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
iv
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
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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
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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
vii T. C.
SELÇUK ÜNİVERSİTESİ Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü Müdürlüğü
Öğ renci ni n
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
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.
viii T. C.
SELÇUK ÜNİVERSİTESİ Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü Müdürlüğü
Öğ renci ni n
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
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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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,
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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.”
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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)
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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
20
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.”
21 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! …
22
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
23
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
24
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
25
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
26
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
27
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.”
28
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
29
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
30
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.
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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.
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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
33
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.
34 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
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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
36
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?
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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?
38
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.
39 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. ——
