analysis of act two the shoe-horn sonata

Module A: Distinctively Visual

Kylie Hetherington

Abstract

Analysis of the Text Analysis - Act Two, Scene Nine

The scene opens in the studio and dominating the space is a large image of both Australian and British women bowing to the Japanese. This huge image remains throughout most of the scene and the audience cannot escape its meaning. Both Bridie and Sheila are present and Bridie is off to one side singing the Captive’s ‘Hymn’ (with the women’s choir). Sheila is speaking to the camera and her answers to the questions are juxtapose with Bridie’s singing. In this interview we learn about the situation in Belalau and the Japanese order that had been issued to kill every prisoner of war.

Bridie’s illness and the way in which Sheila looked after her is made public—but Sheila baulks at telling the whole truth about how she acquired the drugs to save her, making up the story of theshoe-horn saving her. This information is picked up by the interviewer as if it is highly significant.The scene ends with the story of Curtin’s message: ‘Keep smiling, girls’. The horror of this command is emphasised by the image of Curtin and the prisoners and the Judy Garland song.

Further AnalysisThis scene focuses on Sheila’s representation of events that continue the narrative of the experience. Misto has given both women a scene where they are the protagonist effectively allowing each woman to have a voice that is representative of both the Australian and British women who were held in captivity. The isolation of each character on the stage in these two scenes presents the audience with the opportunity to explore and note the similarities and differences between their personalities – open, forthright, at times hubristic and reserved (unless relaxed by alcohol) and modest, albeit with a touch of martyrdom.

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Note Making ActivityYou are to cut out each of the statements above and stick them against the dramatic and language devices that they match to. Once you have done this you are to write a statement of how the audience visualises the events and experiences of the women because of the way Misto uses dramaturgy and language in the play.Dramaturgy and Language

Analysis Distinctively Visual

Protagonist and isolation on the stageImageryProjected images and backdrop to the stage / symbolism / echoing Scene iLighting and symbolism and dramatic ironyStage directions / dramatic irony / simile descriptive / verbal imageryImages, motif and symbolism, dramatic ironyIrony, music and projected images

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Writing Activity Overview (Topic Sentence)Misto uses vivid imagery in The Shoe-Horn Sonata to point to the horrendous truth of the experiences of the women during World War II.

Level One (Technique and Example)Outline ONE use of imagery in this scene and provide an example.

Level Two (Purpose)How does this work with the stage directions or dramatic elements to create a distinctively visual image?

Level Three (Analysis)How does the imagery (language) and dramatic techniques reveal the truth of the women’s experiences? (Analysis)

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Writing ActivityConvert your answers into a cohesive paragraph. (Topic Sentence, Technique Example, Purpose, Analysis, Linking Sentence)‍

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Analysis - Act Two, Scene Ten

The transition to this scene holds the image of emaciated male prisoners in view as we move into a space that is neither hotel room nor studio although both characters are still wearing body microphones. Sheila has not gone to lunch and is sitting doing some kind of tapestry—an image of stitching things together. Bridie comments on the photograph of the

soldiers—a comment that stimulates a riposte from Sheila about the role of the government in suppressing information about the women’s role in the war. This interaction between the on-stage action and the projected visual images connects past and present.Their conversation reveals the tension that is now out in the open. Recriminations flow as Bridie tries to make sense of what she has learned and Sheila tries to defend her actions, not only with the Japanese but also in leaving Bridie after the war. The intercutting of Rick’s voice into their altercation leaves them not knowing how much he has heard. The juxtaposition of the song ‘I’ll Walk Alone’ suggests the isolation of each of these victims of this dreadful situation.

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Note Making ActivityBelow, the boxes which have been shaded “grey” need to be completed.

Ideas Dramatic features / Language featuresSpecific examples from the text

What is visualised through these dramatic features?

Analysis

Violence against women Projected visual images / stage directionsThe scene opens with the large photograph of the male POWs in full view.

The working on the tapestry or needlework also presents the juxtaposition between the masculine and the feminine.Find relevant example.

. The distinctive visual presented here is of the male experience overshadowing that of the feminine; the needlework, getting on with business is the social and cultural expectation, both in Sheila’s own representation of self – bearing her cross so to speak and getting on with the her life with pragmatic feminine industry.

The size of the image dominates the screen with Sheila who sitting beneath it presenting a metaphorical image of the male experience dominating that of the female experience in terms of exposure and history. The silence of the womens’ stories in the memories of the Australian public.Secondly, Sheila’s experience, silenced for fifty years, hides scars as significant and as confronting as the emasculated, emaciated imagery presented literally on the stage.Sheila’s response exposes the controlling of image perpetrated by the Australian government which in part, has contributed to the silenced representations of the extreme nature of the experience for the women.

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Ideas Dramatic features / Language featuresSpecific examples from the text

What is visualised through these dramatic features?

Analysis

Truth and telling the truth

The discussion between the two women on the period they remained in hospital, to fatten them up before they were seen by the public.

Find relevant example.

Illuminates and suggests that we can and do control image in order to construct a socially acceptable perspective.Similar stories of hiding the history of women and privileging the narrative of men are evident in evidence from Singapore for the many women who were held in Changi or for those held prisoner in Japan. The women’s history of imprisonment in Changi history was not written about until 1968 and only then has it come to light the extent of the illness, challenge and inspiration that can be drawn from the feminine experience.

Telling the truth The dialogue between the two characters returns to the hotel room revelation of Sheila’s secret. Find relevant example.

The visual representation of the characters on the

a tone of isolation and loneliness pervades the scene.

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Ideas Dramatic features / Language featuresSpecific examples from the text

What is visualised through these dramatic features?

Analysis

stage, their proximity, the awkwardness and tension continues as we see Bridie coming to terms with Sheila’s story. Find relevant example.

The confronting images of Lipstick Larry still haunt Sheila. The challenging notion of sacrifice and the revelations of Sheila’s mother rejecting her need to tell her story.Find relevant example.

There is genuine bitterness evident in the facial expressions and body language Find relevant example.

continues the sense of cultural repression that has left Sheila firmly placed in isolation, living alone constantly reminded of the events that have circumscribed her.

a sense that whilst Sheila can rationalise, if not forget her sacrifice, Bridie cannot.

The nature of history to obscure the truth and silence the weak and powerless in society

The scene ends with the realisation both women may have been live on their microphones, which could have exposed them both. The dramatic irony that the story is now told and is now public. Find relevant

reminds us of the overshadowing nature of history and explores how we are silenced by the expectations and constructs of a society that does not always want to acknowledge truth.

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Ideas Dramatic features / Language featuresSpecific examples from the text

What is visualised through these dramatic features?

Analysis

example.

The scene ends with the poignant strains of Anne Shelton’s I’ll Walk Alone (lyrics do not start until 1:46). Find relevant example.

At the very least, society struggles to deal with confronting images this narrative presents about the war and our participation in it and how it impacted on a range of individuals

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Analysis of Act Two, Scene 11This scene is back in the studio and the visual image of the postcards seems dwarfed beside the projected images that we have previously seen. The recitation of the words of each of the postcards leads the women back into their memories. The moments of darkness highlight thepain of these experiences.

In this scene the image of the sonata becomes significant as the women trawl back through theirmemories together. In this scene, one of the most important issues of the play is highlighted—thecomplete lack of acknowledgement by the Australian government juxtaposed with the pitifully small amount of compensation paid by the Japanese government to these victims of thepower play of these sovereign states.

Literal images are presented from the outset of the scene with the postcard being held up for the audience to see; the postcards, sent through the Red Cross, represent connection and disconnection. Bridie’s postcard message has warmth and represents her connectedness to family, Sheila’s, read by Bridie from memory, despite the 50 year time span, reveals the stoicism of the British view she has been limited by her entire life. The staging of the women, side by side presents unit; the knowledge of what was on each postcard reveals the intimacy of the relationship presenting an innate spiritual connection between the two.

Mental images are provoked in the minds of the audience as the women relate digging graves and singing songs, and the inspiration they drew from the music that not only strengthened them but the other remaining women left in the camp.

Sheila’s evocative recount of her return to the camp is presented in halting phrases allowing the audience to appreciate every image – or the absence of the images – huts, fences that now only holds ghosts, both present and past. The shock expressed by Rick echoes the shock that is felt by the audience at the realisation of the lack of dignity and commemoration afforded these women and children. The extent of the loss of life is profound. Sheila presents the metaphor that she has never left this place – the darkness that shrouds the stage for just a few moment echoes the metaphysical darkness that has overwhelmed her life.As the lights go up again the audience sees Bridie standing beside Sheila, a visual reminder of their unity, a protective stance. She relates, with objective clarity, the pitiful compensation offered by the Japanese and the shocking evidence that the Australian government would not support them in a bid for more compensation. It would seem that the images of women as prisoners, and the silences that have surrounded their representation, will continue.The continuity of the plot is supported by the reference to ‘smiling’ from Scene Nine. The irony presents the discomforting reminder of the years of deprivation ad abuse from the Japanese as an ongoing trauma that both women carry with them.

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The scene ends in darkness, deliberately confronting as a metaphor of an ending, a closing of the reparations that can be made for the losses of those who were impacted on by this experience.

Techniques Examples of Techniques and quotations from Shoe Horn

Visual Elements – Effect of visual elements of the text

Tensions in their relationshipLooking and seeing the truthViolence against women

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Writing Activity Overview (Topic Sentence)Misto through intense dramatic and language in The Shoe-Horn Sonata intends for the audience to be participants in the realisation of the lack of dignity and commemoration afforded these women and children.

Level One (Technique and Example)Outline ONE use of imagery in this scene and provide an example.

Level Two (Purpose)How does this work with the stage directions or dramatic elements to create a distinctively visual image of the lack of official commemoration or memory for these women?

Level Three (Analysis)How does the imagery (language) and dramatic techniques reveal the tragic negligence in memorialising the women’s sacrifice and resilience?

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Writing ActivityConvert your answers into a cohesive paragraph. (Topic Sentence, Technique Example, Purpose, Analysis, Linking Sentence)‍

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Analysis of Act Two, Scene 10

This scene takes place in the motel room. Bridie is attempting to re-establish their relationship despite the obvious tensions between them. It is in this scene that we learn of Bridie’s ‘crime’ in the David Jones’ food hall. We now understand how she feels and why she reacted in this way.

Sheila’s reaction to this confession allows us to see how deeply scarred these women have been by their experiences—not only by the Japanese, but also by the responses and inaction of their own countries. Sheila’s realisation is that it is important not only for themselves but for the thousands of others similarly afflicted to tell these stories in public. Bridie is not yet convinced and the tension between them arises again. We are now aware that this tension is about the present, the past, memories, recollections, reconstructions, truth, shame and guilt. The moment of darkness returns, followed by images of ‘great men’ of history and the song, ‘Whispering Grass’.

This scene returns the hotel room, Sheila’s, where the revelation of events took place in Scene Eight. Bridie and Sheila are engaging in a dualogue that vacillates between bickering and intimacy implying that this has been the nature of their relationship since their first meeting. We are once again reminded of the imagery of the first meeting of the women and their earlier debates on Sinatra and Crosby. Misto is reminding us here of the continuance of relationships and the memories they have of each other as vivid and real.

The image induced through the relating of one of the other women forgiving a Chinese waiter the previous evening reminds us of the enduring images of the atrocities for all the women and how they have ongoing impact. Misto cleverly reveals here the ways in which POWs have had to shift their perspective of people and events in a world that has changed and moved on and to some extent, politically, culturally and socially, wants to ignore the image of atrocity we have seen through the photographs and through the stories we have been made witness to. Further evidence of this idea is presented through Bridie’s relating to Sheila of being captured shop lifting, because of ‘the Nips’. The way she names the people implies the negative connotations she still associates with the Japanese. Misto highlights here the difficulties and challenges of overcoming hatred and prejudice when you have been subjected to such devastating events and experiences. We imagine and through that experience the visceral terror Bridie felt when surrounding by Japanese tourists and we empathise with her need to run. The irony of this scene is her refusal to tell the truth in court as she needed to preserve the secret of the stories of the camp, a social expectation to protect the women or an unspoken imposition placed on her by society and governments who have been unwilling to acknowledge and support the reparation of such atrocities perpetrated on individuals. The damning aspect here is that this attitude has impacted on a range of minority groups throughout history – Indigenous Australians, migrant Australians and continues to repress story and truth for any range of social and economic purposes and may provide worthy related material of making this point.

Images of fear, the guards and wanting to save Sheila (represented in Bridie’s dialogue) are overshadowed by the truth of Sheila’s sacrifice. Both women are confronted by the truths they now know of the other and yet understand. They both recognise the power of secrets. Ironically, it has been Sheila who has been accused

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of keeping up a face of decorum throughout we now see Bridie as being a victim of that same need to hide her self-imposed shame and secrets.

Sheila’s evocative dialogue reveals that the war is not over for her, and that she has come to the realisation that only the telling of the truth, exposing the images of loss and sadness, of her own integrity are the way forward. Cleverly, Misto reminds us, in this moment of vulnerability, of the need to know the truth if we are to expose the pain and them work to accept our circumstances and their consequences ourselves. The balance of power between the women has clearly shifted as it is now Bridie who wants to keep the secrets and Sheila who is empowered by the potential freedom of sharing the truth.

The end of the scene is both poignant and humourous. Sheila, the character endowed with all propriety and dignity, mocks Bridie as she leaves the hotel room with onomatopoeic clucking reinforcing the stage directions that tell us she is visually flapping her arms as wings. We see a freedom of expression and willingness to confront and challenge the attitudes of a society that would prefer the images and stories of what occurred in the camp to remain hidden. The stage shifts to darkness, a metaphorical reminder of how we hide truth in dark places so that we are not confronted by them. Photographs appear on the scene of military leaders and prime ministers reminding the audience that these are the men that orchestrate nations through war, that lead nations, that construct the secrets, hide the secrets and perpetuate a narrative that is sanitised and justifiable. The score of “Whispering Grass” (Inkspots 1940) is used to reinforce the imagery of secrets, secrets which prevent individuals from being fully human and from living lives free of fear. The sense that there should be a hidden history is a damning reminder of how we repress unpalatable truths.

Note Making ActivityComplete the following note making activity using the text and the analysis above to complete the note table.

Ideas Dramatic features / Language featuresSpecific examples from the text

What is visualised through these dramatic features?

Analysis

TruthViolence and fearSecrets and Hidden History

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Writing Activity Eight Topic SentenceThe distinctively visual positions the responder to gain an experiences about past events and personalities. This acts as a catalyst, exposing the responder to the experiences of the women and the long term effects of war that they suffered. Overview

1. How has the idea in the topic sentence been revealed in Scene 12?

Level One (Technique and Example)List three key uses of dramatic, visual and language techniques used in this scene. (Ensure you also note the references or describe the examples. Make sure they connect to the topic sentences.)

Level Two (Purpose)How do the visual elements of this scene provoke audience response?

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Level Three (Analysis)How do the dramatic techniques and the distinctively visual elements in this scene which enhance our understanding and emotional response of the horror and sacrifice of war?

Writing ActivityConvert your answers into a cohesive paragraph. (Topic Sentence, Technique Example, Purpose, Analysis, Linking Sentence)

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Writing Activity Nine Topic SentenceThe distinctively visual allows the audience to intellectually and emotively experience the betrayal of the women through secrets and hidden history. Overview

1. How has the idea in the topic sentence been revealed in Scene 12?

Level One (Technique and Example)List three key uses of dramatic, visual and language techniques used in this scene. (Ensure you also note the references or describe the examples. Make sure they connect to the topic sentences.)

Level Two (Purpose)How do the visual elements of this scene invoke a vivid response for the audience?

Level Three (Analysis)How do the audience responses reveal the betrayal of the women POWs by the Australian and British governments through having their stories silenced?

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Writing ActivityConvert your answers into a cohesive paragraph. (Topic Sentence, Technique Example, Purpose, Analysis, Linking Sentence)

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Analysis Act Two Scene ThirteenThis scene cuts straight into the interview as both Bridie and Sheila recount their experiences as the war draws to an end. We hear about the diaries and the burning of these by the British. This is overlaid with images of Hiroshima and the news of the death of Pearl after the war had officially ended. There is a sense of calm as both women recount these events, although at one significant moment Sheila’s composure cracks. It is at this point that we see the symbiotic relationship that the women had previously enjoyed. As Bridie finishes recounting the anecdote that Sheila had begun they join hands and relive, together, that moment of memory and reconciliation. The playing of the ‘Blue Danube Waltz’ is a counterpoint to their memories. Dancing becomes associated with life and joy and hope and survival, and this is juxtaposed with the Japanese atrocities in Belalau and the visual images of the celebrations of the end of the war. The scene reaches a climax as the confessions of the two women are made public. This is the moment of truth as Bridie tells about Sheila’s personal sacrifice and Sheila tells of Bridie’s theft from David Jones. The simplicity of these truths juxtaposed with the official ‘lies’ of the government ring out with a clarity and candour that is underlined by the gradual darkness that follows the revelation. This scene ends with the sounds of the hymn ‘An Epitaph to War’, images of the women recuperating and the huge projected image of the army nurses arriving in Singapore.

Further AnalysisSheila’s exposure of the government she has strenuously defended throughout the play presents irony; the idea that the British took away diaries under the guise of a health risk and then never returned them confirms the dialogue throughout the play of repressing truth, keeping secrets and protecting the notions of Empire. Misto makes much here of the dogma of esteem and protecting the image of the Empire. The discussions surrounding both governments reinforces earlier scenes where Sheila criticises the Australian government for waiting until the women were not as thin and emaciated before photographs could be taken, again to ‘protect’ but one needs to ask whether these images would have protected the individuals, society or governments.

Relating the story of the prisoners being forced to climb a hill outside of the camp presents a range of images that resonate for both Bridie and Sheila and through their telling, the audience. The weakness and physical condition of the women are exposed; verbs such as ‘struggling’ and ‘crawling’ emphasise the challenge. The images in the minds of the women at the time are presented, revealing their fears of shot in a further attempt to hide their presence. The biblical allusions, the reciting of Psalm 23, reinforces the fear of an impending death. Bridie relates how Sheila sees why they have been taken to this place before she does. The exclamatory repetition had forced them to draw near to each other. The audience can imagine the desperate struggle this would have involved. The listing of instruments and the transition into the strains of The Blue Danube by Johann Strauss presents an abstract juxtaposition with their circumstances. The music presents the sentience of the moment for the women, memories flooding in of their lives prior to the war. The nostalgia is evocative. The promise made at that point in history is reiterated on the stage and is a foreshadowing of the end of the play. The scene moves to explore how the women were found in the last days of their captivity. They recount the historical facts of Hayden Lennard finding women POWs and the miracle of being found – signifying to some extent that this was the end of what had been a horrific ordeal. The lights flickering are a transition to present photographs as backdrops of the celebrations in Australia at the end of the war. The score presents ‘Danny Boy’ a more traditional British (Celtic) song about coming home. The women relate how they moved beyond the gates of

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the camp and we can imagine the challenges of walking away, with such impaired physical health. The language presents the struggles and the fragility of the women.

The scene shifts at this point as rather than accepting an offer to take a break in filming; Bridie and Sheila begin to tell the truths, revealing how their captivity has truly impacted on them both. The significance here is that they are exposing images of themselves as women, not who were disempowered by their secret narratives but now empowered by the fact that in sharing it publicly they too are freed of the memories that have prevented them from finding resolution to their fears and nightmares. The dialogue is powerful, halting and poignant. Whilst we have witnessed these stories as an audience, the revealing of them to the interviewer implies they are now public images that everyone can be exposed to and now must accept and resolve as an integral part of Australia’s war narrative involving prisoners of war. The women are united on the screen, represented as holding hands, and we see that they can be as one; the friendship conveyed here a powerful image of re-imagining themselves as freed from the war. The reassurances and connections between the two women present an image that is quite moving for the audience. The stage shifts into gradual darkness, closing an episode as the soundtrack presents ‘An Epitaph to War’. Photographs present the evocative images of the nurses effectively paying homage to their survival and in doing so, celebrating the lives of those who did not come home. These images have been presented as links in previous scenes.

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Analysis Act Two Scene FourteenThe filming has finished, and Bridie is reading a newspaper—a poignant symbol of the official version of news. The two colleagues and friends are now reunited and this is contained in theimage of the lifting of the suitcase. While most of the tension has been released there is still some unresolved business to be dealt with. Sheila holds out the shoe-horn, now the symbol not only of their reunion, but also of their reconciliation. The two women embrace. The play ends with them women dancing to the ‘Blue Danube’ and in the slowly darkening space the final spotlight falls on the shoe-horn.The final scene of the play begins with Sheila sitting on stage; the set is her hotel room. The stage directions infer that her suitcase is packed and she is ready to leave after saying her goodbyes. Bridie enters the stage/room and presents the simile that illustrates Rick’s sense of success; it is a clichéd simile and yet demonstrates that the interviewer feels he has been successful in conveying the story and insights that will make his documentary meaningful – the dramatic irony is that the style of delivery on stage, as a documentary with the personal insights integrated throughout, has presented an insightful and poignant experience for the audience.

The women present banter in the scene but the profound imagery comes from mention of Christmas, evoking the need that they experienced in the camp continues to resonate and that these women want to share some of those experiences in the future as their own form of reparation, addressing the memories by creating the tangible – the ones they ‘dreamed’ of in the camp.

Sheila gives Bridie her shoe-horn which is a poignant moment; the sacrifice embedded in its presence is overwhelming. The embrace by the women presents a final moment of genuine affection for the audience allowing us to see their conflicts and tensions resolved, although not in a ‘maudlin’ manner, to reiterate Sheila’s earlier phrase.

The scene and the play ends to the strains of The Blue Danube and the two women waltzing celebrating finally, the freedom they now enjoy, not just literal freedom but a form of spiritual freedom from the horrors that limited them both and had been the cause of tension throughout the play.

The humour used in the final scene creates bathos; this is not a maudlin or depressing moment; whilst there is nostalgia Misto reprises the barbs and debates of Empire and culture – Sinatra or Crosby – that sustained the women throughout their time in the camps.

The spotlight on the shoe-horn focuses us on not only these women who have survived and their shared narrative, but the symbolism it conveys, of many women and many songs and voices who did not survive or, for those who did, may still not be in a position to share their story and be free as the final moments of score and action on the stage of the two women dancing convey.

Misto leaves his audience uplifted; the significance of this final scene, the final image is that we too can rise above even the most extraordinary and dire experiences and be uplifted and inspired and in turn, uplift and inspire others.

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Themes and IdeasHistory and historiographyWhile the focus of the play appears to be on the two individual characters, it is through their story that we discover an even bigger story—the ways in which official sources construct histories so that truth becomes a central casualty. In one sense the play is about historiography or the writing of history. This is evident in various aspects of the play including the juxtaposition of the ‘factual’ information in the slides and the fictional characters. But it also operates within the stories of the characters themselves moving within the stage space. The hesitation of the women to tell their stories publicly has helped to skew the writing of the history. But we come to understand the ways in which the women have effectively colluded with Japanese, British and Australian officialdom by keeping their own counsel. It is interesting that now, fifty years after the war, they are telling their stories in an oral medium because, unlike other official war stories, they have not been recorded in writing.It is also significant that in the telling of these stories it is the male interviewer who is seeking the information for another public medium of recording history—one that is as potentially selective as the official government records can be. In both cases it is the stories that are not told—‘the negative information’—that leads to a skewed and untruthful account of events. This is a play about the stories that are not told for various reasons.

Activity1. Find three examples from the play

History and Historiography

Dramatic features / Language featuresSpecific examples from the text

What is visualised through these dramatic features?

Analysis

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History and Historiography

Dramatic features / Language featuresSpecific examples from the text

What is visualised through these dramatic features?

Analysis

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Truth, honesty, candourTruth is central to the ideas of this play. The idea of truth, telling the truth and recognising the truth is not located only in the interrelationship between the two women. Certainly, we come to understand that there has been a concealing of truth between them during their time in the

camp and after their release. This concealment is aided by Sheila’s geographical isolation. For Bridie, telling the truth has arisen as an issue in relation to the theft from the David Jones food hall. Telling the truth is also shown to be an issue in their interactions in the present; but honesty—or more significantly—lack of it, is also shown to be part of the modus operandi of the British, Australian and Japanese. Official concealments have their official spin, but they are concealments, nevertheless. Perhaps in the final analysis, this play demonstrates that such concealments cannot be contained forever. Truth will out.

Activity1. Find three examples from the play

Truth, honesty and candour

Dramatic features / Language featuresSpecific examples from the text

What is visualised through these dramatic features?

Analysis

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Power relationshipsThis play explores power relationships at a number of levels. The most obvious power play on stage occurs between the interviewer and the women that he is interviewing. This power play has an ambiguous moment in which the women are uncertain as to whether Rick has overheard a ‘private’ conversation.There is also a shifting power play between the two women themselves that is a reflection of shifts in the power relationships that had been in play between them during the war. These shifts are also set against the power relationships between the British authorities and British nationals in Singapore, Australian authorities and the nurses and, of course between the Japanese captors and the prisoners-of-war.Activity

1. Find three examples from the playPower relationships Dramatic features /

Language featuresSpecific examples from the text

What is visualised through these dramatic features?

Analysis

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HeroismThe play revolves around the heroic deeds of the women during the war. These deeds were acts of physical courage of the highest order. For Sheila, the supreme sacrifice of selling her body to the Japanese in order to obtain the necessary drugs for her friend’s survival is all the more poignant as we understand the cultural and social background that she had come from. But these are not the only deeds of heroism.As the stories unfurl we encounter the heroic spirit not only of these two women, but of others who were in the same situation. We come to understand heroism not only as a masculine characteristic, and not merely associated with great physical feats. Sheila’s greatest heroic act is to give her body to the Japanese soldiers in order to save the life of her friend.

Activity1. Find three examples from the play

Heroism and Resilience Dramatic features / Language featuresSpecific examples from the text

What is visualised through these dramatic features?

Analysis

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Memories, dealing with pain, reconciliationA key focus of this play is on the reconciliation that eventually occurs between the two women. This reconciliation is not easily come by and indeed at some points throughout the play it seems doubtful whether it is possible at all. The reunion of the two means that layers of memories must be recalled, relived and reconstructed so that understanding and acceptance can come into play. This is a painful process but both characters come to understand that running away from pain is only one way of dealing with it and there is something satisfying for them in dealing with it in a more open way now that they are together again.For each character we see that there is both a personal reconciliation with painful memories as well as a reconciliation with each other. The reconciliation of their friendship can only occur when the personal reconciliation has been achieved. What is obvious at the end of the play is that there has yet to be a public reconciliation for these women with the wider world which is still to acknowledge them.

Activity1. Find three examples from the play

Memories and Truth tellingReconciliation

Dramatic features / Language featuresSpecific examples from the text

What is visualised through these dramatic features?

Analysis

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