PDF file: Drama - Higher - Lovers - Education Scotland

OVERALL DIRECTORIAL INTERPRETATION AND DRAMATIC COMMENTARY
Winners
EPISODE TWO
(pages 32-49)
Why would Episode Two be important in any production of
the play?
Develops plot
• June and July 1966 were the warmest and driest on record. Ballymore
had been suffering from drought conditions. The audience are
therefore further encouraged to speculate on the mystery of Joe and
Mag’s deaths. If Loch Gorm was so still how could they have died?
• We learn that a local boy discovered Mag and Joe’s bodies. They had
drowned.
• Joe reveals his strong feelings of love for Mag.
• Joe expresses his dissatisfaction with his parents as role models.
• We gain an insight into Joe’s dysfunctional relationship with his
father.
• We discover that Mr Brennan secretly idolised his son and was very
proud of his achievements.
• The episode shows an increased bickering between Joe and Mag. We
are increasingly made more aware of the issues that separate rather
than unite them. We are encouraged to contemplate their future
married life if they had lived.
• Joe reveals his touchiness at the social class difference between him
and the Enwrights.
• Mag and Joe’s deaths are further shrouded in mystery when the post
mortem and the inquest confirm that there was no conclusive
evidence with regard to the circumstances that surrounded their
deaths. We are told that they both died of asphyxiation and that there
were no signs of violence. An open verdict was recorded.
• We are informed that Mag and Joe were buried in separate graves.
• The structure of this episode is in contrast to the first Episode. Joe
has three long monologues and Mag has none. The juxtaposition
between the Commentators and Mag/Joe is more pronounced.
• We are left to contemplate the irony of the title of the first half of
Lovers. How could Mag and Joe conceivably be regarded as ‘Winners’
DRAMA 11