Ed's Frustrations & Revisiting Mrs Alexander

Ed's Frustrations

We see several of Ed’s frustrations in three consecutive scenes. Each revolves around him struggling to do right by Christopher and underline the strain that Christopher’s condition puts him under.

Scene 1: meeting Mrs Gascoyne

In the first of these scenes - Ed’s meeting with Christopher’s headteacher, Mrs Gascoyne - we see Ed fighting against a system which will not help Christopher or make allowances for his condition.

Ed's dedication

As well as revealing Ed’s frustration, shown in his outburst about Christopher “getting a crap enough deal already”, this scene reveals Ed’s determination to fight for his son: he confronts Mrs Gascoyne with the fifty pounds needed for Christopher to be able to sit his Maths A-level examination and tells her that he is “not going to take no for an answer”.

Scene 2: Ed's confrontation

The following scene sees Ed confront Christopher about his investigation into Wellington’s death.
The stage directions are significant: Ed “shouts” at the mention of Mr Shears’ name before declaring that “that man is evil”.
In Ed’s longest speech of the play so far, he makes Christopher “promise” that he will “stop this ridiculous bloody detective game”.
This scene marks the first moment in the play where Ed’s frustrations spill out into conflict with his son.

Scene 3: astronaut description

The last of these three scenes is brief but powerful.
Ed interrupts Christopher’s description of why he would be a good astronaut and asks him to “give it a bit of a break”.

Ed's frustration analysed

The reasons for Ed’s frustration are left unspoken, but you can perhaps infer that Christopher’s wish “that there was no one else near” him for thousands of miles is painful for his father to listen to.
Ed knows that Christopher will not be able to shut himself away from the world and that he will soon need to make his first difficult steps into the adult world.

Christopher Revisits Mrs Alexander

In the longest scene of the play so far, Christopher breaks the promise he made to his father and restarts his investigation. In his conversation with Mrs Alexander, he begins to learn how complicated the adult world can be.

Judy's affair revealed

Although Christopher does not “do chatting”, throughout his conversation with Mrs Alexander the audience witnesses the gradual revelation of the affair between Mr Shears and Christopher’s mother, Judy.

"Doing sex"

Despite the tension that is built up in this scene, Stephens also creates moments of comedy for the audience such as Christopher’s question about whether his mother and Mr Shears were “doing sex”.

Suspicions about 'death'

Members of the audience may also begin to suspect that Christopher’s mother is not really dead.
Mrs Alexander’s shock when Christopher tells her about her death (“Oh my goodness. Oh, Christopher I am so, so sorry. I never realised”) may suggest that she had not realised that Christopher has been led to believe this.

1Introduction & Context

1.1Novel & Play

1.1.1Mark Haddon's Novel (2003)

1.1.2Simon Stephens' Adaptions (2012)

1.2Christopher's Autism

1.2.1Christopher's Autism

1.2.2End of Topic Test - Introduction & Context

2Form, Structure & Language

2.1Dramatic Devices

2.1.1Writing About the Text as a Playscript

2.1.2Dramatic Devices

2.2Genre & Structure

2.2.1Genre

2.2.2Structure

2.3Language

2.3.1Language

2.3.2End of Topic Test - Form, Structure & Language

3Text Summary & Analysis

3.1Part One

3.1.1Discovering the Dead Dog & Christopher's Autism

3.1.2The Policeman & Siobhan

3.1.3The Police Station & Ed's Entry

3.1.4Mother's Death & Beginning the Investigation

3.1.5Ed's Frustrations & Revisiting Mrs Alexander

3.1.6Remembering Judy & "Fight" Scene

3.1.7Judy's Letters

3.1.8Ed's Confession

3.1.9End of Topic Test - Part One

3.1.10End of Topic Test - Part One 2

3.2Part Two

3.2.1Preparing to Run Away & Train Station

3.2.2On the Train & Arriving in London

3.2.3On the Tube & Arriving at Judy's House

3.2.4Policeman, Ed Visits & Tensions

3.2.5Back in Swindon & New Beginnings

3.2.6The End & Maths Appendix

3.2.7End of Topic Test - Part Two

3.2.8End of Topic Test - Part Two cont....

4Themes

4.1Themes

4.1.1Independence

4.1.2Parenting

4.1.3Order & Disorder

4.1.4End of Topic Test - Themes

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