By Shelagh Delaney

1. Life in Britain 40 years ago was different.
2. At the time (1958) the themes explored in the play were controversial.

Examples:

1995	1958
1 in 3 marriages ends in divorce	1 in 100 marriages ends in divorce


 

1990s	1958
1 in 20 British citizens is of African, Asian or Caribbean origin	Black communities in London, Bristol, Cardiff and Liverpool but not common elsewhere


 

1950s

Single parents were a TINY minority of the population

Living together without getting married would have been condemned by society ('Living in Sin')

Male homosexuality was a criminal offence In 1957 the Wolfenden Report recommended the legalising of private homosexual acts between consenting adults Generally not safe for homosexuals to appear in public


 
3. In the arts, the 1950's began with conservative work (i.e. not controversial). E.g. My Fair Lady was a huge stage success in the 1950's. Teenagers were rarely portrayed in a sympathetic way. Mid-1950's Changes beginning to happen:

• James Dean became famous for his role as a rebellious teenager in Rebel Without a Cause (1955).
• Television was becoming more popular. One of the first BBC soap operas began in 1954 (The Groves). Coronation Street began on independent television in 1958.

1. The play has two acts, each containing two scenes.
2. All the action takes place around a shabby, uncomfortable flat in a lodging house in a poor part of Manchester.

• From the opening of the play the focus is on the women (Helen/Jo), their problems and their attempts to cope with life.
• Jo becomes increasingly central to the action.
• Conversation between Jo and Helen is like verbal sparring.
• Soon clear their relationship is one of ill-concealed hostility.
• Jo tries to improve their surroundings. Helen doesn't care.
• Jo accuses her mother of being indifferent and running away from problems.
• Peter, the man Helen has left, comes to the flat.
• Jo tries to ruin his relationship with Helen. Peter isn't interested in Jo.
• Jo is afraid of 'darkness inside houses'.

• Meet Jo's boyfriend (Jimmie). He is black and in the navy.
• He asks Jo to marry him.
• He is sexually interested in Jo. He seems very casual. Is there a 'real' relationship here or just flirtation?
• Helen tells Jo she is leaving to marry Peter. Jo and Peter argue. Jo is left alone. She feels abandoned.
• Jo accepts Jimmie's sexual advances.
• Helen leaves to get married.

• Jo is pregnant by her black boyfriend.
• Jo shares the flat with a young homosexual, Geof.
• Geof has taken on the role of caring for and protecting Jo.
• Geof and Jo get on well.
• Geof brings Helen back to visit Jo.
• Helen is hostile and critical towards Geof.
• Peter comes in and is very hostile towards Geof.
• Helen and Peter leave.

• Some months have gone by and Jo is heavily pregnant.
• Jo and Geof are still getting on.
• Geof buys Jo a baby doll to help her learn how to look after the baby. It is a white doll not a black doll. Jo gets very upset.
• Jo threatens to kill the baby. (only threat of violence towards the baby in the play).
• Helen leaves Peter and returns to flat. (Peter had been chatting up a younger woman).
• Helen drives Geof out of the flat. She seems willing to help Jo.
• Helen doesn't want to know Jo when Jo tells her the father is black.
• Helen leaves the flat for a drink but the implication is that she might have left for good.
• Jo is left on her own, smiling and unaware that Geof will not return.

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