PDF file: Drama - Higher - Lovers - Education Scotland

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OVERALL DIRECTORIAL INTERPRETATION AND DRAMATIC COMMENTARY
• We see the influence and controlling effect of the Catholic Church on
Joe and Mag. This influence permeates every aspect of their lives both
at school and in the community in which they live.
• We can clearly see the young lovers’ isolation – isolation from each
other and isolation from society.
• Mag and Joe’s alienation is compounded by the delivery of the
Commentators’ narrations. Friel has been influenced by Brecht’s
alienation technique here. The Commentator narrations reinforce
the action of the play and break the illusion of reality as they bring us
back to the present. They directly address the audience to emphasise
key points/moments in the action.
Begins plot
• Mag and Joe arrive at Ardnageeha to study for their final school
examinations.
• They stay at the top of Ardnageeha from 10am to 2pm.
• The ‘impartial’ Commentators provide detailed information which
encourages the audience to form opinions. This device is used to
provide dramatic irony throughout Winners.
• The dialogue of the young lovers gives us clear impressions of a
variety of ‘off-stage’ characters who live in Ballymore. Most of these
characters have antagonised Mag and Joe.
• We begin to appreciate how Mag and Joe feel about their life in a
close-knit, repressive, rural, Irish Catholic community.
• We are immediately introduced to the overbearing attitude of the
nuns at Mag’s school.
• It is ironic that the nuns who run Mag’s school are from the Order of
Mercy – clearly no mercy was shown. This scene introduces a number
of value judgments on the church.
• We immediately gain an insight into Mag’s romantic nature and Joe’s
conformist nature.
• Mag’s rebellious nature is also revealed. She smokes. She and Joe
have had sex before marriage.
• We see the difference in attitude between Mag and Joe with regard to
their studies: Joe is serious and Mag lacks concentration.
• We observe mimicry. Their mimicry is used to get back at their
tormentors. Through mimicry, we see them vent their anger and
frustration. This allows us to see a different side to Joe’s nature – the
side of his nature that doesn’t conform to society’s repressive
expectations.
• These are carefree, young and rebellious 17-year-olds. Their mimicry
is also used as a comic device which helps us deal with the more
serious moments in the play. The mimicry is the first real
introduction of what caused the sparks of attraction between Mag and
DRAMA