The character I chose to play was Mickey, the troubled twin. At this point in the play he is in his early teens and is quite a rebellious youth. Rather a cheeky chappy. He s clearly bored to death by school and has discovered a talent for amusing his friends. He sees himself as the classroom entertainer. Like all teenagers he is a personality in formation. He has a good relationship with his mother, P48 MRS JOHNSTONE “…Y’ waitin’ for y’ mum to give y’ a big sloppy kiss, come here….”
MICKEY” I’m goin’, I’m goin’ ” Mickey also predictably would never admit to liking his Mum, P 59 EDWARD ” She’s fabulous your ma, isn’t she? ” MICKEY ” She’s a fuckin’ head case ” Mickey wears traditional school uniform but in it’s scruffiest form. There’s a shirt-button missing and grass stains on his trousers. Both his tie and his trouser legs are way too short. These clothes are clearly hand-me-downs. His hair is uncut, greasy and scruffy. His presentation is in clear contrast to his brother’s bright white shirt, his pressed trousers and his stylish hair.
Mickey is clearly expressing feelings of utter boredom. He has always had a soft spot for Linda and we know the feelings are mutual. In our performance we had Mickey resting his head on the table at the beginning, clearly deep in thought. Earlier that morning Mickey had seen his elder brother Sammy threaten the bus driver and it is very likely that he is deep in thought over that. Mickey visibly has the cares of the world on his young shoulders.
Audience
We intended, with our performance, to show how similar the brothers really were, even though they have been raised in completely different environments with different social codes. Secondly we wanted to make the audience laugh out loud; to make them smile at the expense of the teacher. Events went well and the audience responded positively to the boys’ insults and they listened attentively to the dialogue.
I found this to be a very entertaining part of the play. The boys’ similar behaviours were compelling and I felt myself being drawn into the story. I liked the way we could simultaneously enjoy the rude antics and appreciate the dark progress of the tale. Richard Slade 10JDB Total word count.
