, day after day, I make the beds, I–––
Gerald: All right. All right, dear. We don’t need the catalogue. All I
am saying is– you still don’t seem to have enough to do.
(Ayckbourn, 1986: 11)
Susan is not content with her housewife role, actually, she wants to change something in her life and have a ‘real’ job. She is fed up with the housework which is ignored and not appreciated by the family. It really affects their relationship and she believes if she does not have a real job, it is nearly impossible to make Gerald feel that she has a crucial role in the society. From this point of view, it is clear that
Gerald is a real ignoring figure as a husband, who does not really care how Susan feels when he humiliates her although he knows that she is mentally ill.
Gerald does not fully understand how serious Susan’s trauma is, so when he tries to seem as a caring husband, he keeps making fun of it. Susan hallucinates and
Bill has shared it with Gerald. However, Gerald ignores the fact that there is something that they need to sort out as a couple. Instead he wonders if she has dreamed about something sexual including him. Although she tries to describe the
56 world she has seen, Gerald sees it in a different way. This disregarding manner makes her give up telling what she has experienced. Gerald tends to understand every single word that she utters as an accusation.
Susan, with the help of her illness, expresses that she has lost the passion she feels towards Gerald. However, Gerald intends to persuade her that it is not like that in realities. Gerald is so busy with the rest except Susan that he does not see sleeping separately as a problem in their relationship. Moreover, he insists that he loves her like he has felt before, but his feelings has had a new form of love. As a man, he tells her that sex is not a crucial thing in a marriage, which Susan never believes he is honest. Gerald seems to take the blame for this, but he thinks that woman in Susan’s age does not expect sexuality in a relationship. When he tries to explain the reasons behind the problem, he keeps disregarding Susan’s feeling. As a woman, she needs to hear that she has a sexual attraction no matter how old she is:
“Susan: Most of the time. Well, don’t look so glum. You don’t love
me neither.
Gerald: Yes, I do.
Susan: Oh, come on…
Gerald: I do. At least. I’m not aware that my feelings towards you
have altered that much–––
Susan: What? Not at all?
Gerald: Not that I’m aware of ––––
Susan: Oh, Gerald–––––
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Gerald: I still feel the same––––
Susan: We don’t kiss– we hardly touch each other– we don’t make
love– we don’t even share the same bed now. We sleep at different
ends of the room––––
Gerald: That’s just sex you’re talking about. That’s just the sexual
side––––
(Ayckbourn, 1986: 13)
Susan as a disregarded woman is seen as the one who is responsible for Rick, who wants to leave home and live abroad. No matter how Gerald pretends to be understandable, he implies that Susan has caused it. Susan is fed up with being held responsible and she loses her temper. Gerald’s behaviours cause her to leave the reality and give herself to the attractiveness of illusion. Susan is also not content with
Gerald’s interest in his book and she usually refers to it as a bloody one. She never understands why Gerald takes this book seriously although she has a serious mental illness. She even threatens him with her absence. Gerald, however, does not take it serious, too.
Susan has had different black-outs in the play and some of them are related to the quarrel that she has with Gerald. One of the biggest ones, Susan, with the courage of losing her conscious, says that she wants to get divorced, which Gerald never believes. He blames Susan to burn the book as a revenge, and it also shows how important his book is for him. Susan gets frustrated because she is the one who needs help more. Gerald tries to understand what has made Susan act in such a way. She thinks that marrying Gerald is the worst thing that has happened to him.
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As it is mentioned, the couple has no real understanding of what marriage is.
While Susan believes she and her efforts are ignored by Gerald, he claims that he has done everything to make her a happy housewife. Woman in Mind is a remarkable play in terms of the problems of couples who have been married for a long time in the modern world.
4.5 Stylistic Examples from Woman in Mind
Most plays involve dialogues, so the readers or the audience need to understand what each character means to say when they utter the words. One of the ways to get deeper meaning in literary works; especially in the plays is stylistic analysis. In Woman in Mind, Sir Alan Ayckbourn presents different stylistic examples to describe illusion and reality. The stage directions, the name of the characters are some of the ways to understand what Susan experiences throughout the play. Like many playwrights do, Ayckbourn, explicitly and implicitly, uses the characterization in such a way that it is possible to see what each of them represents for Susan.
Susan, the main female character, is mentally ill and as it is mentioned before, she suffers from understanding what is real and illusion. The play is written from subjective point of view, so the first thing is to examine stage directions and bracketed directions. Susan hesitates when she tries to awake from the illusion and the hesitation is given in stage directions and bracketed directions with certain words.
In these scenes the main bracketed indications for Susan are “trying”, “shocked”,
“disgusted”, “awake”, “deeply depressed”, “miserably”, “dully”, and “horror” .
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All these words have something in common: the reality is harsh for her. On the one hand, these show efforts to succeed something and gain consciousness. On the other hand, they show how a married woman has difficulty in carrying the heaviness of the real world on her shoulders.
The other crucial point for the stage directions about the real world is that they describe black and gloomy atmosphere of the reality. The lighting systems of each scene are designed with stage direction and the darkness of the reality is given thanks to these directions. The beginning of the play is dark since the audience sees
Susan lying on the ground. The garden Susan’s house has is described in the stage directions and it is also used as a symbol of the reality. Tiny and uncared garden is not the one Susan dreams of. In some scenes, especially the ones that she needs to escape from the reality, the weather also shows some differences. The rain, thunder and cold weather exist when she tries to gain her consciousness. It is also depicted in the stage direction:
“Then a tremendous clap of thunder. A short pause while it dies,
then rain, a further rumble and a flash of lightning. Susan is
revealed in the same place as before, on the grass, sprawled out,
eyes now open, a smile on her face. Rain is pouring down her. Andy
has gone…” (Ayckbourn, 1986: 50)
It is also remarkable to understand what style Ayckbourn uses to emphasize the difference between the characters in reality and the illusion by describing them physically in the stage direction. The real family is described in such a way that the audience sees and understands why Susan desperately wants to change the world she
60 lives in and creates in her mind. Her husband Gerald and Muriel are described as an
“unattractive picture” in the stage direction, which is not the one she desires. Her son
Rick is not an “extraordinary” and “alarming” character as the audience expects because of his unusual relationship with the family.
In terms of bracketed directions, the illusion has a different perspective. As a main character Susan has far lovelier conversations with the imaginary family members. In contrast to her depressive and shocking bracketed directions, she has quite positive ones. The words used in bracketed directions that describes Susan’s manners are “affectionately”, “touched”, dreamily”…etc. As she is in the world she is glad to be a member, there is no need to describe how she feels or reacts. As a result, the number of the words for this kind of bracketed directions is not as much as it is in the reality.
In the play, the stage direction used to describe the setting and atmosphere of the imaginary world is worth taking into consideration. While the real world is gloomy and dark, the imaginary world is filled with sunshine and fun. Ayckbourn uses stage direction to give the idea that Susan imagines a world which does not have anything in common with reality. For instance, the garden Susan imagines is a lot bigger than it is in the real world. The audience sees an imaginary character coming from playing tennis. These little instances create an imaginary setting. The weather conditions also are different. Especially, when Susan enters the imaginary world, there is no rain but sunshine. The darkness and the lightness are used to describe what is reality or illusion The changes in light are clues for the transformation:
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“The umbrella when opened is seen to be more of a sunshade or
even a parasol intended for sun rather than rain. Tony holds it over
Susan’s head. At once the weather is transformed. The rain stops.
The sun shines and it is noon on a glorious country afternoon. The
birds sing.” (Ayckbourn, 1986: 54)
Besides stage direction and bracketed directions, the names given to the characters have some crucial points in terms of stylistic analysis. The meanings of the names and the letters used in the names show how illusion and reality are shown in a different frame. The names used for real family members are Gerald, Rick and
Muriel. Each name has a different symbol for the real world traumas of Susan.
Her husband’s name, Gerald is “a masculine German name meaning "rule of the spear" from the prefix ger- ("spear") and suffix -wald ("rule")”. Spear “is a long weapon with a sharp point at one end used for hunting”. Gerald humiliates Susan when he gets the opportunity to do it. He thinks that the thing he deals with is important, and
Susan cannot do anything like him. Gerald’s words and the behaviours hurt Susan deeply, and “spear” can be a symbol for how deep the cut is deeper.
His son’s name Rick is abbreviation of Richard 'powerful; strong ruler.' Also it means gifted ruler, the ruler of people. Rick is Susan’s only child and she always sees herself as a caring mother. Rick, however, is not a son like she dreams of. He is a gift for her but he wants to rule his life in the way he wants. He does not care what her family expects from him. He takes his own decisions and in terms of this, he is powerful, too.
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Muriel means shining sea. From the eyes of Gerald, she is seen as a shining sea. She lives with them, serves them mostly. Also, she has a tragic story: a dead husband and no children. Gerald thinks that without Muriel, Susan cannot deal with the house. He cares for her more. So the meaning of the word Muriel is an image that
Susan sees from Gerald’s point of view.
In the imaginary world, the names are Andy, Lucy and Tony. The names have the same number of letters and they have one syllable. Also, the last letter of each is
“y”, which makes them soft. The reason why the names are short and soft is that the imaginary world is the only place that Susan feels relieved in and peaceful. All the images are relaxing and peaceful as she wants.
The imaginary husband, Andy means “brave; manly”. He is the husband that
Susan wants to have instead of Gerald, and he is the one who listens to her and devotes himself to make her happy. He takes responsibility for the family and organizes everything as Susan wishes and expects. With all these characteristics he becomes her ideal man.
Lucy, the imaginary daughter, means light. Susan has difficulty in getting contact with Rick and she has never managed him as she wants. Lucy, however, is like a way that let her go out of reality. When she has a quarrel with Rick, the first person that she sees is Lucy. So Lucy is a light for her in the darkness of reality.
Susan has a brother called Tony instead of her sister-in-law in the real world.
Tony means “highly praiseworthy”, which shows that she tries to oppress the feeling that Gerald causes her to feel: Muriel helps, otherwise Susan cannot do anything.
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With the meaning of Tony, this feeling is emerged, and Susan wants to convince herself with the idea that she is the one who has a praiseworthy brother.
The last character, Doctor Bill has an interesting meaning as a name. Bill means “resolute protector”. He is having both reality and illusion and in both worlds, he tries to protect and cure her. He is aware of how serious her mental illness is and no matter how she behaves towards him, he keeps helping her.
Both the family in reality and the family in illusion seem to be described to give the idea of the confused mind of Susan. However, Susan has a different purpose as a name. Susan means “graceful lily”, but when the root is examined, it means “joy of life” . First, lily is a type of flower which is large, often fragrant, and have different colours. There are plenty of symbolic meanings of lily. One of them is hope. Susan is hopeful to have a better life but when she understands that it is nearly impossible, she creates a new world in her mind. The life that she wants to live in gives a chance for her to renew herself, so the symbol of renewal is crucial from this point of view. She is passionate and she seems to desire to be seen as a sexual figure although Gerald says she has come to an age that requires rest, so the symbol of passion is used to emphasize it. Lily also means motherhood. She sees herself as a good mother even though Rick implies that she is not. However, motherhood is an essential characteristic symbol that she wants to persuade herself that she has it. The other symbol, which is remembrance, is used for her need to gain consciousness after the blackout she has when she tries to get back to the reality. As a last symbol, transition is used to describe her journey between reality and illusion. As a result
64 names are given as a symbol for each character from Susan’s point of view as the play is subjective, too.
Punctuation is also a way to describe how characters need to shape their speech but they cannot. Ayckbourn does not use ellipses for Gerald, but for Susan he does since the punctuation is a way to carry the message to the audience:
“…also the use of punctuation in the speeches. Sometimes the
speeches are broken up(quite grammatically incorrectly) in order to
give an indication to the actor of the preferred delivery…It actually
puts quite a different slant on the speech…The second way gives
Susan a fluency of speech which she seldom possesses. Her pattern
is breaking up like her personality. Gerald, in general, speaks in
longer, more finished sentences. He is someone who tends to think
before he speaks and does not anticipate interruption, as opposed to
the impetuous Susan.” (Ayckbourn, 2004: 63)
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CHAPTER 5
VERA: MAIN FEMALE CHARACTER IN JUST BETWEEN OURSELVES
5.1 Summary of the Play: Just Between Ourselves
Just Between Ourselves is one of Alan Ayckbourn's exterior garden-set plays
- the garage and garden of Dennis and Vera and more than four birthdays are held there from February towards the end of January. There are two male and three female characters in the play. In Act One, Dennis, the husband, is seen in his garage trying to fix a kettle. Throughout the play, it is clearly depicted that the garage is the place where Dennis spends most of his life. His wife Vera and his mother Marjorie do not seem to spend much time together with him. He has a deep passion towards DIY– do it yourself– even if he is not gifted at it. He is also highly interested in it rather than his wife Vera even if she helplessly tries him to care for her. All the efforts she has spent are not appreciated but Dennis makes humiliating jokes. Moreover, Dennis is not the only person that does it. His mother, whom Dennis praises all the time, has a tendency to imply that she does not care for her son as she should. These attitudes are depicted during the talk between Dennis and Nick, who wants to buy Dennis’ car for his wife, Pam, as a birthday present.
Although Neil and Pam, who are married and want to buy Vera’s car, seem as a perfect couple at first, it is soon understood that they have exchanged roles with
Vera and Dennis. Neil has forced Pam to be responsible for their child, Darren, although she seems more talented than him. Pam is cruel to her husband because she
66 sees him as the only reason that makes her stay away from work life while Dennis is the one who plays the same role with Pam in his relationship. Pam comes to the garage and forces Neil for a bargain. When they leave the garage, Marjorie has an argument with Vera and it causes her to drop the cups and saucers on the tray and burst into tears. The scene makes Dennis laugh a lot.
In Scene Two, Dennis’s birthday party is held and Pam and Neil are two guests and they argue on Neil’s fatherhood. It soon comes out that Pam was a promising supervisor but because of Neil, she had to leave the job and take care of her child. While this conversation goes on, Dennis meanwhile succeeds to convince
Neil to invest in a friend's business. In the garden, Marjorie joins Pam and Neil and gets angry with Vera because she has not made a birthday cake for Dennis. As a devoted mother, she has never ignored this detail even on the day of his father’s death. She doesn’t stop talking, which makes Vera frustrated and causes her to spill a cup of tea over the table. As it is guessed, this makes Dennis amused and he starts to sing a Happy Birthday song for himself.
The audience witnesses a birthday party of Neil and Marjorie in Act Two.
Neil has a great depression and tries to share this with Dennis but Dennis doesn’t seem to be interested in him at all. The only thing that he thinks is the birthday surprise which starts with Neil’s arrival to the garage and continues with the car horns and display lights that Dennis has prepared. Vera asks Dennis if he needs some help although she knows that he doesn’t expect any help from her. He doesn’t understand her at all but even so he asks her to make a list of the things that he can do as housework. After Vera Pam, who seems drunk and depressed, tries to tell
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Dennis that Neil’s aim is to destroy her life. Dennis offers a psychiatrist to her because he tells her that Vera also has had a psychiatrist treatment. The conversation is held in the car and suddenly Pam becomes ill. Marjorie sees Dennis and Pam, while he tries to get her out of the car and supposes that they have an affair. She deliberately tells Vera what she has witnessed. Vera starts to chase Marjorie with a sander and Pam faints on to the steering wheel and honks the car’s horn by mistake.
When the car horn is heard, the lights are on and Neil comes in with the birthday cake singing a song.
The last scene of the play is based on Vera’s birthday. It is set in the garden.
However, Vera is motionless in a blanket as if she has experienced a breakdown. She does not talk to anybody. Thanks to this, Marjorie plays the role of Vera and she is the one who now takes care of her son and the housework. After this description the audience sees Neil and Pam coming to their house, and understands that Neil has lost all the money that he invested in with the advice of Dennis’ friend who has taken the money and run away. It comes out that Pam and Neil has split up for a short time but they are together now, but there is a difference. It’s Pam who does practice to get her work again and Neil is the one who has to depend on the money that she earns.
Dennis, with the regret of advising Neil to invest money, wants to give the car for free, but the couple doesn’t accept this. Then the audience hears Dennis who totally believes that Vera will get well soon, but it is clear that Vera doesn’t show any sign to get better. The birthday cake brought by Marjorie for Vera is the last image of the play. It is accompanied with a birthday song as it has happened in the
68 earlier scenes. Vera triggers the song but it is obvious that Dennis has no idea about what Vera has experienced so far.
5.2 Sir Alan Ayckbourn’s Point of View on Just Between Ourselves
Sir Alan Ayckbourn describes his play as one of the winter plays, because he prefers to set his play in late spring. For this reason, it is different from the others.
Also he depicts that he has written the plays at night and this has caused him to choose some pessimistic themes for the play:
“I wrote mainly at night - but this was my first experience of tackling
a play whilst the North Sea storms hurtled round the house, slates
cascaded from the roof and metal chimney cowlings were bounced
off parked cars below my window, rebounding hither and thither like
demented pinballs. Not surprisingly, the result was a rather sad
(some say a rather savage) play with themes concerned with total
lack of under-standing, with growing old and with spiritual and
mental collapse.
(Justbetweenourselves.alanayckbourn.net.)
Sir Alan Ayckbourn also sees his play as an example of dark comedy. There is no effort to have comic elements, it is full of truth about the married couple and he tries to emphasize how a husband, although Ayckbourn denies that he is a villain, ignores his wife. He believes that it is a story of married couples consisting of a neglect and neglected partners:
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"My plays although comedies are of course full of darkness - some
more than others. Just Between Ourselves is one of my very blackest
plays. Vera's final plight is unrelieved and there's no sudden comic
rescue for her - which in any case would have meant a total betrayal
had I done so. I suppose the reason for this is I try, within the limits
of dramatic form and the tacit acceptance that to a certain extent all
theatre is artificial, to allow my characters a truthful existence. I try
to allow them to behave as their natures dictate they should and
would behave. Inevitably there are times when this leads us into
some very uncomic, rather black areas of human existence - the
tragic and the comic anyway are never more than an inch apart."
(Justbetweenourselves.alanayckbourn.net.)
5.3 Illusion and Reality in Just Between Ourselves
In Just Between Ourselves, the illusion shows itself as Vera’s losing connection with the real world day by day and showing it with some specific behaviours which can be seen without entering her illusion world. The audience is the observer and has no chance to see what is really in her mind. The only way to see it is to make inferences from her reality.
Throughout the play, there is some evidence that shows Vera’s mental problems. From the very beginning, she always hesitates when she tries to say something to her husband. She has a typical tendency to be kind and from the dialogues, it is understood that she is clumsy and breaks down things. She is aware of
70 it, so she tries to hide it by being kind. It is not a full illusion at the beginning of the play, but it is one of the remarkable attitudes of people who are not content with the reality and shows it by spilling something all the time. It is also a sign of a mental problem called “Anxiety”:
“Anxiety Overthinking - Similarly, overthinking in general can have
some effects on anxiety. Overthinking is the act of being too much
inside of your own mind. As the name implies, usually you're lost in
your own thought or focused too heavily on your anxiety, your
thoughts, or even the movements of your body. Nearly every
movement in your body occurs automatically exactly how you want
it to, when you want it to. When you overthink, some of these
movements become manual, and often that leaves people much less
coordinated.” (Calmclinic.com)
Dennis wants to sell Vera’s car, which she couldn’t use because of her sickness. Sickness is a mental problem because she has difficulty in paying attention while driving. It seems that she has had some serious symptoms in six months’ time although Dennis thinks that she gets better. There is a kettle which Vera always spills in the play and it shows that she cannot do simple things at home, too. Dennis says that the kettle is just one simple example for her clumsiness. Lack of attention and concentration is also a clue to describe how she suffers in her real life. Her mind is full of something that she is not able to name, but perhaps it is her own illusion.
Vera’s general posture is stillness. She listens to Dennis while he humiliates her and just says “Dennis…” She never shouts at him, but tries to explain herself. Her stillness
71 is the time she is in her illusion. In reality, she is shy and embarrassed, but unlike
Susan, the audience does not know what she experiences in the illusion:
“Dennis: Well, I tell you, my love, I’ll give you a little tip shall I? A
little tip when you’re next using an electric kettle. They work far
better when you don’t keep slinging them on the floor.
Vera: I couldn’t help it. I just caught it with my elbow.
Dennis (to Neil, laughing): Caught it with her elbow.
(Neil smiles.)
If I told you, Mr. Andrews, the things my wife had caught with her
elbow…
Vera (shy and embarrassed): All right.
Dennis: You would not believe it, Mr. Andrews, cups, saucers,
dinner plates, radio sets…
Neil: Really.
Dennis: Whole tray of glasses.
Vera: Dennis…”
(Ayckbourn, 1978: 16-17)
The other clue that shows Vera suffering from mental illness is she always forgets the names. It disturbs her much and she is obsessed with it. She tries to remember and does not pay attention to the conversation among the characters.
Forgetting names is also a sign of anxiety:
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“Anxiety is a condition that not only affects you mentally – it affects
you physically as well. When you have anxiety you go through brain
chemistry changes and hormone changes that could, in theory,
change the brain and lead to issues with memory.”
(Calmclinic.com)
Marjorie, Vera’s mother-in-law, is aware that she is ill and needs to be looked after. She insists that she is ill by exemplifying her condition with one of her relatives who died because of mental illness. The phrase “go round through the bend” means she has got crazy and Marjorie thinks that she has been like Vera.
(Ayckbourn, 1978: 30)
At the end of Scene one, Vera wants to carry the tray again although Dennis knows that she is going to make a mess. Marjorie warns Dennis not to humiliate her because she in a state. Vera, however, denies it and believes that she is perfectly in a good state. She rejects the reality and in her illusion she convinces herself that she is healthy. When she drops everything as usual, she bursts into tears. Tears are the instances of helplessness. She desperately does not know how to handle it, so it leads her to illusion.
In scene Two, Vera and Pam, Neil’s wife, has a conversation which leads the audience to see Vera uttering longer sentences. It is clear that Marjorie is not the only one who understands that there is something wrong with Vera. Pam is also aware that she is ill. When Pam asks why she wants to sell her car, Vera explains the reason like
Dennis. She talks like Dennis and clearly indicates that she does not trust herself in reality. Dennis almost directs her opinions:
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“Pam: Still, I’d have thought it would have been very useful.
Shopping, things like that.
Vera: Oh, no. It’s quicker to walk really. And then there’s the
parking and all that. It’s very bad these days trying to park.
Dreadful. (Slight pause) And then, well really I found I didn’t really
enjoy driving really. I used to get so tense, you know. All the other
traffic and, er, I couldn’t seem…well, I’m not a very good driver.
Dennis always said I couldn’t concentrate. He used to hate driving
with me. I mean, he didn’t show it. He used to laugh about it but I
knew he hated it really. And I just seemed to get worse and worse at
it. So I gave up eventually. I think I’m a born pedestrian. That’s
what Dennis said. All thumbs, you know. (Pause) Would you like the
car? I mean, supposing you wanted to buy it, would you like it?”
(Ayckbourn, 1978: 36)
Act One ends with Dennis’ birthday, which is interrupted by Vera. She has forgotten to make a birthday cake from which his mother is usually responsible of.
Marjorie keeps complaining about the cake, which makes Vera lose her control.
When she tries to get connected with the real world and its necessities, she starts losing it with the accusations of the other people. She spills all the tea over the table makes Dennis laugh a lot. The reality is harsh it, hurts Vera and she does not feel good at all.
Act Two starts with the preparations of the birthday party of Marjorie. Dennis is busy with the present and he insists that Vera will get better. In scene one, Vera
74 seems more willing to explain what kind of a life she wants. She has a serious mental illness and the audience learns that she has seen a psychiatrist but she stopped seeing him. It is clear that she does not want to face with the real traumas of the real world.
While Dennis is busy with the preparation for Marjorie’s birthday party, the audience witnesses how Vera loses her temper. Pam and Dennis talk about Pam’s husband in the garage and Pam insists that she wants to try if she can start the engine of the car. When they try to start the engine, Marjorie wants to see her present and goes into the garage. She misunderstands what she sees and prevents Vera from seeing them. However, she sees them and shouts at Marjorie and tells what she feels.
It is the first time and the last time that she expresses herself so clearly:
“Vera: Dennis, I – (Seeing them) Oh, I’m sorry I…
Dennis: Vee, will you give me a hand?
Marjorie: I told you not to come in. Serve you right. There are
certain things it is best a wife doesn’t know about.
Vera: You poisonous old woman. You’re loving this, aren’t you? Is
what you’ve really wanted all along, wasn’t it? For Dennis to go off
with somebody. To break up my home.
Marjorie: I don’t know what you’re talking about, Vera, you’re
being most offensive.
Vera: You nasty old toad. You’ve always hated me. You’ve always
wanted my home.
Dennis: Now, Vera.
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Marjorie: I don’t know what’s come over you.
Vera: Oh, I’d love to – I’d love to sandpaper your rotten face.
(She picks up the electric drill.)”
(Ayckbourn, 1978: 59)
In Scene Two, it is time for Vera’s birthday party. Vera does not seem to talk at all. She gives short answers and her tone of voice is as if she is about to faint.
Silence is a kind of protest against reality. She gets tired of talking or explaining herself. In the last part of Act One, she has made her last speech to show how she feels when Marjorie insists on her forgetting the birthday cake. It is the time when she shows how she suffers. However, when she sees that there is no change, she goes back to her illusory world and the only thing she can do is to look blankly:
“Neil: Well, this is nice. Nice surprise.
Pam: How’s Vee?
Dennis: Well, in point of fact, she’s a lot better. She’s making giant
strides. The doctor’s delighted. He’s over the moon about her. Here
we are, Vee. Vee love, look who’s come to see you. Pam and Neil,
Vee. Come to see you.
Pam: Hallo, Vee.
Neil: Hallo.
(Vera looks at them blankly. They stand round her.)
Dennis: Say hallo, Vee. Say Hallo. Hallo.
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Vera (faintly):’llo.
(Ayckbourn, 1978: 63)
Although Dennis claims that she gets better, it is clear that she gets worse. On the other hand, she does not want to sit at home but stay in the garden. Home is like a prison for her because it reminds her to stay at home, not to work, not to be appreciated and to make mistakes. When she is out of the house, she just sits and gets rid of thinking about the reality. It is January, that means it is nearly impossible to be out, but she wants it. The audience cannot see what is in her mind, but it is clear that the reality hurts.
The play ends with Vera’s birthday. She just whispers and murmurs throughout scene two. For Vera, there is little connection with the reality. She does not see anything good in what is real. Her illusion is warm, free, that’s why she does not want to get home. Although the clues are limited, it is obvious that she is the typical woman character that Sir Alan Ayckbourn creates to show how a middle aged woman can lose the sense of reality because of her relationship with a disregarding man.
5.4 Negligence of a Man and Neglected Woman in Just Between Ourselves
In Just Between Ourselves, Sir Alan Ayckbourn depicts the marriage of a couple who has spent long time together, but could not succeeded in understanding each other. The problem that he depicts in most of the plays is that husbands neglect their wives, and the wives lose their self-confidence and find themselves mentally ill.
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Dennis, the husband, tends to see life as a fun, and he believes that if someone takes it seriously, he might not handle it and feel depressed. As a result of this belief, he cannot understand what Vera, the wife, feels and desires. There is also something that confuses his mind and it shows itself with the garage he has, so he prefers not seeing the negative side of the world:
“His fault is that - like many of us - he edits his life as he goes.
Removes the bits that don't quite fit with his view of the world as it
should be. In reality - despite his bonhomie - he's as frightened of
the world and people as Vera. His garage is his sanctuary. Strangers
are to be feared. The only way he can deal with them is to sort of
smother them in trivia and small talk. Anything rather than let them
in to his life where they might threaten and even involve him. As a
small boy he long ago put his real feelings away in a box.”
(Justbetweenourselves.alanayckbourn.net.)
Vera, who seems to be directed by her husband for even a single household task, has already lost her self-confidence and the only thing that she does is to be careful not to make a mess. It is not difficult to understand how she has come to an end like that. She has had a working life which she has had to leave. She has not had a chance to drive the car that Dennis has bought for her.
Dennis seems to neglect Vera. He always humiliates his wife in front of others. The sense of being controlled disturbs Vera. However, she does not have the strength to defend herself. She chooses the way to accept her mistakes. Dennis has a really strange dominance over her. When she gets furious because she has seen
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Dennis with Pam, the person that she shows her hatred is Marjorie, not Dennis.
Gradually the negligence of Dennis makes her silent and she just utters some words, not even a sentence. Dennis, however, insists that she is getting better. He does not care or is not aware of her illness. By drawing such a picture with his characters,
Ayckbourn describes the negligence of the husband and the neglected wife in an effective way. It is similar to his dark comedies.
5.5 Stylistic Examples from Just Between Ourselves
The first thing that is remarkable for a stylistic analysis of the play is the setting. The garage is the place that Dennis spends most of his time. There is a door which is always stuck and Dennis always ignores it. The door stuck is a symbol for their lack of conversation. In other words, the door is a gap between Vera and
Dennis. Vera has never managed to open and reach Dennis and finally she has given up. Dennis decides to fix it after Vera gets worse because he sees it as a last chance to get the things better:
“Dennis: Hey, guess what I did last Saturday?
Neil: What?
Dennis: I fixed those garage doors. What about that?
Neil: I don’t believe it.
Dennis: I didn’t have much choice. I had mother after me.”
(Ayckbourn, 1978: 66)
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The long speech of Vera while she talks to Pam shows how Vera wants to express her feeling. In his book The Crafty Art of Playmaking Ayckbourn gives Vera as an example to describe why he uses long speeches:
“Long speeches are good ways to reveal the inner thoughts and feelings of
your characters–though having said that, few people set out to make long
speeches. The long speech usually emerges as a result of the other character
failing to interrupt. Or in Vera’s case, as a result of a character who feels
socially uneasy with silence. Generally she’s talked down by her husband or
his mother, so she never gets much of a say anyway. In this case, Pam’s
silence unnerves Vera sufficiently and forces her into saying slightly more
than she means.” (Ayckbourn, 2004: 71)
The stage directions and bracketed indications that describe Vera’s manners have some remarkable vocabulary such as “gently”, “apologetically”, “shy and embarrassed”, “calmer”…etc. They show how she tries to be kind to hide how she feels. It is a way of understanding her illusion. She is not the woman she pretends to be. All the vocabulary in the stage direction and the bracketed directions are clues for this imaginary world.
The usage of ellipsis is also seen as evidence to show how much Vera wants to say something when Dennis humiliates her. Every single word that Dennis utters to look down on her – although he does not accept this– disturbs her deeply, but she chooses to stay silent:
“Dennis (to Neil, laughing): Caught it with her elbow.
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(Neil smiles.)
If I told you, Mr. Andrews, the things my wife had caught with her
elbow…
Vera (shy and embarrassed): All right.
Dennis: You would not believe it, Mr. Andrews, cups, saucers,
dinner plates, radio sets…
Neil: Really.
Dennis: Whole tray of glasses.
Vera: Dennis…” (Ayckbourn, 1978: 16-17)
The other symbol in the play is the blanket that Vera covers herself to protect herself from the cold. In Act Two, Scene Two, she rejects going in and her blanket is a symbol her protection from the reality. She is in her illusion world, and does not speak to anyone, so the blanket is a way to get rid of the real world: “The same.
January. A cold clear morning. Vera sits in the garden in the ‘sitting area’. She is enveloped in a large rug, with just her face showing.” (Ayckbourn, 1978: 61)
Vera as a name has a remarkable meaning: faith and true. According to
SheKnows.com, people with this name are described as characters that have a deep inner desire for a stable, loving family or community. They are in need of working with other people and they want to be appreciated. In her illusion, she has everything to be a successful woman, but Dennis is the one who always emphasizes that she is not capable of doing anything. Gradually, it becomes a reality for her, and in the end she loses the connection with the real world.
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The climax of the play is the end of the Act Two Scene One, in which the audience witnesses Vera’s outcry. This is the last scene that Vera seems to be in the reality. In Act Two Scene Two, we have Vera’s illusion which is not seen and understandable explicitly, but silence of Vera is the way to name it as having an illusion. The hesitation and the stress that Vera has is given with repetitions and punctuation:
“ Here’s a woman, Vera in Just Between Ourselves, who has lost all
her confidence. Notice how she repeats words, how she hesitates.
How her punctuation is deliberately staggered.
… Pam: Still, I’d have thought it would have been very useful.
Shopping, things like that.
Vera: Oh, no. It’s quicker to walk really. And then there’s the
parking and all that. It’s very bad these days trying to park.
Dreadful. (Slight pause) And then, well really I found I didn’t really
enjoy driving really. I used to get so tense, you know. All the other
traffic and, er, I couldn’t seem…well, I’m not a very good driver.
Dennis always said I couldn’t concentrate. He used to hate driving
with me. I mean, he didn’t show it. He used to laugh about it but I
knew he hated it really. And I just seemed to get worse and worse at
it. So I gave up eventually. I think I’m a born pedestrian. That’s
what Dennis said. All thumbs, you know. (Pause) Would you like the
car? I mean, supposing you wanted to buy it, would you like it?”
(Ayckbourn, 1978: 68)
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CHAPTER 6
CHARLOTTE AND NICOLA: MAIN FEMALE CHARACTERS IN PRIVATE FEARS IN PUBLIC PLACES
6.1 Summary of the Play: Private Fears in Public Places
Private Fears in Public Places has three male and three female characters.
Also there is an offstage male character. It is set on four stories over 54 scenes. The divisions of the play are clear. They are all set in different places such as flats, an office, a living room, a kitchen, a café and a hotel bar. All the characters are intertwined but the acts do not follow the flow of each two characters so it is easier to categorize them as related characters.
The first couples are Nicola and Dan. At the beginning of the play, Nicola looks for a flat to rent, but her boyfriend, Dan, doesn’t come. Nicola no longer waits and leaves while the unemployed Dan keeps drinking at a hotel bar. Nicola is fed up with Dan’s unemployment and she wants him to find a job. Dan returns to the bar, served by Ambrose, he reveals that he was fired by the army. He eventually returns home drunk, Nicolas ignores him and he vows to sleep in the hall.
At another flat viewing, Nicola gets frustrated with Dan; they argue and Dan returns to the bar. He complains about Nicola to Ambrose, the bartender, and
Ambrose implies his past relationship and offers Dan to have another girlfriend.
After the bar scene the audience sees Nicola, who is determined and tells Dan she wants him to leave the flat. Dan depicts that he doesn’t have any relationships
83 with his father, and he has nowhere to go. Dan stays in the hotel that Ambrose works and asks him if he is able to put an advertisement at a dating agency. On the other hand, Nicola is disappointed and begins to wrap Dan’s letters. In the last scene,
Although she is frustrated, Nicola goes to the hotel to meet Dan for a possible future together but it is clear that there is no way to start again. She comes back to the flat and get ready to leave.
Charlotte and Stewart are the other characters depicted together in the same scenes. Stewart is an estate agent who shows the flat to Nicola comes back to the office. He works with Charlotte who has a video of “Songs That Changed My Life” and offers him to watch. When he arrives home, he watches the show at home and sees that there is a porn film at the end of the video. He is affected much, so when he takes it back to Charlotte he compliments her awkwardly. Charlotte lends him another video in which Stewart realizes that Charlotte is in the porn film. The video encourages him and the next day he tries to kiss Charlotte. However, she doesn’t let him to do this and it makes him feel that it is an indecorous act.
A day passes and Stewart apologizes for it. Charlotte accepts his apology and implies that she is a faithful woman so this faith encourages her to forgive him. She also tells that every human being has an evil side in his inner world. She gives him another video to show her indulgence. When he comes back home, he watches the video. It also seems as a faith program, but towards the end of it, the scenery is the same: a porn film.
The other two related characters are Stewart and Imogen. They are brother and sister and live in the same flat. Stewart comes back home and at the same time,
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Imogen leaves to go out with her friends at night. The reality is that she goes to the bar alone and with a flower she waits for a man from a dating agency.
Stewart watches the video that has been recorded over a porn movie and becomes numb and Imogen comes back home. They do not tell anything real about what they have done during their evening.
At a typical night again, Imogen leaves to go to the bar then suddenly leaves.
Stewart watches the second video in which he sees Charlotte in the porn movie.
When Imogen returns, she catches him watching the film.
Imogen leaves home for another night out, but because of the video, she doesn’t talk to Stewart. At the bar, she meets Dan from dating agency but they do not use their real names. They do not have much in common, they get on well and decide to meet again at the hotel bar She is drunk when she is back home, so she tells
Stewart that she is with Dan. Also, she is frustrated with Stewart and blames him for watching porn films.
As a last scene, the next day, Imogen goes back to the hotel, sees Dan with
Nicola and leaves there. Dan realizes her but it is too late. They do not have any address to contact, so Dan comes back to the bar and keeps on drinking. Imogen arrives home and embraces his brother.
The last two related characters are Ambrose and Charlotte. Ambrose, the bartender, lives with his invalid father called Arthur. He has to work, so he looks for caretakers. Charlotte comes to get the job. The father is described as an off-stage, unkind and nasty character. In this scene audience witnesses Charlotte’s faith and she
85 meets Arthur. She has unmanageable experiences with Arthur. He throws the soup
Charlotte makes. She reads her bible to tolerate him. When Ambrose comes back home, he tells Charlotte he does not put him in a nursing home because he has promised him. Charlotte implies that she sees Arthur as a challenge that she has to face and if she gives up, it means she accepts the Devil. The next night is more unbearable for Charlotte. It is revealed that Ambrose lost his partner and then cared for his mother. When she also died he started looking after his father although they have not talked for a long time.
The other night Charlotte brings sexy clothes, wears it and goes to Arthur. He is shocked when he sees her. When Ambrose comes back, he sees Charlotte kneeling and reading her bible. The father is depicted as sleeping happily. He has a heart- attack later and it is because he has fantasized Charlotte dancing naked for him. As a last time, Ambrose and Charlotte meet, she tells him something about hell and this speech is given as a clue that Ambrose is gay. She leaves the house and gives him a video.
6.2 Sir Alan Ayckbourn’s Point of View to Private Fears in Public Places
Ayckbourn has already found the title of his play but he has never felt that he had to use it in a play until he wrote Private Fears in Public Places. He sees the play as a new type that he needs to use and he believes that it has a cinematic point of view:
“It's an unusually structured play, constructed in fifty-four short
scenes, which is unheard of for me. Indeed, I am generally critical of
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writers who adopt this so-called celluloid approach to stage-play
construction. It suggests a laziness, a failure to create a proper
dramatic concentration of stage movement which, ideally, should
present an uninterrupted narrative flow. In theatre, using this
multiple short-scene technique, a sort of dramatic indigestion can
easily set in, making for a series of irritating scenic hiccups. In this
case, with each of the fifty-four scene changes lasting, say, thirty
seconds, an audience could face a prospect of sitting for twenty-
seven minutes in the dark whilst people dressed in black furtively
shifted furniture.”
(Privatefearsinpublicplaces.AlanAyckbourn.net)
The usage of scene is also quite different from the other plays he has written, so Ayckbourn needs to check it to set the convenient stage for the play. On the other hands themes are interrelated and the connection between them is given to provide unity in the play:
“Yet, given the nature of my story, or rather stories, this multi-scene
structure was precisely the one I needed to use. To compensate,
therefore, it was vital that the set was a permanent one, containing
within it the multiple fixed locations. That each scene would glide
seamlessly into the next, following the fragments of the characters'
lives as they collided with each other like so much solar debris adrift
in space. On this occasion, composition not only reflected the
requirements of the narrative but also echoed the central theme of
the play itself. That our lives are linked more closely than we realise.
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That the actions of individuals, however involuntary they may be,
will often create ripples which turn into waves and finally rock some
stranger's craft moored miles away on some distant shore. It's such
a new play that, at the time of writing, I can say little more about it. I
think, I suspect, it explores new ground for me, in theme, character
and structure.”
(Privatefearsinpublicplaces.AlanAyckbourn.net)
6.3 Illusion and Reality in Private Fears in Public Places
The play has six different characters who, somehow, act as main characters.
The illusion in the play is depicted with the female character Charlotte. Charlotte is described as a woman who is in her middle ages and always pretends to be a person who cares morality and religion. She is related to two different male characters in the play, and she seems to share her ethical and religious thoughts with them.
Throughout the play, illusion that she creates refers to reality for the rest of the characters. In other words, her real world includes sexuality, porn and passion.
However, she creates an illusory and religious image in the real world, because she wants to be appreciated. She pretends to be caring and sympathetic. In Scene Three, her dialogue with Stewart presents that it is true. When she finds a way to express her real identity, she offers the video that she claims it is a religious program. This video shows her real world that she intends to hide with the image of a religious woman.
The video represents a way to keep in contact with the male characters who also want to have the illusion of Charlotte’s reality:
“Stewart: When you laugh. You should laugh a bit more, you know.
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Charlotte: I’ll try to do that.(calling him back) Oh, Stewart, I…
Stewart: Yes?
Charlotte: I recorded that programme for you. On my video. On
Sunday.
Stewart: Oh, yes?
Charlotte: Songs That Changed My Life. You remember I was telling
you about it–” (Ayckbourn, 2005: 313)
The other character whom Charlotte communicates with is Ambrose, who looks after his father and does not have a life that makes him happy. In Scene Six,
Charlotte applies for a job as a caretaker for the father and this job is also an illusory job for her. In her real world tenderness and care do not mean anything to her. The qualification needed for the job cannot be fulfilled by her, but she needs this illusion to escape from her real identity:
“Ambrose: Please, try to ignore him.
Charlotte: It’s alright, I do understand. I’m quite used to it. Old
people can get quite angry sometimes, can’t they?”
(Ayckbourn, 2005: 321)
Charlotte tries to reflect a religious character towards Ambrose. She talks about the darkness of death and how it affects elderly people .She thinks that old people are angry because they are afraid of death. She also seems to be afraid of death but the things that she has done in the video contradict with her religious
89 identity. It is difficult to look after Arthur, the father, but she seems to be patient, and it is clear that she gets this patience thanks to praying. Praying is a shadow for her to hide the reality. She tries to suppress herself and understand if she can endure it or not:
“Arthur: (off) .... Where the hell have you got to, you slag?
Charlotte: (patiently, calling) I’m just coming, Arthur. Just heating
you your soup.
Arthur: (off) Doesn’t take a bloody week to make sodding soup, does
it?
Charlotte: (going off with the tray) Here we are, Arthur. Lovely
soup. Lovely tomato and basil…It looks delicious. (off) There!
Doesn’t that look good? I’ll just put it down on here, shall I?
Arthur: (off) I don’t want it now, do I? Too late now, isn’t it? Take
the bloody stuff away. Go on!
A crash from off.
A silence
(off) There you are! Now you bloody clean it up, then. Go on, clean
it up, you scrubber.
Charlotte returns, mopping herself down with the napkin. Arthur
has evidently thrown the soup over her. She stands for a moment,
composing herself. Her lips silently moving a little.”
(Ayckbourn, 2005: 325-326)
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In Scene Thirteen, the audience sees Charlotte with the debris and “well- thumbed” Bible which show that she tries to find peace in them. Arthur keeps on breaking things and swearing while Charlotte tries to endure despite all these things she faces up with. When she talks to Ambrose in Scene Seventeen, it is clear that
Bible takes her from her real world to illusion. She thinks that God gives people something to challenge in order to evaluate their endurance and strength, so she believes that everyone should endure and face with reality.
Charlotte, in the meantime, keeps on working in the real estate agency with
Stewart, who has already seen the video that starts with religious songs and ends with
Charlotte’s porn movie. He tries to make her understand that he has watched it and got the message. Charlotte, however, does not give any clue that she understands what Stewart means. She smiles and it clearly shows that she is content with the illusion. She is so happy with the expression on Stewart’s face that she gives him another video.
On the other hand, her patient towards Arthur is worth being appreciated and she keeps on praying when he behaves rudely towards her. Smiling and praying are the ways of escaping from the reality. Ambrose tells her about the problems that he has with her family and she listens to him, which is also a way of hiding the real feelings. She always seems to be helpful and a good listener.
Stewart, on the other hand, watches the second video and sees Charlotte as an actress in the porn video. He wants to explain that he wants to have a love affair with her. Charlotte smiles and tries to learn how he finds the second one, but when
Stewart attempts to kiss her, she gets angry. It is clear that the idea of having
91 someone who wants to play a part in her real world disturbs her, because she wants her reality as an attractive figure for the male characters:
“Stewart: You’re a – very beautiful woman, Charlotte. You should
know that. What you’ve shown of yourself to me – your face – your –
body – all of you. It’s a very beautiful thing. I want you to know that.
Charlotte: Thank you, Stewart.
Stewart: And I – and I – I feel – so – very much – I – hardly – know
– how to – I just –
Running out of words, Stewart clumsily leans forward and
tries to kiss her. Charlotte pulls away from him sharply.
Charlotte: (alarmed) What are you doing? What are you doing?
Stewart also draws back, shocked by her reaction.”
(Ayckbourn, 2005:364)
Charlotte, who is fed up with the rude behaviours of Arthur, prepares a surprise for the audience and Arthur. In Scene Thirty Seven, she puts on makeup and gets prepared for something. She thinks patience that she has towards Arthur should come to an end, so she decides to show who Charlotte is in reality. In Scene Thirty
Nine, it becomes obvious that the preparations are for Arthur. Arthur is the only one who has the chance of seeing the real world of Charlotte. Also, it is remarkable that
Arthur is also the only character given as off-stage. It means the character that the audience just hears, but does not see:
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“Arthur: (off) I’m wetting the bed in a minute. I’m warning you, if
you don’t come in a minute, you bimbo, I’m wetting this bed. That’ll
teach you!
Charlotte comes out of the bathroom. She has transformed
herself. Exotically made up, wearing a sexy dress and heels.
Charlotte (in a rather different tone from normal) Alright, alright,
I’m coming, you tedious little man.
Charlotte goes off to bedroom.
(off) Now then, Arthur…
Arthur: (off) Oh, my gawd...”
(Ayckbourn, 2005: 372)
In Scene Forty Two, the way of Charlotte’s transformation from reality to illusion is clearly seen. When she has reflected her sexual side to Arthur, she laughs quite differently. She does not have the smile that she has always had on her face.
Then she comes back to her illusion and puts her religious identity on her again.
On the other hand, Charlotte has a dialogue with Stewart, who is sorry for his behavior, and she insists that her religious identity does not let her tolerate what
Stewart has done. It is clear that her illusory character is attractive. However, she accepts Stewart’s apology and lends him a new video. Her illusion leads her to play this game against Stewart, who is too weak to resist her.
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The last scene that Charlotte is seen is Scene Fifty-Two, in which Arthur is said to be taken to the hospital after his sexual interference with Charlotte. It is the first time Ambrose talks to Charlotte about his life openly. This dialogue makes it clear that Charlotte has a tendency to keep her real identity as a secret in order to have the illusory image of a good Christian. She believes that this illusion can help her to escape from the hell-fire, which she always remembers and reminds. She also mentions that her reality is hidden inside her:
“Charlotte: …I’m not a great believer in hell-fire and damnation
either, actually. I believe if there is a fire – a hell-fire – it’s within us
all. And it burns as brightly and as fiercely as we allow it to. As our
own personal weakness and imperfection will allow it. And if we do
allow it to spread, if we fail to contain it, well, at the very least it
consumes us as individuals. At worst, it consumes others as well.
Ambrose: And it’s within us all, you say?
Charlotte: I believe it to be.
Ambrose: (lightly) What, even you, Charlotte?
Charlotte: Oh, Ambrose, you have no idea. You’ve no idea at all
what’s within me…”
(Ayckbourn, 2005: 399-400)
From the dialogues and behaviours of Charlotte, it can be inferred that she has an imaginary Charlotte in her mind who obeys the rules which dictate a religious life for her. However, she has a totally different character in reality, which keeps her
94 doing something accepted as ‘sins’ in Christianity. To hide the truth, she uses her illusory character and makes it real for everyone that she keeps in touch with.
6.4 Man as an Ignoring Figure and Woman Ignored In Private Fears in Public Places
There are three female characters in Private Fears and Public Places:
Charlotte, Imogen and Nicola. Charlotte is a good example to describe how a character in a play can reflect illusion and reality while Nicola is a good figure to show how a woman is ignored by the male character.
Nicola and her fiancé Dan have been together for a long time and they look for a flat to live. Dan, actually, does not seem to like the idea of having a new house, because he looks for a new job and this relationship is like a habit that he has difficulty in giving up. Nicola is the one who is fed up with Dan’s ignorance and she feels that she is the one who takes the responsibility of Dan and her. This role makes her frustrated and it causes their relationship to get worse day by day:
“Nicola: … No, as I say, I was hanging around for ages. With this
man. The wretched house agent. I mean, I have better things to do in
my lunch hour. Having lunch, for one thing. I mean all I got in the
end was a roll. I’m starving.
Dan: You can’t survive on a roll.
Nicola: I certainly can’t. I don’t know about anyone else. So. Where
were you?
Dan: Oh, I was, you know, mooching about.
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Nicola: Drinking.
Dan: No. Not really. Well, a bit of drinking. Not a lot of drinking,
you know.
Nicola: I thought you were supposed to be looking for a job.”
(Ayckbourn, 2005: 315)
In Scene Twenty, Nicola and Dan decide to see a flat together. From the dialogue they have, it is clear that they try to find excuses to escape from the possible marriage that they plan. Nicola cannot fully understand why Dan insists on a study room for himself although he does not work. Dan, however, wants to have one like his father. He does not have any job to do in this study room but he seems to be busy with his plans. This ignorance and insistence make Nicola fed up and she says she is about to come to an end in this relationship. However, Dan pretends not to be eager to end:
“Nicola: Why didn’t you go in and enquire? Instead of leaving it all
to me? Why don’t you do something for a change? You say, you see
these flats, you read about them in the paper – why don’t you ring up
or walk in?
Dan: Oh, come on, give us a chance.
Nicola: No, I’m fed up, Dan, I really am. If you must know, I’m
pissed to the nines.”
(Ayckbourn, 2005: 340)
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The real feelings and intentions of Dan become clear in the dialogue between
Dan and Ambrose. Dan drinks something in a hotel bar where Ambrose works as bartender. He is aware that he ignores Nicola because she does not listen to him and they need a break. The other thing that he sees as a cause of ignorance is the ten years that they have spent together. Dan feels that he has to meet new people – especially women – and get socialized:
“Dan: … if I’m going to start going off with someone else…
Ambrose: Just temporarily.
Dan: I’d need to find someone, wouldn’t I? And the trouble is, I
don’t meet many people. Not these days.”
(Ayckbourn, 2005: 348)
In Scene Twenty Six, there is a turning point for Dan and Nicola’s relationship. Nicola is quite determined to separate and be on her own for a while.
The ignorance of Dan makes her come to this decision. Dan does not seem to care this, because he has cleared up his mind about separation before. However, when he understands that Nicola could find someone else, he tries to convince her again. In the end, he has to leave the flat. It makes Nicola cry and she has difficulty in understanding what she has done. It is an unexpected ending for Nicola although she has made the decision before. It is clear that she expects more from Dan:
“Dan: Er – no. My father’s home at the moment. He wouldn’t let me
in the door. I’ll find somewhere, don’t worry. Cheerio!
Nicola: (weakly) Cheerio.
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Dan goes out. Nicola stands.
(wondering quite what she’s done) Oh.
After a moment, she starts to cry and hurries off to the bedroom.”
(Ayckbourn, 2005: 353-354)
Dan is happy with the situation because he has found another girl and started to feel as a young and handsome man like he has felt before. He does not tell anything about his real identity and job. Also Dan draws a picture of himself just like
Nicola expects from him. Although he says his real name in the last dialogue, he enjoys his new identity. He is caring and understanding towards Imogen, who is his girlfriend from dating agency:
“Dan: Yes, Listen, I’ll get you a taxi, shall I?
Imogen: No, no, no…
Dan: Yes, yes, yes… I insist on a taxi.
…
Dan: After you Scarlet.”
(Ayckbourn, 2005: 380-382)
The dialogue between Dan and Nicola ends with Nicola’s effort to make Dan alone like her. Although she is aware that Imogen sees them, she keeps talking to
Dan and giving the impression that they are sweethearts. Seeing them together,
Imogen leaves the place. It is the revenge of Nicola, who has spent her life teaching
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Dan about women. She does not let him be happy with someone else. This ignorance can only be compensated with the loneliness of Dan.
6.5 Stylistic Examples from Private Fears in Public Places
In Private Fears in Public Places, the stage and bracketed directions, names of the characters, punctuation, and length of the sentences and choice of words serve to give the sense of ignorance and illusion and reality.
The stage and bracketed directions for Nicola, who is the one who experiences ignorance, are obvious to emphasize how she feels sorry without Dan’s care and interest. One can conclude that there are not many bracketed directions to describe the manners of Dan and Nicola. Although they are not willing to express their inner thoughts, they prefer using the sentences without any descriptions.
However, the stage directions that are used especially in Scene Forty One, where there are no dialogues but the stage directions, present how Nicola suffers from this ignorance:
“She starts to glance at the letters on the table and sets down the
waste bin.
She starts to glance at the letters, some of which are quite old.
She sniffs and starts to tear up the first letter quite slowly and
deliberately.
…
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Finally, with a cry, she snatches up the remains of the pile and
dumps it in the bin.” (Ayckbourn, 2014: 383-384)
Stage and bracketed directions to present illusion and reality in the play are seen with Charlotte. Especially, the transformation between illusion and reality is clear when Charlotte smiles after giving the video to Stewart. On the other hand, it is more obvious when she has had sexual intercourse with Arthur. The words
“transform” and “different tone from normal” are the instances to understand what sort of transformation she has when she gives up her illusory identity:
“Charlotte comes out of the bathroom. She has transformed herself.
Exotically made up, wearing a sexy dress and heels.
Charlotte: (in a rather different tone from normal)…”
(Ayckbourn, 2014: 372)
The other stylistic examples are the names of the characters. Nicola means
“people’s victory”. Nicola is a character who tries to give the image of a dominant and strong woman. However, she does not get the victory that she wants and loses
Dan. The only victory that she gains is that she makes Imogen, who is Dan’s girlfriend from dating agency, leave him.
Dan has different meanings as a name but the most remarkable one in terms of the play is “positive”. People who have this name tend to have independence and they desire leadership. Dan is reckless and although he is about to lose Nicola, he does nothing to regain her love. On the other hand, Dan looks for independence and
100 tries to find someone. The need for a study room also shows how Dan wants to get the leadership and authority.
Charlotte is also a name that gives some instances in terms of illusion and reality. Charlotte means “free” and “feminine”. In her illusory world, she believes that freedom is not accepted in Christianity. However, in reality, she is free and feminine. Although she tries to hide it, she lives as she wants and she does not hesitate to share this with Stewart, who is her colleague in estate agency.
The length of the sentences and punctuation are not used much as clear instances to give the ignorance and illusion and reality. However the choice of words can give some ideas about them. Dan often uses the word “chance” when they have quarrel with Nicola. He does not want a chance, in fact, but he wants to give the impression that he does. On the other hand, Nicola has the word “fine” when she talks to her mother. She repeats the word to hide the truth which she suffers from:
“Nicola: Hello… hi, Mummy… Oh, you got my message? ... No, I’m
fine, I say, I’m fine… No, I’m absolutely fine, Mummy, really… Well,
why shouldn’t I be fine? ... No, he’s fine… No, he’s fine, we’re both
fine… Mummy, everything’s fine, stop… Mummy, I can’t talk any
more…” (Ayckbourn, 2014: 365)
The choice of words for illusion and reality is given with the speech of
Charlotte. She chooses religious words when she wants to hide her real identity. The sentences in the beginning of the video are also religious because they tend to hide the porn video. However, when she gets her real identity, she uses slang words and she is transformed into a quite different person.
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CHAPTER 7
JILL: MAIN FEMALE CHARACTER IN IF I WERE YOU
7.1 Summary of the Play: If I Were You
Ayckbourn’s play If I Were You has parts from the kitchen, sitting room and bedroom of Rodales’ home. It is also set as a showroom the BFRS Retail Furniture
Warehouse. The main characters Mal and Jill Rodale wake up and the audience understand that they do not have a routine marriage even if they do not have real talk.
Mal, the husband, is characterized as a serious and aggressive manager of a furniture store and he doesn’t show any understanding to his staff and costumers. In fact, he has an affair especially in lunch-breaks. Jill, the wife, has been unemployed for 15 years and she is not content with this situation of her husband, because he cheats her.
This family has a daughter and a son. Their daughter Chrissie is married to
Dean, who works with Mal. One day during the visit of Chrissie, Jill understands that her husband abused her physically. Meanwhile, their son Sam has school problems but is very eager to play a part in a Shakespeare’s play at school. Jill is glad with the decision of Sam. However, the father thinks that acting is not a job for men and he questions Sam’s sexuality. The day ends and they go to bed.
The next morning, Jill wakes up and terribly realizes that there is something wrong. Soon, she understands that they have swapped bodies with her husband. Mal has frustrated with this strange situation but Jill tries to behave cool and keep this false appearance going. This is a really difficult experience for them because Sam gets confused with his parents’ behaviors.
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As they have swapped bodies, Jill has to go to work while Mal stays at home and experiences the duties of a housewife. Jill behaves as a manager, who is a lot more effective, and overcomes the problems at work. Mal welcomes her daughter and he learns that her son-in-law’s abusive manners towards her daughter. He watches Sam’s performance as a speech from A Midsummer Night’s Dream for him and has burst into tears. Meanwhile, Dean comes and interrupts his speech, which makes Mal furious and causes him to punch and humiliate him. Finally, Sam, with the doubt of having a family replaced by aliens, bonds with father, in fact her mother, when he makes him a sandwich.
Mal and Jill, with all the tiredness of the day, go to bed. As they snooze, they gain their own personalities again. However, it is unable to ignore the experience they have had, so they come to an agreement that they have to talk about their future in the morning. They fall asleep with love.
7.2 Sir Alan Ayckbourn’s Point of View on If I Were You
Ayckbourn mentions in Alanayckbourn.net the writing process of the play has been a bit difficult. The idea of swapping bodies and understanding how their egos and inner world struggle is not easy to form. Also he mentions that it is also difficult to reflect it from both characters’ point of view. He also explains how he has studied on the play:
“Dramatically, dealing with the question of explaining how this
state of affairs came about, I chose a course I had taken previously
in earlier plays with inexplicable scientific phenomena…by ignoring
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what caused it altogether, leaving it to conjecture…If the switch was
going to take place, I felt it was important to make the two central
characters positively ‘male’ and ‘female’…Once the basic
characters and situation were established, the unexplained exchange
happens at the half way point. Any doubters in the audience would
have the interval at least to swallow their disbelief with a drink. In
the first act we largely see the two of them as they were. In the
second act we see them coping, post change, as they have become.”
(JustBetweenOurselves.Alanayckbourn.net)
7.3 Illusion and Reality in If I Were You
The play is about a couple who have been married for a long time and they seem to rethink about their marriage. The main female character Jill is a conventional mother who tries to manage the household task but she is not appreciated by her husband. In Act One, Jill is described as a character who is not content with the real life and her role in the family. Especially, when she seems to do the cleaning, it is clear that she just pretends to connect with the reality, but indeed she is not:
“ The light change back to normal. The TV flickers again as Jill
enters with the vacuum cleaner.
She plugs it into the wall and listlessly starts to vacuum the
already spotless carpet. She continues this for some time, giving the
impression that she could probably have continued the task for a lot
longer, having little else to do.
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As this moment through, Chrissie, her daughter, mid-
twenties, enters and stands in the doorway. Jill, concentrating on her
task, is unaware of her for a moment.”
(Ayckbourn, 2011: 113)
She is not aware of the environment when she is deeply having an illusion.
She dreams about a different life, but she does not want the others to realize it. When she is busy with the housework, she is free to think although she seems to be in the reality. Also, she forgets the things that she has said or arranged before. Forgetting shows how she wants to get rid of the reality, because her mind is confused to think about the things related to her monotonous life.
Her husband Mal cheats her and Jill knows it. The reality hurts her, but she does not leave him for the sake of her children. She cries quietly and make-up is the only thing that helps her hide the tears. Make-up is her illusion while the tears are the reality. She feels that she does not feel the love that she has had for Mal before.
The other way of getting rid of the reality is the way she watches TV. TV is on but there is no sound. She watches a soap opera in which the story is nearly the same that she experiences because of Mal’s cheating. It seems interesting to her, she thinks that there is no need to listen to the same things from TV. Even when she understands that the program is about to start, she turns off the volume suddenly:
“TV Voice: (brightly) And now, coming up shortly, it’s time to catch
up on the latest goings-on at –
She immediately mutes the sound on TV…
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Chrissie: Why do you always watch it with the sound down, Mum?
Jill: I think it is more interesting.
Chrissie: Most of the time you can tell.
Chrissie: I suppose.
Jill: Leaves you free to get on with other things, then, doesn’t it?”
(Ayckbourn, 2011: 111-113)
Jill does not work for fifteen years and it makes her depressed, too. She knows that it is one of the main reasons why she feels like so low. She mentions that she has had a remarkable career and she has been appreciated by the others.
However, she has had to leave the job, when she learns that she is pregnant to
Chrissie. She feels that she has devoted her life to her family, which now causes her to question if it has been the right thing to do:
“Chrissie: You ought to get a job, Mum. You really ought to.
Hanging around here all day on your own. No wonder you get
depressed. I know I keep saying it, but you ought to get out.
Jill: Yes, you’re probably right. I think I’ve lost my nerve, you know.
You realise it’s been fifteen years since I did a proper job? I mean, I
don’t count the part-time ones, I mean a proper job. You know,
proper.
Chrissie: Well…
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Jill: I was good, you know. Had a good future. They told me. The
youngest Personnel Officer they’d ever appointed. Not even called
that now, is it? Human resources, or something. It was all your
fault.”
(Ayckbourn, 2011: 130)
Chrissie has the reality and is realistic whereas Jill when young could not.
The illusion she has had about the future has been proved to be vain. Now, she is having illusions about what she might do if she hadn’t left her job.
Through the end of Act One, the audience sees Jill attempting to talk to Mal about their marriage. She is determined to face up with the reality and rescue herself from the deep depression. Mal, however, does not seem to listen to her and sleeps.
She calls for help from God and it was the time when something strange happens.
They swap bodies with Mal and when they wake up, everything is different for them.
Swapping bodies cannot be real in their life. It seems to be the world that Jill has created in his mind. She wants to feel like Mal and also wants Mal to feel like her to understand how she suffers:
“The bedroom and the sitting room grow lighter, too.
Sometime in the night, though, Jill and Mal have switched personas.
Externally, they still look identical but, beneath the skin, as it were,
Jill now inhabits Mal’s body while Mal inhabits Jill’s. It takes a
moment for them both (and us) to realise this. As well it might.
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For simplicity’s sake, both characters despite their changes of
persona, will be referred to by their original names, since they are
played by the same actor.” (Ayckbourn, 2011: 140)
In Act Two, the audience sees the same actors as Jill and Mal, but the personalities are different. Jill is content with the illusion and she giggles because she has the chance to do everything she wants. She works instead of Mal, and does not have to deal with the housework. She gains her self-confidence again, which she has desired for a long time.
Mal is the one who is in panic, not Jill. She tries to calm him down and organize the things in order not to make the others understand the problem. In fact, she enjoys the moment she has and sincerely she does not want it to end:
“Jill: I mean–all this… (indicating her breasts) What am I going to
do with these?
Mal: I don’t know. You were happy enough to stare at them before.
You can sit in front of the mirror, now, can’t you? Jiggle them up
and down to your heart’s content. You’ll find the novelty soon wears
off.
Jill: I wish you’d stop making jokes, woman. What the hell is there to
laugh at?”
(Ayckbourn, 2011: 142-143)
Jill, in the place of Mal starts working and regulates everything with her kindness. She does not have the “trance-like” status that she has had when she is in
108 the reality. Also, she enjoys the situation very much. Illusion is the place whereshe feels relieved and self-confident, and it has been years since she felt like that. Jill substituting for Mal says: “ Mal:…I’ve so enjoyed today, I can’t tell you.” (Ayckbourn,
2011: 181)
Jill has also the chance of socializing thanks to Mal’s job. She goes out for a drink and comes late. She has had a little accident with the car, but she does not worry at all. It is clear that her new identity in the illusion helps her to gain the self- confidence she has lost for so many years.
In the illusion world she seems to have created, she does not want to be with
Mal’s sweetheart. She is aware that they have had a love affair with Mal, but she breaks up with her with the help of her new identity. She organizes everything as she wishes. At the end of the play, Jill and Mal come back to normal and it makes Jill sad. They think that it has been a dream, but the things Mal says show that it is Jill’s dream. She is the one who has had the illusion:
“Mal: Thank God for that.
Jill: Thank God.
Mal: Back to normal.
Jill: (rather sadly) Yes. Back to normal. What do you think could’ve–
?
Mal: Don’t know could have been a dream. Could just have been a
dream.
Jill: What? Both of us? At the same time?
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Mal: No, well, maybe not.”
(Ayckbourn, 2011: 199)
The illusion that Jill has can only exist in dreams. The trapped position of woman by men is criticized.
7.4 Man as a Patronizing Figure and Woman Patronized in If I Were You
In the play, Ayckbourn describes a couple who has been married for many years, but don’t have a real sincere relationship. As a main male character, Mal, is a person who is busy with his own job and has a love affair with his employee Trixie.
He does not care what Jill feels or thinks. He does not even know what happens to his children. He is one of the typical characters that Ayckbourn creates as a patronizing husband: “Ayckbourn continues to take a dim view of husbands, and the play implies that if only men were more like women the world would be a happier place.”(cited from Jeremy Kingston, Alanayckbourn.net) He does not see any problem in their marriage to talk about, which makes Jill furious.
Jill, however, needs to be cared and wants to be the woman like she has been before. She is fed up dealing with the problems of her children and wants to share the responsibility with her husband. She complains about his drinking and coming late.
Mal is more understandable towards his mistress and he has nearly no worry about if someone becomes aware of his love affair. Mal also seems to love his daughter and mentions it. Jill, however, always reminds him that they have two children. When they swap bodies, Mal eventually understands that Chrissie does not have the best life as he expects. However, at the end of the play, they understand each other and
110 decide to give a chance to have a better marriage. From this point of view, the illusion they experience helps them to have empathy for each other.
7.5 Stylistic Examples from If I Were You
The stage directions and the bracketed directions, like in the other play mentioned before, have some illusive element in terms of stylistic analysis.
Especially, the ones used to describe Jill’s manners show how the reality hurts her like “run out of energy”, “totally motionless”, “staring at”, “in one of her trance-like states”, “like a sleepwalker”, “listlessly”. (Ayckbourn, 2011: 93-119) These are the words that describe reality for Jill. When the illusion comes to the stage, it is nearly impossible to see such kinds of words.
The climax of the play starts at the end of Act One, in which Jill decides to talk to Mal about their marriage. After this scene, they swap bodies. So in terms of stylistic analysis, Act One is used mainly to show the reader what is the problematic situation, Act Two is used to underline how the problem is solved when the empathy is provided.
The names used in the play present a remarkable stylistic resource for the play. According to Sheknows.com Jill means “young”. Jill is not content with her appearance and mirror is a crucial symbol in the play. She looks at the window and does little make-up when she cries. Being young is her desire because she is cheated by Mal with a young girl. So it has a very symbolic meaning for the play. Moreover
Sheknows.com gives more detail about the personality of the people named Jill:
“People with this name are excellent at analyzing, understanding, and learning. They tend to
111 be mystics, philosophers, scholars, and teachers. Because they live so much in the mind, they tend to be quiet and introspective, and are usually introverts. When presented with issues, they will see the larger picture. Their solitary thoughtfulness and analysis of people and world events may make them seem aloof, and sometimes even melancholy.” Jill is the listener for Chrissie and also she seems to be the only one that understands Sam, who wants to take part in a play. So, she is the first person at home with whom every family member opens their hearts.
Mal as a name means chief. He is the owner of a furniture shop and he seems to manage everything as he wants. According to Sheknows.com “People with this name are competent, practical, and often obtain great power and wealth. They tend to be successful in business and commercial affairs, and are able to achieve great material dreams. Because they often focus so strongly on business and achievement, they may neglect their private lives and relationships.” As it is clear to understand from the quotation, the business life prevents him to take care of his family.
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CONCLUSION
This study has argued how Sir Alan Ayckbourn uses illusion and reality in the comedy. Illusion and reality are two opposite, contrastive concepts that clearly exist in some of the plays of Sir Alan Ayckbourn. Both concepts are controversial and both represent a way to describe how a character feels when he/she experiences ignorance by the others, especially men. In the plays Woman in Mind, Just Between
Ourselves and If I Were You, Sir Alan Ayckbourn uses illusion and reality explicitly and implicitly by using certain stylistic point of views. With the stylistic analysis, the choice of words, names of the characters, the stage and bracketed directions and the punctuation are used to reflect the theme of the plays better. As a common point in the plays, the main female characters suffer from reality, mostly because of their relationships with their husbands, and all of them try to find a way to escape from the reality with the help of illusion. At the end of the plays except If I Were You, the female characters get lost in the illusion and the possibility of healing does not entirely exist. In If I Were You, the couple seems to agree to talk, but still it does not show that they solve their problem. On the other hand, the thesis is a glance to the role of the woman in the society and how husbands see their wives and their dilemmas.
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