Shoe Horn Sonata Act 3

The Shoe-Horn Sonata
In the play ‘The Shoe-Horn Sonata’ by John Misto I have chosen to study Act 1 Scene 3. In this scene Bridie and Sheila meet for the first time.

Bridie and Sheila reunite after not having seen each other since the end of the war, and they feel like they hadn’t been separated for 50 years. Bridie acts as if she has been the stronger one through both the war and after it, constantly undermining Sheila by calling her ‘girl’ and telling Rick (the interviewer) that she is deaf. Sheila reminds Bridie of how English women weren’t scared of a few Orientals. Even with all this banter they still remain close friends after what they had been through together. The main theme from this scene is Friendship.

“We were patriotic. We didn’t want to leave. I remember mother saying, ‘Sheila, you and I are English women. We do not run away from a few Orientals…” Sheila tells Rick how her mother wasn’t scared and wanted to stay in Singapore. The English were too patriotic and did not think the
“We lay flat on the deck and covered our eyes. But our sailors were yelling – ‘Get up! Stand up! Let the Japanese see you’re just women and children.” Sheila explains to Rick that a spotlight was focused on her ship. They all stood up and they heard the sound of crackers, the Japanese were firing at the ship of women and children. “Then sailors were yelling ‘Jump for it! Jump for it!” “And then there was this deafening noise. The whole ship rose from the water and crashed on its side. It lay there like a wounded animal spilling oil, instead of blood” Sheila calmly recounts the events that happened that day to Rick. She describes in detail of the horror that happened. This cuts to a voice, young Sheila, whimpering a few lines from the hymn ‘Jerusalem’. The sound of young Sheila’s voice fills the room and this is meant to really connect with the audience and make them feel as if they were really