Overview: Introduction to Mrs Johnstone & Lyons

Overview: Introduction to Mrs. Johnstone

In the beginning of the play, we are introduced to Mrs Johnstone. The Narrator gives an overview of the plot and the fate which await Mickey and Edward.

Opening with Mrs. Johnstone

The play begins with Mrs. Johnstone singing a song in which she asks the audience to “tell me it’s not true”.

Introduced to the Narrator

The Narrator then briefly introduces us to the story of the Johnstone brothers.
We learn that they were twins, separated at birth:
- “one was kept and one given away”, and that they only discovered they were brothers moments before their tragic deaths.
Following a brief reenactment of the scene of Mickey and Edward’s deaths, the Narrator introduces their mother, Mrs Johnstone, to the audience.

Mrs. Johnstone

Mrs Johnstone is 30 years old at the start of the play, “but looks more like fifty”, and she sings a song about her good-for-nothing husband, telling the story of their failed marriage.

Mrs. Johnstone's marriage

She recalls when he won her heart by telling her she was “sexier than Marilyn Monroe” and how they used to go dancing together.
When she was 25, her husband walked out on her and left her “with seven hungry mouths to feed and one more nearly due”. Mrs. Johnstone sings that he left her for a woman, “who looks a bit like Marilyn Monroe”.

The milkman

The Narrator reappears, this time as a milkman, and he is trying to get Mrs. Johnstone to pay her milk bill.
She says she cannot afford to pay, but tries to evoke sympathy from the milkman with the plea, “I need the milk. I’m pregnant”. His response is, “no money, no milk”. Mrs. Johnstone’s children are complaining that they are hungry and she soothes them with a song which lists the different types of food they will be able to eat when she starts earning money: “ham, an’ jam, an’ spam an’...”

Overview: Introduction to the Lyons'

In the next scene, the audience is introduced to Mrs. Lyons, Mrs. Johnstone's employer.

Mrs. Lyons and Mrs. Johnstone's relationship

The scene then moves to the house of Mr. and Mrs. Lyons, who employ Mrs. Johnstone as a cleaner.
Mrs. Lyons enters and tells Mrs. Johnstone how she feels lonely in the big, empty house which she is “finding rather large at present” because Mr. Lyons, her husband, has gone away on business and isn’t due to return for several months.

Mrs. Lyons' inability to have children

Mrs. Lyons talks about her sadness at the fact she is unable to have children.
She believes that “an adopted child can become one’s own”, but Mr. Lyons does not agree.
Mrs. Johnstone jokes that she has the opposite problem and can’t seem to stop having children:
- “Here’s you can’t have kids, an’ me, I can’t stop havin’ them.”

Shoes on the table

During this conversation, Mrs. Lyons has been unwrapping a parcel containing a new pair of shoes.
She places the shoes on the table and this sends Mrs. Johnstone into a panic: evidently she believes that putting shoes on the table is bad luck, warning Mrs. Lyons to “never put new shoes on a table… You never know what’ll happen.”

The Narrator's entrance

Mrs. Lyons leaves the scene and the Narrator returns.
He mentions various commonly believed superstitions, for example, “the salt that’s been spilled and a looking glass cracked”, creating an ominous atmosphere. Mrs. Johnstone tries to persuade herself that she is “not superstitious”, but it is quite clear to the audience that she is.

The gynecologist

Next, the Narrator reappears again, this time as a gynecologist examining Mrs. Johnstone’s unborn child.
Much to Mrs. Johnstone’s horror, she learns that she is in fact “expecting twins”.
Unable to support her family as it is, Mrs. Johnstone realises that there is no way she will be able to adequately look after two more children.

1Context & Author

1.1Context

1.1.1Setting

1.1.2Political Background

1.1.3Education & Work

1.1.4Marilyn Monroe & Pop Culture

1.1.5Family

1.2Author

1.2.1Willy Russell

1.2.2End of Topic Test - Context & Author

2Plot

2.1Act One

2.1.1Overview: Introduction to Mrs Johnstone & Lyons

2.1.2Analysis: Introduction to Mrs. Johnston and Lyons

2.1.3Overview: The Birth of Mickey & Edward

2.1.4Analysis: The Birth of Mickey & Edward

2.1.5Overview: Mickey Playing at Home

2.1.6Overview: Mickey & Edward as Seven-year-olds

2.1.7Analysis: Mickey & Edward as Seven-year-olds

2.1.8Overview: Mickey & Edward as Seven-year-olds 2

2.1.9Analysis: Mickey & Edward as Seven-year-olds 2

2.1.10End of Topic Test - Act One

2.1.11End of Topic Test - Act One 2

2.2Act Two

2.2.1Overview: Mickey & Edward as Teenagers

2.2.2Analysis: Mickey & Edward as Teenagers

2.2.3Overview: Mickey & Edward as Teenagers 2

2.2.4Analysis: Mickey & Edward as Teenagers 2

2.2.5Overview: Mickey & Edward as Teenagers 3

2.2.6Analysis: Mickey & Edward as Teenagers 3

2.2.7Overview: Mickey & Edward as Adults

2.2.8Analysis: Mickey & Edward as Adults

2.2.9End of Topic Test - Act Two

2.2.10End of Topic Test - Act Two 2

3Characters

3.1Mickey

3.1.1Mickey

3.1.2Mickey as a Damaged Adult

3.2Edward

3.2.1Edward

3.2.2Edward 2

3.2.3End of Topic Test - Mickey & Edward

3.3Linda

3.3.1Linda

3.3.2Linda 2

3.4Mrs Johnstone

3.4.1Mrs Johnstone

3.4.2Mrs Johnstone 2

3.5Mrs Lyons

3.5.1Mrs Lyons

3.5.2Mrs Lyons 2

3.5.3End of Topic Test - Linda & Mothers

3.6Mr Lyons

3.6.1Mr Lyons

3.7Sammy

3.7.1Sammy

3.8The Narrator

3.8.1The Narrator

3.9Minor

3.9.1Minor Characters

3.9.2End of Topic Test - Other Characters

3.10End of Topic Sessions

3.10.1Grade 9 - Key Characters

4Themes

4.1Parents & Children

4.1.1Parents & Children

4.2Growing Up

4.2.1Growing Up

4.3Friendship & Brotherhood

4.3.1Friendship & Brotherhood

4.3.2End of Topic Test - Parents, Growing Up, Friends

4.4Fate & Superstition

4.4.1Fate & Superstition

4.5Nature vs. Nurture

4.5.1Nature vs. Nurture

4.6Social Class

4.6.1Social Class

4.6.2End of Topic Test - Fate, Upbringing & Class

5Literary Techniques

5.1Structure

5.1.1Structure

5.2Tragedy

5.2.1Tragedy

5.3Dramatic Irony

5.3.1Dramatic Irony

5.4Imagery

5.4.1Imagery

5.5Character & Voice

5.5.1Character

5.6Music & Lyrics

5.6.1Music & Lyrics

5.7Accent & Dialect

5.7.1Accent & Dialect

5.7.2End of Topic Test - Literary Techniques

5.7.3End of Topic Test - Literary Techniques 2

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