The Shoe Horn Sonata Play Analysis
‘The Shoe-Horn Sonata’
The play ‘The Shoe-Horn Sonata’ composed by John Misto, is primarily focused on the incarceration of women and children in P.O.W (Prisoner Of War) camps located in the jungles of Japan in World War Two, rather than the most common factors of the male soldier wartime stories and other masculine hardships dealt with at the time. As the play unfolds Misto presents the audience with various theatrical components to convey the relationship of two women being interviewed to reminisce about their experience in captivity during the war. The composer also exposes Bridie and Sheila’s inner conflict within themselves due to 50years worth of built up tension, the absences in each other’s lives and unresolved issues which later leads them to the process of implementing harmony back into their friendship.
After 50years of being apart Bridie and Sheila have their first reunion. Upon Sheila’s arrival to the hotel there is immediate friction as Misto makes slight indications to the audience towards the end of Act One, Scene Two. An example of this is seen through the technique of stage directions, “Sheila looks at Bridie with surprising intensity-but not with affection. Bridie …show more content…
“…Oh I knew they were perfectly harmless-…my heart began to pound with terror. Just hearing the language was enough to do it… So I ran… I was treated like a common criminal.” This statement by Bridie reflects her incapability to live a normal life after her ordeal in Japan. Through her quote ‘hearing the language was enough to do it’ there is a clear indication to the audience as to how severely traumatised Bridie is to trigger such a reaction after hearing the Japanese dialect. The use of dialogue to project the full extent of Bridie’s traumatised state is captured by the audience through this
The play ‘The Shoe-Horn Sonata’ composed by John Misto, is primarily focused on the incarceration of women and children in P.O.W (Prisoner Of War) camps located in the jungles of Japan in World War Two, rather than the most common factors of the male soldier wartime stories and other masculine hardships dealt with at the time. As the play unfolds Misto presents the audience with various theatrical components to convey the relationship of two women being interviewed to reminisce about their experience in captivity during the war. The composer also exposes Bridie and Sheila’s inner conflict within themselves due to 50years worth of built up tension, the absences in each other’s lives and unresolved issues which later leads them to the process of implementing harmony back into their friendship.
After 50years of being apart Bridie and Sheila have their first reunion. Upon Sheila’s arrival to the hotel there is immediate friction as Misto makes slight indications to the audience towards the end of Act One, Scene Two. An example of this is seen through the technique of stage directions, “Sheila looks at Bridie with surprising intensity-but not with affection. Bridie …show more content…
“…Oh I knew they were perfectly harmless-…my heart began to pound with terror. Just hearing the language was enough to do it… So I ran… I was treated like a common criminal.” This statement by Bridie reflects her incapability to live a normal life after her ordeal in Japan. Through her quote ‘hearing the language was enough to do it’ there is a clear indication to the audience as to how severely traumatised Bridie is to trigger such a reaction after hearing the Japanese dialect. The use of dialogue to project the full extent of Bridie’s traumatised state is captured by the audience through this