The Shoe-Horn Sonata

By John Misto
I do not have the power to build a memorial so I wrote a play instead.

HSC Syllabus

Module A: Experience Through Language

This module requires students to explore the uses of a particular aspect of language. It
develops students awareness of language and helps them to understand how our perceptions of and
relationships with others and the world are shaped in written, spoken and visual language.
Each elective in this module requires study of a prescribed text through a key aspect of
language. This provides the basis for the study and use of this aspect of language in other texts,
including texts drawn from students own experience.
Students examine particular language structures and features used in the prescribed text and
in a range of situations that they encounter in their daily lives. They explore, examine and analyse
how the conventions of textual forms, language modes and media shape meaning. Composition
focuses on experimentation with variations of purpose, audience and form to achieve different
effects. These compositions may be realised in a variety of forms and media.
The Experience through Language module requires you to always have language as the
focus of your study and, therefore, your writing. The syllabus states that you should be focusing on
how language can shape and change our perceptions of other people throughout the worlds. It also
focuses on how the use of language can alter our relationships with others. You will be studying the
text The Shorn-Horn Sonata and how language is used to portray the relationships within the play
and your perceptions of them. In your responses, you should always be discussing how language
has been used as a technique by the composer.

Elective Two : Distinctively Visual

The elective that you are studying is called Distinctly Visual. In this elective you will be
studying how visual images are used to shape meaning. What is meant by this is, how have the
composers used visual images to send messages or portray meaning to the audience. In many cases,
composers are either sending messages or emphasising certain aspects of a character, a relationship
or an event through the use of particular images. When you were younger and reading simpler texts
the images would have been obvious to you. For example, the composer may have put a love heart
between two people to indicate that they felt love for each other or were falling in love.

Another example is in cartoons where the audience can see the heart of a character beating
in their chest as the person they love walks by. Usually this is simply emphasising the emotion that
the composer wants you to notice. You may pick up the message that the character is in love simply
by their body language facing the character, touching the other person frequently or even simply
their facial expressions. In this way, the visual messages the audience reads is just as important as
what the actor is saying. In some cases, the visual meaning is more important. For example, a
character may be telling another character that they do not love someone. However, the audience
may read their visual language body language, facial expressions, stance or gestures - differently
and therefore conclude that the character is lying. This is very important for the audience to know

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and is consequently why it is so important that we read the visual images and not just focus on the
spoken language of a play or film.

However, there are many more visual aspects that are used to give the audience clues about
that character. Other examples include the characters clothing (costume), the characters style (hair
and makeup) and/or the setting and the way all these things have been put together will indicate
something about the character. For example a messy hotel room will emphasise to the audience that
this character is in a chaotic time in their life or that they are a lazy person who is not interested in
looking after themselves.

The Shoe-Horn Sonata is an Australian play that explores one element of World War
II. When you are studying this unit you will need to look at the plays visual elements but not
exclusively. You will need to examine these visual aspects in light of the language, that is, how
the various elements combine to enhance the audiences understanding and how these
distinctively visual aspects blend in with the content and ideas as well as offering something
extra and unique.

You must understand and refer to the stage techniques that Misto uses to convey his ideas in
a theatre. As you read the play you must pay attention to Mistos playwright instructions throughout
the play and think of your own ideas about why he did those things in those particular places. Work
out why the slides and songs are places and how effective they are at that particular moment in the
play.

Studying a Drama Text

The medium of any text is very important. If a text is a drama this must not be forgotten.
Plays are not read they are viewed. This means you should never refer to the reader but the
audience as the respondent to the text. The marker will want to know you are aware of the text as
a play and that you have considered its effect in performance.

Remembering a drama text is a play also means when you are exploring how the composer
represents his/her ideas you MUST discuss dramatic techniques. This applies to any response you
do using a drama, irrespective of the form the response is required to be in.

Dramatic techniques are all the devices the playwright uses to represent his or her ideas.
They are the elements of a drama that are manipulated by playwrights and directors to make any
drama effective on stage! You might also see them referred to as dramatic or theatrical techniques.

Every play uses dramatic techniques differently. Some playwrights are very specific about
how they want their play performed on stage. Others like Shakespeare give virtually no directions.
They might give detailed comments at the beginning of the play and/or during the script. These are
usually in italics and are called stage directions. They are never spoken but provide a guide to the
director and actors about how the play is to appear and sound when performed.

Some common dramatic techniques are shown on the following diagram:

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 Dramatic Techniques

Character
costuming: does it
change as the play
Setting - the progresses? How is Lighting: how is shadow
set, what style colour, style and and illumination used to
is it and why? texture used? represent ideas?

Stage type what Character gestures and

effect does this have mannerisms: how does what
on the impact of the characters do represent their
messages personality and thematic
purposes

DRAMATIC
Symbols and motifs: Sound: Music and
how is repetition of TECHNIQUES sound effects why
image/idea used to are these chosen
maximise the plays and how are they
effect? delivered?

Line delivery
Stage blocking and movement: tone, pace,
Where do characters position volume, pausing,
themselves on stage and how intonation
do they move?

Special Effects: This broad

Conflict: the action,
Man vs man, Man vs
nature, and/or Man
vs himself
category especially refers to
technical devices used for effect.
For example, slide shows,
motorised movements, hologram
effects, etc Why are these used?

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 John Misto
John Misto has an extensive writing portfolio and has been writing since 1981 full time.
Mistos original training was as a lawyer and these research skills can be seen in The Shoe-Horn
Sonata. Some of Mistos writing credits include:

Television and Film

The Day of the Roses The Granville Story (AFI Award 1999)
The Damnation of Harvey McHugh (4 AFI Awards)
The Last Frontier
Dirtwater Dynasty
Palace of Dreams
Natural Causes
Peter and Pompey
Survival The Stuart Diver Story

Plays

Gossamer
Sky
The Shoe-Horn Sonata
Harp on the Willow

John Misto currently lives in Sydney, New South Wales and, as well as writing, conducts
engagements for school groups on the play.

Making Drama Out of Reality

Misto, a well-known writer of documentaries, did not wish to present the story of the
imprisoned Australian nurses as a documentary, but as a drama. He had to craft the story so as to
manipulate the emotions of his audience, and to keep their interest to the end. Out of so much
material, he had to make a deliberate choice, to achieve a narrative arc with elements of suspense,
surprise, confrontation and a final resolution. There had to be tension to grip the audience.

The basic story is a grim one of a fight for survival, and of the traumatic consequences of
such suffering to the victims later lives. To hold an audience. however, he needed to have elements
of humour. Like Bruce Beresford when he researched and wrote the screenplay for Paradise Road,
Misto found that humour and music were two of the main ways the nurses and their fellow
internees helped themselves to survive. Another was strong supportive friendships, based on the
Australian value of mateship. All these elements Misto used in his playscript.

To care about the fate of the nurses, the audience has to come to know them and feel empathy for
them. Further discussion of the ways he does this is in the Characterisation file.

Solving the problems 1: Resources

Misto has written this play for the requirements of contemporary theatrical productions. A
filmmaker may have literally hundreds of extras (as Bruce Beresford did in Paradise Road). A
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school major production can often use fairly large numbers of actors, depending on the size of the
stage and the rehearsal time available. But modern commercial theatres have to pay their way and
they work on tight budgets. Some of the plays they decide to present during a year will have
perhaps six or eight actors, but others will have only one or two, to help balance the theatres
budget.

The Shoe-Horn Sonata, with only two characters on stage and an off-stage voice, is an
attractive script for a professional theatre to produce, and it has been seen in a number of
productions in Australian cities and in London. It requires only two sets: a rudimentary television
studio, indicated by the On Air sign and a microphone, and a hotel room, with a bed and mini bar.
Minimal props are needed, including a suitcase, the Shoe-Horn, some photographs and embroidery.

The first problem: keeping the play affordable for theatre, Misto solves by casting only two
actors, and using a simple set.

Solving the problems 2: Keeping the audience interested

His second problem is how to keep an audience entertained and interested if for the whole
performance they are watching only two characters on stage. He does this by using a wide variety of
modern dramatic techniques.

Misto writes extensively for television and in this stage play he has used his familiarity with
the use of photographic images and voice-over to support the actors dialogue. He also uses the
power of music to support his script. The images and music provide constantly changing focuses
for the audiences attention. They support the highly emotional material that surfaces from the
memories of the central characters.

The use of song and of instrumental music has several purposes. First, it shows in actuality
to the audience the soothing and uplifting power of music. Music was a crucial feature of the life
support system in the camps. It also adds variety and emotional sub-text to many of the plays
scenes. It places them also in their historical context. On some occasions it suggests the irony of the
situations the two women faced.

No photographs exist of these women in the prison camps, but a wide variety of other
images appear on screen as background to the dialogue. These include:

photographs taken of male P.O.W.s when they were liberated

photographs of the nurses arriving in Singapore from Belalau
contrasting images of Singapore: the affluent, confident imperial city before its fall,
and the bombed and burning city afterwards
the famous scenes of crowds in Martin Place, Sydney, when the war was declared over
[while the audience knows the women in Belalau were still prisoners, destined for death]

Credibility: Such images are credibly part of the script because the central situation Misto sets up
is the making of a television documentary. The unseen presenter-interviewer, Rick, has brought
together to share their experiences a group of women survivors of the camps. It is credible that the
producer of such a program will have done extensive research and assembled an archive of images.

Sometimes as backing to the photographic images, at other times to support some of the
womens spoken memories, Misto uses excerpts from more than a dozen songs from the period, and
such orchestral items as The Blue Danube Waltz and Danny Boy. Particularly moving for the two
characters and for the audience is the recreation of the Captives Hymn, written in the camp by

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Margaret Dryburgh and sung every Sunday by the women, and the playing of Ravels Bolero, one
of the items the voice orchestra presented at camp concerts.

The male voice of Rick adds variety to the sound texture of the play. The use of spotlights,
linking the use of harsh lighting by the prison guards and the strong lighting of the television studio,
is another effective dramatic technique used.

The action of the play moves between the television studio where recollections of the past
are fairly formally presented by the women as Rick interviews them, and the hotel, where the
tensions between them appear in their outwardly casual conversations and are eventually resolved.
This resolution is eventually made public in the cathartic last interview.

Solving the problems 3: Making it bearable

A third problem, maybe the major one Misto faced, is how to make bearable for a modern
audience a play about suffering, cruelty, deprivation and death. This same problem has been faced
by writers and filmmakers dealing with such overwhelming tragedies as the Nazi holocaust. The
approach Misto took is similar in some ways to those taken by Roberto Benigni in his movie Life is
Beautiful and by Stephen Spielberg in the movie Schindlers List, based on the Thomas Kenneally
book, Schindlers Ark.

Humour is used, as indeed many victims have used it , as a defence mechanism against
despair and hopelessness. We see this when the Prime Ministers message finally reaches the
Australian nurses: Keep smiling! and, facing death in appalling conditions, their reaction is to
break up in helpless laughter at the irony of the message. The contrast between the prim British
schoolgirl Sheila, and the more practical Sydney nurse Bridie provides another source of humour.

The other method used is the device of distancing. The characters and their audience are
distanced in time from the events recalled and presented in the play. The women in the play have
not only survived the camps, they have lived through the subsequent years and have in some ways
dealt with the trauma. Now as survivors they can look back.

Misto makes no attempt to reproduce on stage the appalling brutalities carried out in the
camps. We the audience do not see the rotten food or the beatings or the women left to die on the
forced marches. We do not see the graves or the grave-diggers. Instead Misto presents these as
reports remembered by Bridie and Sheila.

He treats them as the classical Greek dramatists did: as obscene --literally to be off-stage-
- and therefore reported to the audience in eloquent words, not shown. The Shoe-Horn Sonata uses
words, reinforced with pictures and music, to establish these horrors in the imaginations of the
audience.

Structure and characterisation

The structure of the play

The Shoe-Horn Sonata is divided into two acts: the longer Act One, with eight scenes, and a shorter
Act Two, with six scenes.

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It follows theatrical custom by providing a major climax before the final curtain of Act One, which
resolves some of the suspense and mystery, but leaves the audience to wonder what direction the
play will take after the interval. The action cuts between two settings: a television studio and a
Melbourne motel room.

The opening scene, with Bridie demonstrating the deep, subservient bow, the kow-tow, demanded
of the prisoners by their Japanese guards during tenko, takes the audience straight into the action.
As the interviewer, Rick, poses questions, music and images from the war period flash on the screen
behind Bridie, and the audience realises they are watching the filming of a television documentary.
The time is now, and Bridie is being asked to recall the events of fifty years earlier.

This scene establishes who Bridie is, and introduces the audience to the situation: the recall and in a
sense the re-living of memories of the years of imprisonment. This and the following scene carry
out the function of exposition.

The extreme danger the prisoners faced is indicated by Bridie during this exposition: over-crowded
ships sailing towards an enemy fleet, the unpreparedness of the British garrison in Singapore for the
invasion, the fear of rape for the women. Misto thus sets up some of the issues to be confronted
during the course of the play between the Australian Bridie and the former English schoolgirl
Sheila. Sheila appears in Scene Two, and the major conflict of the play begins to simmer.

Sheilas arrival at the motel from Perth introduces immediately one source of friction between the
two: they clearly have not been in touch with one another for many decades. Each is just finding out
such basic information as whether the other ever married or had children. The audience sees, too,
that the warmth of Bridies greeting: Gee its good to see you is not reciprocated by Sheila. The
audience wonders why not. The revelations by the end of Act One will finally show the reason. The
body language described on page 26 indicates the deep underlying tension between the two--yet the
scene ends with their lifting the suitcase as they used to lift the coffins of the dead: to the cries of
Ichi, ni, san---Ya-ta! Their shared experiences are a strong bond.

Journey through memory

For the rest of Act One, the shared memories of Bridie and Sheila become those of the audience,
through the dramatic techniques Misto uses. [outlined in making drama out of reality].

In Scene Three, the audience is reminded of how young Sheila was when she was taken prisoner.
The voice of a teenage girl sings part of Jerusalem, the stirring and visionary song with words by
English poet William Blake, and the mature Sheila joins in. (Later Bridie and Sheila sing it
together.)

Bridies attitude from their first meeting as shipwreck survivors drifting in the sea is protective of
Sheila. She sees her as another stuck-up Pom, and hits her with her Shoe-Horn to keep her awake.
Sheila has been taught by her snobbish mother to look down on the Irish, the label she puts on the
Sydney nurse from Chatswood because of her surname.

Further differences between the two surface in Scene Five, when the officers club set up by the
Japanese is described. But by the end of this scene they are recalling the choir and orchestra of
womens voices set up by Miss Dryburgh. Scene Six opens with Bridie and Sheila in a conga line
singing the parodies of well-known songs theyd used to taunt their captors and keep their spirits
up.

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Pain and tension

Soon they are arguing, focusing on their differing attitudes to the British women who in Bridies
view were selling themselves for food to the Japanese. The tension rises as more and more is
revealed about the deteriorating conditions for the prisoners and the relentless number of deaths,
especially in the Belalau camp.

At the end of the Act, in a dramatic gesture, Sheila returns the Shoe-Horn. She had claimed to sell it
for quinine to save Bridies life--but in fact as she now reveals she had been forced to sleep with the
enemy to buy the medicine. She extorts from Bridie the implicit admission that she would not have
made that sacrifice for her. Bridie says nothing, but cannot face Sheila. Sheila is shattered by the
realisation:

All these years Ive told myself that youd have done the same for me. [Calmly] I was wrong,
though, wasnt I?
Act Two opens back in the studio, where Bridie and Sheila explain on the documentary the
appalling conditions in the death camp of Belalau. Suspense is built by the revelation that orders
had been given that no prisoners were to survive to the end of the war. The audience wants to know
how there could have been survivors.

They also want to know how or if the tension in the relationship between the two women can be
resolved. It becomes clear that the traumatised Sheila cannot in civilian life face any sexual
relationship; nor has she felt able to return to Britain or to face remaining with her family in
Singapore. She has led a quiet life as a librarian in Perth. Her nights are filled with nightmarish
recollections about Lipstick Larry, and she drinks rather too much.

In contrast, Bridie had been happily married for years to the cheeky Australian soldier who had
waved and winked at her at Christmas behind the wire. She is now widowed and childless.

Ambush and resolution

Misto is preparing an ambush for the audience. By Scene Twelve, Bridies disgrace is revealed.
Spooked when she is surrounded by a group of chattering Japanese tourists in David Jones Food
Hall, she runs away with a tin of shortbread and later pleads guilty in court to shoplifting. I still lie
awake cringing with shame she tells Sheila. She could not explain the truth about her phobia to the
court or to her family and friends.

The effect on Sheila is more than Bridie expected. She now decides that she can be at peace only if
she faces the truth in public. She explains:

There are probably thousands of survivors like us--still trapped in the war--too ashamed to tell
anyone.
Bridie urges her not to.

But in Scene Thirteen after they have recounted how they were eventually discovered and rescued,
days after the end of the war, it is in fact Bridie who reveals the truth of Sheilas heroism and self-
sacrifice. She then finds the courage to ask Sheila to explain about her shoplifting arrest

The scene ends with the declaration Bridie has waited fifty years for:

And Id do it all over again if I had to....cause Bridies my friend...

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The tensions between the two have now been resolved: the secrets are out, both the personal ones
and the long-hidden information about the experiences of the women prisoners and internees. The
brief and cheerful last scene shows their friendship restored, the Shoe-Horn returned to its rightful
owner, plans made for a Christmas reunion, and, finally, the peacetime dance they had promised
one another in the camp. The Blue Danube plays:

It is the music of joy and triumph and survival.

Background Information

The Battle of Singapore was fought in the South-East

Asian theatre of World War II when the Empire of Japan invaded
the Allied stronghold of Singapore. Singapore was the major
British military base in South East Asia and nicknamed the
Gibraltar of the East. The fighting in Singapore lasted from 8 to
15 February 1942.

It resulted in the fall of Singapore to the Japanese, and the

largest surrender of British-led military personnel in history.
About 80,000 British, Australian and Indian troops became
prisoners of war, joining 50,000 taken by the Japanese in the
Malayan campaign. Britain's Prime Minister Winston Churchill called the ignominious fall of
Singapore to the Japanese the "worst disaster" and "largest capitulation" in British history.

Improvements to Singapore as a British military base had only been completed at great cost
in 1938. Singapore epitomised what the British Empire was all about a strategically vital military
base that protected Britains other Commonwealth possessions in the Far East.

Once the Japanese expanded throughout the region after Pearl Harbour (December 1941),
many in Britain felt that Singapore would become an obvious target for the Japanese. However, the
British military command in Singapore was confident that the power they could call on there would
make any Japanese attack useless. One story told about the attitude of the British Army in
Singapore was of a young Army officer complaining that the newly completed defences in
Singapore might put off the Japanese from landing there.

I do hope we are not getting too strong in Malaya because if so the Japanese may never
attempt a landing.

British troops stationed in Singapore were also told that the Japanese troops were poor
fighters; alright against soldiers in China who were poor fighters themselves, but of little use against
the might of the British Army.

The Japanese onslaught through the Malay Peninsula took everybody by surprise. Speed
was of the essence for the Japanese, never allowing the British forces time to re-group. This was the
first time British forces had come up against a full-scale attack by the Japanese. Any thoughts of the
Japanese fighting a conventional form of war were soon shattered. The British had confidently
predicted that the Japanese would attack from the sea. This explained why all the defences on
Singapore pointed out to sea. It was inconceivable to British military planners that the island could

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be attacked any other way least of all, through the jungle and mangrove swamps of the Malay
Peninsula. But this was exactly the route the Japanese took.

As the Japanese attacked through the Peninsula, their troops were ordered to take no prisoners as
they would slow up the Japanese advance. A pamphlet issued to all Japanese soldiers stated:

When you encounter the enemy after landing, think of yourself as an avenger
coming face to face at last with his fathers murderer. Here is a man whose death
will lighten your heart.

For the British military command in Singapore, war was still fought by the rule book.
Social life was important in Singapore and the Raffles Hotel and Singapore Club were important
social centres frequented by officers. An air of complacency had built in regarding how strong
Singapore was especially if it was attacked by the Japanese. When the Japanese did land at Kota
Bharu aerodrome, in Malaya, Singapores governor, Sir Shenton Thomas is alleged to have said
"Well, I suppose youll (the army) shove the little men off."

By 31 January 1942, all British Empire forces had withdrawn from the Malay Peninsula
onto Singapore Island. On 8 February, the Japanese landed in the north-west of the island and
within six days they were on the outskirts of Singapore city, which was also now under constant air
attack.

Many of the troops had been shocked at the apparent lack of defences on the island. The
men were battle-weary and the Australians had lost nearly 700 men fighting in Malaya since 14
January, with hundreds of others sick or wounded. Only one trained reinforcement unit, the 2/4th
Machine Gun Battalion, arrived from Australia. Other last-minute reinforcements sent were
untrained and ill-equipped for battle.

Most of the troops and crew on board the troopship Empress of Asia were
rescued by the crew of HMAS Yarra, which had escorted the convoy.
Others were rescued from the water by corvettes Bendigo and
Wollongong.

The Japanese had prepared for the invasion of Singapore

with a heavy bombardment. They began their amphibious landings
on the north-west of the island, where the Strait of Johore is narrowest. This area was held by the
Australian 22nd Infantry Brigade but late on the night of 8 February the Japanese made their way
through undefended sections. Twenty-four hours later a second Japanese landing force struck
between the Causeway and the mouth of the Kranji River, an area held by the Australian 27th
Infantry Brigade. By the morning of 10 February there were Japanese troops on most of north-west
Singapore.

The Australian, British and Indian troops tried to hold the Japanese at various defensive
lines but after two days many of their dreadfully depleted battalions had to be reorganised into
composite units. A counter-attack on 10-11 February failed and on 12 February General H Gordon
Bennett, the Australian commander, began moving his near-exhausted 8th Division AIF units into a
perimeter just a few kilometres out of the city. By the next day the Japanese were within five
kilometres of the Singapore waterfront. The entire city was now within range of Japanese artillery.

~ 10 ~
 HMAS Ballarat was one of the
three corvettes dispatched
from Australia to reinforce
the 21st Minesweeping Flotilla

Official evacuations from Singapore had begun in late January and continued until almost
the last moment. RAAF squadrons had been evacuated before the Japanese invaded the island and
the remaining RAN warships were ordered to leave. Some merchant ships also got away carrying
evacuees from the path of the Japanese. The warships' main operational tasks were escort duties,
and the fleet based in Singapore included the destroyer HMAS Vampire and the sloop HMAS
Yarra, which arrived late in January, along with several corvettes. The corvettes in the 21st
Minesweeping Flotilla swept the sea lanes and conducted anti-submarine patrols. HMA Ships
Toowoomba, Wollongong and Ballarat reinforced the original four corvettes, HMA Ships Bendigo,
Burnie, Goulburn and Maryborough. The last 65 Australian Army nurses stationed in Singapore
were ordered to board the Vyner Brooke, which sailed on 12 February. Their colleagues, who had
sailed in the Empire Star the previous day, reached Australia, but only 24 of the nurses who sailed
in the Vyner Brooke survived to return to Australia in 1945 after the war had ended.

By the morning of Chinese New Year, 15 February, the Japanese had broken through the
last line of defense and the Allies were running out of food and ammunition. The anti-aircraft guns
had also run out of ammunition and were unable to repel any further Japanese air attacks which
threatened to cause heavy casualties in the city centre. Looting and desertion by Allied troops
further added to the chaos in the city centre.

At 9:30 am, Percival held a conference at Fort Canning with his senior commanders.
Percival proposed two options. Either launch an immediate counter-attack to regain the reservoirs
and the military food depots in the Bukit Timah region and drive the enemy's artillery off its
commanding heights outside the town, or capitulate. All present agreed that no counter-attack was
possible. Percival opted for surrender.

A deputation was selected to go to the Japanese Headquarters. It consisted of a senior Staff

Officer, the Colonial Secretary and an interpreter. They set off in a motor car bearing a Union Jack
and a white flag of truce towards the enemy lines to discuss a cessation of hostilities They returned
with orders that Percival himself proceed with Staff Officers to the Ford Motor Factory, where
General Yamashita would lay down the terms of surrender. A further requirement was that the
Japanese Rising Sun Flag be hoisted over the tallest building in Singapore, the Cathay Building, as
soon as possible to maximise the psychological impact of the official surrender. Percival formally
surrendered shortly after 5.15pm.

Surrendering troops of the Suffolk Regiment held at gunpoint by

Japanese infantry.

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The terms of the surrender included:

The unconditional surrender of all military forces (Army, Navy and Air Force) in Singapore
Area.
Hostilities to cease at 8:30 p.m. that evening.
All troops to remain in position until further orders.
All weapons, military equipment, ships, planes and secret documents to be handed over
intact.
To prevent looting, etc., during the temporary withdrawal of all armed forces in Singapore, a
force of 1000 British armed men to take over until relieved by the Japanese.

Earlier that day Percival had issued orders to destroy before 4 p.m. all secret and technical
equipment, ciphers, codes, secret documents and heavy guns. Yamashita accepted his assurance that
no ships or planes remained in Singapore. According to Tokyos Domei News Agency Yamashita
also accepted full responsibility for the lives of British and Australian troops, as well as British
civilians remaining in Singapore.

By 14 February the Japanese had captured Singapore's reservoirs and pumping stations. The
bombing, fighting and heavy shelling continued; many of the troops, separated from their units,
wandered around aimlessly and the hospitals were crowded and overflowing. Some troops were
deserting and others had become separated from their units. Hard fighting continued but on 15
February General Edgar Percival, the British commander in Singapore, called for a ceasefire and
made the difficult decision to surrender. He signed the surrender document that evening at the Ford
Factory on Bukit Timah Road. After days of desperate fighting, all British Empire troops were to
lay down their arms at 8.30 that night. More than 100,000 troops became prisoners of war together
with hundreds of European civilians who were interned.

Sir Winston Churchill had stated before the final Japanese attack:

There must be no thought of sparing the troops or population; commanders and

senior officers should die with their troops. The honour of the British Empire and the
British Army is at stake.

Despite his instruction to Australian troops to stay at their posts, General Bennett caused
controversy when he handed command of the 8th Division to a brigadier and commandeered a
small boat and he and two of his staff officers escaped. They eventually made their way back to
Australia.

Aftermath
The Japanese Occupation of Singapore had begun. The city was renamed Syonan-to
(Japanese: Shnan-t, literally Light-of-the-South Island). The Japanese sought vengeance
against the Chinese and to eliminate anyone who held anti-Japanese sentiment. The Imperial
authorities were suspicious of the Chinese because of the Second Sino-Japanese War, and killed
many in the Sook Ching Massacre. The other ethnic groups of Singapore such as the Malays and the
Indians were not spared. The residents would suffer great hardships under Japanese rule over the
following three and a half years.

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 The Japanese took 100,000 men prisoner in Singapore.
Many had just arrived and had not fired a bullet in anger. 9,000
of these men died building the Burma-Thailand railway. The
people of Singapore fared worse. Many were of Chinese origin
and were slaughtered by the Japanese. After the war, Japan
admitted that 5000 had been murdered, but the Chinese
population in Singapore put the figure at nearer 50,000. With the
evidence of what the Japanese could do to a captured civilian
population (as seen at Nanking), 5000 is likely to be an
underestimate.

Victorious Japanese troops marching through Fullerton Square.

Many of the British and Australian soldiers taken prisoner remained in Singapore's Changi
Prison. Many would never return home. Thousands of others were shipped on prisoner transports
known as "hellships " to other parts of Asia, including Japan, to be used as forced labour on projects
such as the SiamBurma Death Railway and Sandakan airfield in North Borneo. Many of those
aboard the ships perished.

The fall of Singapore was a humiliation for the British government. The Japanese had been
portrayed as useless soldiers only capable of fighting the militarily inferior Chinese. This
assessment clearly rested uncomfortably with how the British Army had done in the peninsula. The
commander of the Australian forces in Singapore later said:

The whole operation seems incredible: 550 miles in 55 days forced back by a small
Japanese army of only two divisions, riding stolen bicycles and without artillery
support.

During the two and a half months before the Allied

surrender, the local Chinese and Indian population
suffered shockingly from the Japanese air raids.
Despite them also suffering cruel retribution from the
Japanese, many of the Chinese residents did their best
to assist the Allied POWs during the early part of their
imprisonment.

~ 13 ~
 The Japanese were highly successful in recruiting Indian soldiers taken prisoner. From a
total of about 40,000 Indian personnel in Singapore in February 1942, about 30,000 joined the pro-
Japanese "Indian National Army ", which fought Allied forces in the Burma Campaign. Others
became POW camp guards at Changi. However, many Indian Army personnel resisted recruitment
and remained POWs. An unknown number were taken to Japanese-occupied areas in the South
Pacific as forced labour. Many of them suffered severe hardships and brutality similar to that
experienced by other prisoners of Japan during World War II. About 6,000 of them survived until
they were liberated by Australian and U.S. forces, in 194345.

After the Japanese surrender in 1945 Yamashita was tried by a US military commission for
war crimes committed by Japanese personnel in the Philippines earlier that year, but not for crimes
committed by his troops in Malaya or Singapore. He was convicted and hanged in the Philippines
on 23 February 1946.

The Banka Island Massacre and Vivian Bullwinkel

In 1941, wanting to enlist, Vivian Bullwinkel volunteered as a nurse

with the RAAF but was rejected for having flat feet. She was, however, able
to join the Australian Army Nursing Service; assigned to the 2/13th
Australian General Hospital (2/13th AGH), in September 1941 she sailed
for Singapore. After a few weeks with the 2/10th AGH, Bullwinkel rejoined
the 13th AGH in Johor Baharu.

Japanese troops invaded Malaya in December 1941 and began to

advance southwards, winning a series of victories and, in late January 1942,
forcing the 13th AGH to evacuate to Singapore. But the short-lived defence
of the island ended in defeat, and, on 12 February, Bullwinkel and 65 other
nurses boarded the SS Vyner Brooke to escape the island.

Two days later, the ship was sunk by Japanese aircraft. Bullwinkel, 21 other nurses and a
large group of men, women, and children made it ashore at Radji Beach on Banka Island. Others on
board either went down with the ship, were shot whilst in the water by Japanese planes or were
swept away and never seen again. The group were joined the next day by about 100 British soldiers.
They elected to surrender to the Japanese, and while the civilian women and children left in search
of someone to whom they might surrender, the nurses, soldiers, and wounded waited.

In an action that later became known as the Banka Island Massacre, Japanese soldiers came
and killed the men, then motioned the nurses to wade into the sea. They then machine-gunned the
nurses from behind. Bullwinkel was struck by a bullet which passed completely through her body,
missing her internal organs, and feigned death until the Japanese soldiers left.

She hid with British Army Private Cecil George Kinsley RAOC for 12 days, tending to his
severe wounds, only then realizing the extent of her own wound, before being captured. They were
taken into captivity, but Private Kinsley died soon after due to his having sustained such serious
wounds, including a gunshot wound in his abdomen.

Bullwinkel was reunited with survivors of the Vyner Brooke. She told them of the massacre,
but none spoke of it again until after the war lest it put Bullwinkel, as witness to the massacre, in
danger. Bullwinkel spent three and half years in captivity; she was one of just 24 of the 65 nurses
who had been on the Vyner Brooke to survive the war.

~ 14 ~
 Another surviving nurse was Pat Darling, who died in 2007.

Music and Song List

Fall in Brother marching song page 2

Rule Britannia marching song page 22
Something to Remember You By by Dinah Shore page 29
Jerusalem patriotic hymn page 36 and prior scene
Happy Times by Joe Stafford page 41
Bolero by Ravel page 46
English Country Gardens by Percy Granger page 47
O Come All Ye Faithful Christmas Carol; page 52
God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen Christmas Carol page 53
Well Meet Again by the Inkspots page 53
Unknown Song page 60
The Captives Hymn page 63
Unknown lyrics page 65
When Youre Smiling by Judy Garland page 68
Ill Walk Alone by Anne Shelton page 72
Fur Elise, Country Garden, Humoresque, Danny Boy page 73
Youll Never Know How Much I Love You by Alice Faye page 75
Whispering Grass by the Inkspots page 79
The Blue Danube Waltz by Johann Strauss page 82
Danny Boy performed by Glenn Millers Orchestra page 83
An Epitaph to War hymn for choir page 86
The Blue Danube Waltz by Johann Strauss page 91

~ 15 ~
Maps of Singapore

~ 16 ~
 Plot Outline

Bridie is in a
Bridie and Shelia are in
television studio
the motel room
explaining Japanese
torture

Shelia is nervous about the

They argue about Shelia
interview with Rick
disappearing

They are evacuated from

Singapore and the ships sunk
Become Japanese POWs

The shoe-horn Lipstick Larry and the

becomes the choir pin incident
metronome

The women become closer

The caramel and
in the motel room
digger story

The truth about

Shelia comes out
Many die on the trip to
Belalau
Shelia tells of her life
after the camps
They decide to
continue singing and
sing the sonata Shelia revisits the camp

DJs theft story of Rescued and telling the

Bridies truth

~ 17 ~
 Plot Overview
The play is a two-actor and is effectively also a two-hander. The audience does hear the
voice of the third characterRick, the television interviewerbut he is never seen on stage. A
number of off-stage characters are also referred to throughout the play and the images of historical
characters are projected during the performance establishing the wider world of the play.
The main action of the play is set in 1995, but we are also projected back in time to the
events of the fall of Singapore and the subsequent rescue by the Japanese and incarceration in
prisoner-of-war camps. The scenes in the present take place in a TV studio, in the motel/hotel
rooms in which they are staying during the filming of the documentary about their wartime
experiences and in a neutral space somewhere within the studio. Importantly the scenes also take us
to various real places during the war, including Singapore and Belalau via the projected visual and
sound images.
At one level this is the story about the meeting of two female POW survivors, Bridie
Cartwright and Sheila Richards, for the first time since the end of the war fifty years previously.
The two women had been evacuated from Singapore and had endured together the pain and
suffering of war. The play focuses on the re-establishment of their relationship. We observe not
only their reunion but their reconciliation.
Their story is told in a complex theatrical form that alerts the audience to the fact that this is
not a simple narrative. The story unravels as the truths and untruths of the past are revealed. While
on the one hand the focus is on the personal truths and lies, these are seen to be part of a much
bigger issue: the construction of public accounts of past events. We see the way in which such
public accounts obfuscate and conceal, and we see the effects of such obfuscation on individuals
keep smiling.
Plot Summary
ACT I SCENE 1: The play begins in darkness and silence. The voice of Bridie comes out of this
empty space. Bridie is explaining the kowtow although it is not immediately clear who her
audience is. This has the effect of engaging the theatre audience in her story. We hear a male voice
questioning her and once the on air sign becomes visible we become aware that we are in a TV
studio, although we never actually see the male interviewer. Bridie answers the questions put to her
with a sense of candour that seems to take the interviewer almost by surprise. She tells of her
enlistment and the evacuation of Singapore. The shoe-horn is introduced although at this stage we
do not see it or yet understand its significance. Her story is punctuated by the song, Fall in
Brother, and the slide projections of posters and photographs of women enlisting. The glass of
water on the table beside her evokes a sense of minimal survival. The scene ends in a moment of
darkness with the reverberating sound of Rule Britannia and the projection of slides of prosperous
Singapore before the fall, signifying the last bastion of the British Empire. Note the playwrights
comment on the last slide that projects the words, Dont listen to rumour: If only they had ...

ACT I SCENE 2: The lighting stage change reveals a scene shift to a motel room in Melbourne.
Bridie now enters with Sheila who has just arrived. Sheila is carrying a pair of gloves and from this
and her attitude to the porter we are made aware of her British origins. The playwright indicates that
there is tension between the two women. Part of the puzzle for the audience is in establishing
whether this tension is something that exists in the present, or whether its origins go back into the
past. Their dialogue reveals a sense of ambivalence in their reunion and we learn that it is fifty years
since they have seen each other. We become aware of the existence of Myra, one of the off-stage
characters. As they manoeuvre around each other and their questions and accusations, they move to
a point where their shared past experience brings them to co-operate in the lifting of the suitcase in
the rhythm of Japanese counting. The playwright notes that this dramatic action is to sound almost
like a war cry and is followed by a blackout.

~ 18 ~
ACT I SCENE 3: This scene opens with the nostalgic sound of a 1940s songSomething to
Remember You Bywhich is to take on an almost ironic meaning as the play continues and which
we eventually connect with the shoe-horn. Sheilas nervousness in the television interview situation
allows Bridie to assume the more powerful stance, and we assume that this is the role that she
played in the relationship in earlier times. The voice of the interviewer continues with questions
about the evacuation of Singapore and Sheilas upperclass British origins are confirmed. As Sheila
recounts these events from her perspective, we see slides projected depicting the reality of the
situation and hear Bridies verbal and non-verbal interjections which indicate not only her attitude
to the situation but also to her memory and construction of the events. As the interviewer probes
Sheilas feelings we hear and see the reality of the situation that she is describing. We hear waves
and the sound of young Shelia singing Jerusalem, and images of the bombing and destruction of
Singapore. The unfolding of the memories takes on its own rhythm as the two women in dialogue
tell the story of their time in the water before the approach of the Japanese ship. The shoe-horn
which has been introduced in the opening scene begins to take on new meanings as Bridie describes
how she used it to keep Sheila conscious during this ordeal. We also learn that the shoe-horn was
lost during the war. The arrival of the Japanese is graphically presented to the audience with the
sound of the waves, the singing of Jerusalem and the illumination of the Japanese flag. It is at this
point that the two are joined by their memories with the linking of hands on stage as the Japanese
voices are heard. The scene ends with a crescendo as the singing continues under the images of the
Japanese invasion of Singapore and the fall of Empire is complete.

ACT I SCENE 4: This scene occurs in the motel room after the previous interview scene. As the
two characters review the interview we see their different responses to the process of dredging up
these memories. Some of these responses reveal class and cultural differences as we see from their
dialogue. The tensions that we witnessed in an earlier scene are still evident and the reasons for
them are still not clear. As they reflect on the interview their conversation turns to their memories
and this time they relive a moment of comic delight as they replay the sticking of the pin in Lipstick
Larrys loin-cloth. This incident is played out as a play within a play as they are both recalling the
past and enacting how they will talk about it to the camera, then enacting it as if a camera were
there to capture their performance. This scene then concertinas into one image as the sounds of
Lipstick Larry punctuate their performance. There is a blackness in this performancethe beating
of the young Bridie and Sheilas attempt to save her from itand there is a premonition of
something more deep and powerful that is later to be revealed. The replayed moment then brings
the audience back into the present and there is a moment of reality as they stand now at a distance
from the sound of Lipstick Larry beating Bridie. The scene ends with the sounds continuing as the
two women in the present clink glassesa dramatic action that signals their reunion.

ACT I SCENE 5: This scene takes us back into the studio and we are once again in the middle of
an interview. The focus of this phase of the interview is on the sinking of the Vyner Brooke and the
incarceration in the prisoner-of-war camp. The scene begins with the ironic sound of Happy
Times, juxtaposed with the sound of machine-gun fire and the cries of women. Behind the
words of Bridie and Sheila are photographs of women in the camps and a Japanese soldier. This
scene reveals more of the tensions between the two women as each reconstructs her own memory of
their shared ordeal. This ordeal included being available for Japanese soldiers. Bridie recounts the
situation of Lavender Streetand how the women who had been set up tricked the Japanese by
supposedly coughing up blood, simulating tuberculosis. We learn of the ever-present hunger of the
prisoners as the two women recount the story of the bone in the context of the contempt in which
the Japanese soldiers held women. It is at this point when Bridie produces the concrete evidence
in the form of the chop bone, that we begin to realise the difficulty that the interviewer is
experiencing in articulating the questions that he wants to ask, and we come to see how well the
women have dealt with the horrors of their incarceration. We are also once again faced with notions
of reality, truth, memory and reconstructions of the past. The scene moves to another moment of
~ 19 ~
reconciliation between the women as the shoe-horn once again features, this time as a metronome,
and we hear of the singing that sustained the women in the camp. This information is underscored
by the playing of Bolero which builds to a climax, with Bridie conducting, as the scene ends.

ACT I SCENE 6: This scene opens in the empty hotel room. The womens entrance in the conga
line dance suggests their growing reconciliation, but as the dialogue continues we are aware that
there are still tensions between them. As they delve into their memories we become aware that the
enemies were not only the Japanesebut also the British and Australian authorities. Although the
scene begins with the joyous image of dancing, the tension level builds throughout. The discovery
of the snapshots is juxtaposed with the images that we have seen on the screen. The big picture is
now refocussed for the audience as Bridie surveys the photos. The tension continues to increase.
The production of the tobacco tin by Bridie seems like another attempt at reconciliationbut it is
obvious to the audience that this tin is also a further source of tension, despite the expressions of
fondness that Bridie expresses for Sheila. As Bridie departs, Sheila is left alone on the stage and she
takes out the shoe-horn from a drawer. This is the first time the audience sees it and it takes on a
symbolic significance that is to grow throughout the play. There is a moment of flashback to the
young Sheila and Japanese soldiers and a song. The image of Sheila staring at the shoe-horn passes
and is replaced by projected images of war ravaged women staring at the camera.

ACT I SCENE 7: This scene is again in the interview. It begins with images of emaciated women
POWs. The scene is essentially a monologue punctuated by questions from the interviewer. We
learn about Bridies experience of the war camp, and it is important for what we are later to learn
about Sheila that we see Bridie apparently strong and dealing with the situation. The image of
sharing the caramel, the story of the Christmas carolironically presented with the singing of O
Come All ye Faithful and God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemenand the meeting with the man that
Bridie was later to marry, presented against the song Well Meet Again, highlight issues about
camaraderie and loyalty set against the horrors of war.

ACT I SCENE 8: This scene opens with the drinking of a glass of fizzing watera neat
juxtaposition with the earlier image of the glass of water and the images of hunger and thirst in the
camps. We learn that Sheila has missed an interview session because of her hangover. The
dialogue in this scene is also about past eventsand more recent events. Sheila questions Bridie
about what she has said in the missed taping session and also seeks to have Bridie recount the
events of the previous night which are something of a blur in her memory. This scene shows Bridie
in a mothering rolea situation that is to be reversed before the play ends. Underpinning the
interaction in this scene is an attempt by Bridie to understand why Sheila had rejected her after they
had been rescued from the camp at the end of the war. Finally Sheila takes out the shoe-horn and
throws it onto the bed. Bridie sees her initials on it and begins to question Sheila as to how she had
come by it. There is now real tension between the two with Bridie no longer in the position of
control. Sheila recalls Belalau and retells the events which Bridie was too sick to know about
including Sheilas sacrifice for her. This revelation is underscored by the noise of crickets which cut
out as Bridie is faced with the truth. The scene ends with a dramatic representation of the isolation
of the two characters in the spotlights and the voiceover flashback to the moment when Sheila
returned from the Japanese with the tablets for Bridie. The final moment on stage has Bridie turning
to face Sheila, the slow fading of lights and the song, After the Ball is Over.

ACT II SCENE 9: The scene opens in the studio and dominating the space is a large image of both
Australian and British women bowing to the Japanese. This huge image remains throughout most of
the scene and the audience cannot escape its meaning. Both Bridie and Sheila are present and Bridie
is off to one side singing the Captives Hymn (with the womens choir). Sheila is speaking to the
camera and her answers to the questions are juxtaposed with Bridies singing. In this interview we
learn about the situation in Belalau and the Japanese order that had been issued to kill every
~ 20 ~
prisoner of war. Bridies illness and the way in which Sheila looked after her is made publicbut
Sheila baulks at telling the whole truth about how she acquired the drugs to save her, making up the
story of the shoe-horn saving her. This information is picked up by the interviewer as if it is highly
significant. The scene ends with the story of Curtins message: Keep smiling, girls. The horror of
this command is emphasised by the image of Curtin and the prisoners and the Judy Garland song.

ACT II SCENE 10: The transition to this scene holds the image of emaciated male prisoners in
view as we move into a space that is neither hotel room nor studio although both characters are still
wearing body microphones. Sheila has not gone to lunch and is sitting doing some kind of
tapestryan image of stitching things together. Bridie comments on the photograph of the
soldiersa comment that stimulates a riposte from Sheila about the role of the government in
suppressing information about the womens role in the war. This interaction between the on-stage
action and the projected visual images connects past and present. Their conversation reveals the
tension that is now out in the open. Recriminations flow as Bridie tries to make sense of what she
has learned and Sheila tries to defend her actions, not only with the Japanese but also in leaving
Bridie after the war. The intercutting of Ricks voice into their altercation leaves them not knowing
how much he has heard. The juxtaposition of the song Ill Walk Alone suggests the isolation of
each of these victims of this dreadful situation.

ACT II SCENE 11: This scene is back in the studio and the visual image of the postcards seems
dwarfed beside the projected images that we have previously seen. The recitation of the words of
each of the postcards leads the women back into their memories. The moments of darkness
highlight the pain of these experiences. In this scene the image of the sonata becomes significant as
the women trawl back through their memories together. In this scene, one of the most important
issues of the play is highlightedthe complete lack of acknowledgement by the Australian
government juxtaposed with the pitifully small amount of compensation paid by the Japanese
government to these victims of the power play of these sovereign states.

ACT II SCENE 12: This scene takes place in the motel room. Bridie is attempting to re-establish
their relationship despite the obvious tensions between them. It is in this scene that we learn of
Bridies crime in the David Jones food hall. We now understand how she feels and why she
reacted in this way. Sheilas reaction to this confession allows us to see how deeply scarred these
women have been by their experiencesnot only by the Japanese, but also by the responses and
inaction of their own countries. Sheilas realisation is that it is important not only for themselves but
for the thousands of others similarly afflicted to tell these stories in public. Bridie is not yet
convinced and the tension between them arises again. We are now aware that this tension is about
the present, the past, memories, recollections, reconstructions, truth, shame and guilt. The moment
of darkness returns, followed by images of great men of history and the song, Whispering Grass.

ACT II SCENE 13: This scene cuts straight into the interview as both Bridie and Sheila recount
their experiences as the war draws to an end. We hear about the diaries and the burning of these by
the British. This is overlaid with images of Hiroshima and the news of the death of Pearl after the
war had officially ended. There is a sense of calm as both women recount these events, although at
one significant moment Sheilas composure cracks. It is at this point that we see the symbiotic
relationship that the women had previously enjoyed. As Bridie finishes recounting the anecdote that
Sheila had begun they join hands and relive, together, that moment of memory and reconciliation.
The playing of the Blue Danube Waltz is a counterpoint to their memories. Dancing becomes
associated with life and joy and hope and survival, and this is juxtaposed with the Japanese
atrocities in Belalau and the visual images of the celebrations of the end of the war. The scene
reaches a climax as the confessions of the two women are made public. This is the moment of truth
as Bridie tells about Sheilas personal sacrifice and Sheila tells of Bridies theft from David Jones.
The simplicity of these truths juxtaposed with the official lies of the government ring out with a
~ 21 ~
clarity and candour that is underlined by the gradual darkness that follows the revelation. This scene
ends with the sounds of the hymn An Epitaph to War, images of the women recuperating and the
huge projected image of the army nurses arriving in Singapore.

ACT II SCENE 14: This scene cuts straight into the interview as both Bridie and Sheila recount
their experiences as the war draws to an end. We hear about the diaries and the burning of these by
the British. This is overlaid with images of Hiroshima and the news of the death of Pearl after the
war had officially ended. There is a sense of calm as both women recount these events, although at
one significant moment Sheilas composure cracks. It is at this point that we see the symbiotic
relationship that the women had previously enjoyed. As Bridie finishes recounting the anecdote that
Sheila had begun they join hands and relive, together, that moment of memory and reconciliation.
The playing of the Blue Danube Waltz is a counterpoint to their memories. Dancing becomes
associated with life and joy and hope and survival, and this is juxtaposed with the Japanese
atrocities in Belalau and the visual images of the celebrations of the end of the war. The scene
reaches a climax as the confessions of the two women are made public. This is the moment of truth
as Bridie tells about Sheilas personal sacrifice and Sheila tells of Bridies theft from David Jones.
The simplicity of these truths juxtaposed with the official lies of the government ring out with a
clarity and candour that is underlined by the gradual darkness that follows the revelation. This scene
ends with the sounds of the hymn An Epitaph to War, images of the women recuperating and the
huge projected image of the army nurses arriving in Singapore.

Character Analysis

Bridie: We fought all the time. You were worse than my mother. The Bridie that we see on
stage is in her early 70s. As she recounts the events of the war andinteracts with Sheila we learn
about her life before the war, her reasons for enlisting and her ways of coping with the war
experiences at the time and since the war ended. What strikes us most about her recollections of the
painful events of the war is the apparently emotion free way in which she recounts them. Bridie is a
complex character who has constructed her own moral stance to deal with the aftershocks of these
shocking experiences. The interest for the audience is not only in the ways in which she deals with
her painful memories but also in how she deals with the confrontation with the truths about the past
in the present. We come to know Bridie not only in the present but also as she recalls and relives
past memories. Bridies first moment on stage shows her demonstrating the action of the kowtow
a gesture that in some ways highlights an important aspect of her personality. We see her answering
Ricks questions, in dialogue with Sheila, re enacting past moments and we hear her younger voice
in flashback. All that we see about Bridie is also juxtaposed with the reality of the situation as
depicted in the projected visual and sound images.

Sheila: One never stops being British. Nor does one want to. Sheila, although resident in
Australia since the war, is basically British. We first see her entering the motel room and she is
distinguished by the gloves that she carries. Unlike Bridie she is still single. As the play unfolds we
learn about her life as a girl in Singapore before the invasion, her evacuation as the Japanese invade
and the terrible existence that she endured as a young prisoner-of-war. We are also aware from her
initial responses that the experiences have made their mark upon the girl who is now a middle-aged
woman. As the play proceeds, we become aware that Sheilas relationship with Bridie all those
years ago cannot be replicated in the present. We watch as Sheila gradually reaches the point where
candour is possible and the relationship between the two women can be reconstructed. We meet
Sheila through her monologues, her interactions with Bridie, her answering of Ricks questions, her
enactment of earlier events and through the voiceover flashbacks to wartime incidents.

~ 22 ~
The relationship between Bridie and Sheila: In one sense this play is about the
relationship between these two characters. It demonstrates how two human beings can support each
other through the most horrendous eventsthe horrors of war. It also explores how such events can
erode inner peace. They had once shared food, literally taking it out of one mouth and putting it in
the other. They had dragged each other to safety. They had crawled on the ground digging graves.
They had once been prepared to die together. Both characters are troubled, guilt-ridden and
traumatised by what they have endured.
But the play is not simply the celebration of a reunion of two people who have been
separated by the passage of time. It is about reconciliationthe restoring of a relationship which
had nurtured them both through the horrors. Yet the reunion is not without tension and the play
exposes, inter alia, one key reason for this tension: honestyor the lack thereof. It is only now,
years after the event, that the truth is able to be revealed and a reconciliation is possible. John
Misto has said that this story is about an unknown holocaust. An important aspect of the holocaust
is the difficulty of presenting the realitythe truth. Atrocities are hidden, and evidence obliterated.
As the play draws to its close we realise not only the extent of what the women themselves
have kept hidden, but more importantly, that their silence is part of a much larger conspiracy to
keep the reality of these events from public notice. It is a masterful stroke to present these stories
within the framework of investigative journalismthe interview situation.

Ricks voice: Hes not like Donohue, is he? Strutting around like a turkey on heat. Ricks
voice is the only male voice in the play and is not a character in the true sense. Rick is talked about
by the two main characters. Bridie says He just wants to hear stories from the camp. Dont
worry. Hes very tactful.

What we do get from Rick is lots of questions. It must b e remembered that the purpose he
has for the women is to get their story and even if he is sympathetic it is a job for him. He is the
force that brings them together and controls their stories.

It seems as if Misto is still giving the male power over the women and the control, much like
in the camps and in life. While they get to tell their story it is for a purpose and he uses his power to
manipulate. He is never seen only heard and this unseen manipulation is how the women have
always suffered.

While Rick is the catalyst that brings them together he may not be the benign force that the
women see him as at times. It is probable Rick certainly shows more understanding in his questions
as the interviews proceed but this may just be more that the stories are so shocking and sad that he
responds to this to create better television. For example his first question And why did you? to
questions such as [slightly surprised] you mean she died when the war was over? It had ended on
the fifteenth. Mistos use of Rick as the interviewer is an interesting one and is worth consideration
when assessing the play as a whole.

Other Characters: other characters mentioned in the play also have roles to fill although they
are not seen or heard. They are more characters that shed some light on our two main characters.
These characters would be:

Bridies father
Shelias mother
Lipstick Larry
~ 23 ~
Also the women from the camps mentioned in the play make the women seem not so alone and that
they shared the experience. These are:

Myra
Joyce
Irene
Ivy (dead)
Ava

Distinctively Visual
While Distinctly Visual is not specifically a thematic concern it is the main focus of study
in this module. The module outline suggests that students explore the ways the images we see
and/or visualise in texts are created. But we dont just need to examine this as we have to also
explore how these images affect how we see ideas in the text and help shape meaning.

What you need to do is to think about these issues and form some opinions of your own. To
help, you should have a clear understanding of dramatic techniques and then apply this knowledge
in your analysis of the text. We also need to try to examine how Misto achieves these distinctly
visual elements and how they are placed in the slides shown in the background throughout the play.
However, the slides should not be discussed in isolation throughout from the rest of the play. In
many ways, in the theatre, you are watching a play within a play when the characters are in the
studio. For example a playwright instruction such as,

The Japanese flag fades and we see photographs of the

Japanese invasion of Singapore Japanese soldiers riding
bicycles, a sky filled with parachutes; Japanese battalions
marching through the streets. As the song reaches its climax,
we see hundreds of victorious Japanese soldiers, their arms
raised in triumph, performing a Bonzai! Salute.

It is a most disturbing sight. For this photograph has captured

the moment when the British Empire teetered and fell (P. 36)

In isolation this is not as effective as when it is combined with the ideas that have come
before and after, in other words, you need to have the context right to make it work as it does in the
play.this is a crucial moment in the play and also in the history of Australia and finishes a scene.
This gives it added dramatic impact for an audience who have seen some positive images prior to
this but have been guided to this point by the blood red rising sun of the Japanese flag that has
been illuminated in the background. This is a very clever dramatic technique and emphasises the
complete change these women must have undergone. No-one had any understanding of what was
about to occur; to live through the fall of an Empire that had seemed indestructible. From here
Misto focuses more on the personal triumphs and tragedies of the two characters and their
relationship.

~ 24 ~
 As you study The Shoe-Horn Sonata you need to find your own examples, place it in
context and show what it achieves with the audience and as part of the play as a whole. Look for
examples where silence is used as this can often be more effective than dialogue or music as it
emphasises the visual. Music can also be used in juxtaposition with the images to give the audience
immediate contrast and enhance the effectiveness of the images:

Darkness. Two photographs of war-time Prime Minister John

Curtain appear on screen. He looks quite distressed. These are
followed by two photographs of emaciated male prisoners of
war, starving, dying and covered in tropical ulcers. On the
soundtrack we hear Judy Garland singing, When Youre
Smiling(p69)

Remember too, that when you look for your other texts they do not have to be about the war
or nurses or anything linked to the play. What the connection must be is the distinctively visual
features the texts have. This means they dont have to be connected by content but can be connected
by technique, effect, visual feature or any idea that you could reasonably link in.

Themes
History and Memory:

Not a headstone or memorial anywhere. Not even a cross survived the war.

The Shoe-Horn Sonata is about the histories of the women and the nurses that were captives
of the Japanese during World War II. It is about their individual histories and their joint sufferings.
However, another factor that must be considered is the larger historical picture.

While the focus of the play appears to be on the two individual characters, it is through their
story that we discover an even bigger storythe ways in which official sources construct histories
so that truth becomes a central casualty. In one sense the play is about historiography or the writing
of history. This is evident in various aspects of the play including the juxtaposition of the factual
information in the slides and the fictional characters. But it also operates within the stories of the
characters themselves moving within the stage space. The hesitation of the women to tell their
stories publicly has helped to skew the writing of the history. But we come to understand the ways
in which the women have effectively colluded with Japanese, British and Australian officialdom by
keeping their own counsel.

It is interesting that now, fifty years after the war, they are telling their stories in an oral
medium because, unlike other official war stories, they have not been recorded in writing. It is also
significant that in the telling of these stories it is the male interviewer who is seeking the
information for another public medium of recording historyone that is as potentially selective as
the official government records can be. In both cases it is the stories that are not toldthe negative
informationthat leads to a skewed and untruthful account of events. This is a play about the
stories that are not told for various reasons.
The larger historical picture is the lack of official government recognition of their plight and
the few, if any, official records. These painful memories are not part of any official history which
is made clear in The Shoe-Horn Sonata:

~ 25 ~
 The British didnt want anyone to know about us. Theyd have
lost prestige if people found out how women of the Empire had
lived in the war. So for the sake of the King and Country, they
burned our diaries. Every last one.

Prior to this the Japanese had tried to destroy all the diaries so that no record of how they
had treated the women and children were recorded. They needed to destroy the evidence due to the
increasing fear of the war crimes trials at the end of the war. The fear of the trials was also why they
tried to kill all the women and children near the end of the war.

Misto makes it clear in the course of the play that the memories of the women are accurate
although they may have some bias as all anecdotal evidence does. The oral stories from these
fictional characters have juxtaposed over them the factual images to confirm and extrapolate the
stories of the women. The visual images of the thin, starving people are very strong and clear to an
audience. This is part of Mistos theatricality.

While it is considered that the writing of history belongs to the victors, in this case both the
victors and losers tried to hide the truth, especially the horrific details that so shock us when
revealed in the text. Even the silence of the women who seem afraid to tell their stories has helped
keep the whole situation a secret since the war. Add to this the fact that nobody, especially
governments, has shown any interest in them at all.

A key focus of this play is on the reconciliation that eventually occurs between the two
women. This reconciliation is not easily come by and indeed at some points throughout the play it
seems doubtful whether it is possible at all. The reunion of the two means that layers of memories
must be recalled, relived and reconstructed so that understanding and acceptance can come into
play. This is a painful process but both characters come to understand that running away from pain
is only one way of dealing with it and there is something satisfying for them in dealing with it in a
more open way now that they are together again.

For each character we see that there is both a personal reconciliation with painful memories
as well as a reconciliation with each other. The reconciliation of their friendship can only occur
when the personal reconciliation has been achieved. What is obvious at the end of the play is that
there has yet to be a public reconciliation for these women with the wider world which is still to
acknowledge them.

It is also not certain if Rick wants their memories for historical documentation or for gain.
The media is particularly selective in what it uses and what makes good television is not necessarily
what makes good, accurate history. Also the choices of Bridie and Shelia may be selective and we
do not hear the stories of the other women. Rick controls what people will see and hear in the final
cut of the show.

History and memory, as Misto shows, can be both selective and non-representative. There
are many reasons for this and Misto has set out to right what he sees as an error of omission by the
government. The play goes some way in doing this as both Bridie and Shelia point out the
inadequacies of the government.

Shelia:

~ 26 ~
 We tried to fight for more but the government has
opposed us.

Bridie:

No. The Australian Government. They told us we were

on our own. Just like they told us once to keep smiling.

History and memory play an important role in the text and highlight how manipulation and
deliberate omission are the realm of governments intent on hiding the truth.

Truth:

And if the only way to get it is to tell the truth then-

There is a commonly used quote that says truth is the first casualty of war and in the case of
the stories revealed in The Shoe-Horn Sonata it appears true. The central tenet of the play is that
truth has not been told on many levels and this is the core of the play.

The idea of truth, telling the truth and recognising the truth is not located only in the
interrelationship between the two women. Certainly, we come to understand that there has been a
concealing of truth between them during their time in the camp and after their release. This
concealment is aided by Sheilas geographical isolation. For Bridie, telling the truth has arisen as an
issue in relation to the theft from the David Jones food hall. Telling the truth is also shown to be an
issue in their interactions in the present; but honestyor more significantlylack of it, is also
shown to be part of the modus operandi of the British, Australian and Japanese. Official
concealments have their official spin, but they are concealments, nevertheless.
The truth has not been told in many ways and the main offenders are,

The British government

The Australian government
The Japanese government

And on a smaller but no less important level

Shelia
Bridie

The main reason for concealment of the truth is that it is too shocking for people to hear but
this reasoning is shown to be false in the play. We expect the lies of governments and they often
twist the truth to portray events as positively as possible. But the lesson of the play is that no matter
how they try to conceal the truth will come out.

Important to the play are the scenes where, on this more personal level, Bridie and Shelia
reveal the truth. Shelia at first used her physical isolation on the other side of the country to keep
her secret and stay away from Bridie but it has hindered her life. Shelias secret is so well hidden
that Bridie, whose life she saved, has no idea of it. Bridie, on the other hand, keeps her secret
because of the shame she feels and the effect that others knowing will bring to her.

Both women, when the truth is revealed, are able to open up to each other and have some
reconciliation with themselves, each other and even the world around them. They both take a while
~ 27 ~
to get to this point in the course of the play but Misto keeps reminding us about truth through the
play, for example,

It was the biggest lie Ive ever told. I was trying to keep you
afloat.

That isnt the truth. Love Do you want me to tell the truth.

Perhaps in the final analysis, this play demonstrates that such concealments cannot be
contained forever. Truth will out.
Power:

But I reminded myself that I was a woman of the Empire. And it wasnt done to
show fear to the natives.

The Shoe-Horn Sonata deals with a number of power issues that revolve around some
specific areas. The first is the power between countries and how they use that power. We first see
the British as the nation in power. They not only have their Empire but also are a major colonial
power in the region. They look down upon the Japanese.

When Singapore falls to the Japanese it seems that this is the end, psychologically, of the
British Empire. It was unthinkable that they could lose the war. Bridie sums this up when she says:

I remember I asked an Englishman once a captain with a huge

moustache how dangerous the Japanese really were. My dear,
he said. They have slanty eyes. If they cant see properly how can
they shoot?

This level of arrogance and complete misconception led to the fall of all their colonies in the
Far East and the Japanese Empire taking over in their own play for power. It is worth noting here
that these Empires seem male dominated and women play little role in any proceedings. This
helps us understand why the women POWs were treated badly by both powers.

When the Japanese became the occupying force they are just as arrogant and unsympathetic
and very much crueller. When they too are finally beaten at the end of the war they cant seem to
understand how it happened either. Both the British and the Japanese abuse their power when in
control and it reflects poorly on both nations.

On another level we can see the role of power between the prison guards and prisoners. The
guards abused their power physically, sexually and emotionally and many seemed to enjoy the pain
they inflicted. Lipstick Larrys comment Plenty of room in the graveyard for her is typical of the
cruelty the guards exhibit. We can also see this in the order that the Japanese Command issued:

Every prisoner of war man, woman and child was to die by

October 1945. By bullet or sword or hunger or poison. They were
taking us inland where wed never be found.

The prisoners had little option but to co-operate and be humiliated and abused. This abuse of
power by the Japanese is documented in several incidents in the text.

~ 28 ~
 On an individual level the relationship between Bridie and Shelia is worth examining in
terms of power. During the war Bridie, as the older of the two, seems to be in charge and leads the
way. She makes Shelia drink the charcoal water and acts as her surrogate mother at times. By the
need of the war they have become inseparable and Shelia has sold her body to save Bridie. Their
walk to the village after their release shows their relationship to be more balanced with their
reliance on each other.

The most obvious power play on stage occurs between the interviewer and the women that
he is interviewing. This power play has an ambiguous moment in which the women are uncertain as
to whether Rick has overheard a private conversation. There is also a shifting power play between
the two women themselves that is a reflection of shifts in the power relationships that had been in
play between them during the war. These shifts are also set against the power relationships between
the British authorities and British nationals in Singapore, Australian authorities and the nurses and,
of course between the Japanese captors and the prisoners-of-war.

Ricks documentary brings them together again many years after the war and Bridie again
tries to take the dominant role. However, circumstances and time have changed things and they are
now on level terms although Bridie still would like to be in charge.

It may be worth noting here that Rick, a male, still has the power over the women to some
extent. He is still in charge and has organised them all to be there. Bridie and Shelia even worry that
he might have secretly overheard them when they are talking through lunch.

Bridie and Shelia look up startled. Then they both realise they are
wearing small microphones. They both wonder whether every
word has been overheard.

Here a male is still the dominant force in their lives and nothing seems to have changed in
that regard since the war. Society still has them at a low level and they have little power or
influence. Power is an important element in the play and Misto gives us some new insights inot its
use and abuse in this context.

Relationships:

Bridie Cartwright was the best the best nurse the best thief the best woman in
our camp. And Id do it all again if I had to!

The central relationship in the play is the one between Bridie and Shelia but there are other
relationships that illuminate issues in the play. Some examples of these are:

Shelias mother / Shelia

Rick / Bridie
Rick / Shelia
Lipstick Larry / Shelia
Bridies dad / Bridie
Bridie / Barnie

~ 29 ~
 Bridie and Shelia / other survivors

Other examples can be found but these are the main relationships Misto uses to examine his
thematic concerns. For example Shelias selfless act of selling herself to Lipstick Larry is made
more poignant when we understand her upbringing and relationship with her mother.

Her traditional English/British upbringing has made her decision all the harder and her
properness has stayed with her all her life. When she meets Bridie again she is wearing gloves,
Its the sign of a lady. Mother always used to say that. She wore her best pair into Changi. This
ladylike behaviour did not help her in the camps and she had to change to survive, however, little
bits of her mother still cling to her now.

Shelias relationship with Lipstick Larry was forced on her and it was the result of the power
he had over life and death. We have already examined how power corrupts and Larry uses this to
force a purely sexual relationship on Shelia, which scars her for life.

Every night when I fall asleep, Lipstick Larrys waiting. He calls

to me and I go to him and no-one can change that. Not even
you.

But it is her kind of heroism that binds relationships together, especially in times of war. Other
women also show heroism in the play and Misto makes us realise that it is not only men who
bravely risk their lives for others.

However, it is the close relationship between Bridie and Shelia that it is the main focus.
From the start when Bridie saves Shelia from drowning until their release at the end of the war they
are inseparable. Despite what they have to deal with during the war they remain strong together.
This bond helps them reconcile their relationship in the end.

It is true that during the reunion they have to deal with much pain and some recrimination
but they come together again and to some extent they are also reconciled with the wider community
through their ability to tell the truth.

And thats when I realised I had to talk about it. There are
probably thousands of survivors like us still trapped in the war
too ashamed to tell anyone. Lots of people will be watching
when Ricks programme goes to air. It mightnt be too late to -

The telling of the truth in the public arena is possibly their biggest act of heroism and it allows other
women in the same situation the chances to do the same.

Relationships are extremely important in the play and Misto uses them to show not only
how people are interdependent but how these relationships can have a profound effect on an
individuals life and psychology.

War:

Grave-digging mostly. Wed be too weak to stand let alone use a hoe so wed get
down on all fours - four graves a day were required.

~ 30 ~
 The concept of the play is based around the war years from 1942 to 1945 and what
happened to the two women. Misto doesnt become too didactic about the war but lets the events
speak for themselves. The atrocities of the war are clearly shown in the treatment of the prisoners.
War seems to provide an excuse for people to act abominably toward others and this is felt for years
afterward.

The play highlights the horrors of war particularly for women and civilians. The atrocious
way in which human beings treat fellow human beings in a wartime situation is not restricted to the
Japanese, but seen to be central to war itself. The atrocities are seen to have affected both womens
lives ever after. What is particularly significant for these women is the requirement to keep
smiling and to repress the memories. For these women the memories of the atrocities are tinged
with guilt and shame. In some respects this amounts to an even worse atrocity which plagues the
lives of these women after the war. But there were also some positive effects of the war for these
women. The closeness of their relationships and the ways in which they supported each other
demonstrates a friendship that does, in fact, stand the test of time. The recounting of the wartime
incidents demonstrates the courage, the loyalty and the determination of these women.

War seems to remove all moral concerns and common sense. For example when the British
heard that the Japs had been raping army nurses they planned to shoot their own nurses to stop
this happening.. the Japanese stand condemned in the play before the camps. They attacked civilian
ships with women and children aboard:

Some Japanese Zeros found us. They dropped twenty-eight

bombs on the Vyner Brooke Then the Japs strafed the decks
and shot up the life boats.

Nevertheless, it is the behaviour in the camps that is the most horrifying. Even if the Japanese
attitude to prisoners is taken into account the policy of brutality and starvation is one of the horrors
of the war.

The first few weeks were a nightmare. Women sobbing for their
husbands. Babies crying always hungry. And the Japsd come
around and beat us for the fun of it. Useless Mouths they used
to call us.

Conditions just got worse through the course of the war and thousands died, especially after the
Japanese introduced their kill all prisoners policy.

It is interesting that no-one seemed to understand the atrocities the women faced in the
camps. The message from Curtain sums it up clearly:

I have good news for Australian womens. Your Emperor, Mr

Curtain, sends his greetings. And orders you all to keep smiling.

The inane and ludicrous nature of this message shows how ignorant governments were and as the
war ended the Japanese became more vicious.

~ 31 ~
 For them it was business as usual starving us, bashing us,
withholding the quinine. And more and more women perished
every day.

While the war is condemned Misto does point out that it does produce some good. The
courage of the women is never questioned in the face of extreme brutality. Both individuals like the
bedpan nurse and groups such as the choir show amazing resilience in the face of the horrors of
war. We also see relationships develop and flourish against all odds. Bridie and Shelia, for example,
support each other and this support enables them to survive. This survival may be a scarred one but
they are able to survive and eventually move on.

It is useful to note that the authorities and governments try to keep what the women suffered
in the war a secret. Even photos of their condition were not taken There arent any photos of us,
remember. Your army wouldnt allow them until wed all fattened up a bit.

In The Shoe-Horn Sonata war is shown to be what it is horrific and destructive both
physically and psychologically. The only positives are the relationships and bravery that the women
show in their determination to survive.

Heroism:
The play revolves around the heroic deeds of the women during the war. These deeds were
acts of physical courage of the highest order. For Sheila, the supreme sacrifice of selling her body to
the Japanese in order to obtain the necessary drugs for her friends survival is all the more poignant
as we understand the cultural and social background that she had come from. But these are not the
only deeds of heroism. As the stories unfurl we encounter the heroic spirit not only of these two
women, but of others who were in the same situation. We come to understand heroism not only as a
masculine characteristic, and not merely associated with great physical feats. Sheilas greatest
heroic act is to give her body to the Japanese soldiers in order to save the life of her friend.

The Fall of the Empire:

The play is ultimately about the fall of two empires: the British and the Japanese. The notion
of empire is associated with patriarchy and a certain lifestyle that favours the rich and privileged.
Empire confers on men power and status and deprives women and children of it. This play
demonstrates the atrocious extent to which such power can be used against the disenfranchised. It
also demonstrates the ways in which those with such power can use and abuse it and the lengths to
which they will go in order to ensure they maintain their power. Singapore, in one sense, was the
last bastion of the British empire and the fall of Singapore to the Japanese occurred in particularly
extraordinary circumstances which demonstrate the ethnocentrism of the British and their
reluctance to give up their power. This is symbolised in the character of Sheilas mother. The fall of
the Japanese empire effectively came as the allied powers won the war and the play reveals the
difficulty that the Japanese soldiers in the camps experienced in relinquishing their power.

Language and Dramatic Technique

The staging of The Shoe-Horn Sonata would physically seem to be quite straightforward. At
the most two actors are on stage at any one time and the backdrop is a screen which shows the
images which are integral to the production. These images, combined with particular music, tend to
close the episodic scenes in the play.

~ 32 ~
 It is important to remember that these images are a key element of the play. Misto makes
this clear in his detailed instructions that combine music, image, light and sound to help convey
meaning with the dialogue. The visual images show exactly what the women are talking about and
add to the sense of theatre around the play.

The sounds that Misto suggests are also important, as is the music. These two techniques
link both to the action and memory of the two women. The songs delineate the theme or idea being
conveyed in the scene and touch an element of the dialogue. Each song has a particular meaning
and these are worth investigating. Also remember the title of the play suggests a musical intent.

It is not only the music Misto uses but sounds as well to help establish the mood for the
audience and add to the theatrics of the play. For example when the two women are talking about
the evacuation of Singapore we hear:

Sound: the distant sound of lapping waves as SHELIA

continues to speak.

And at other times we hear the sounds of a young Shelia, young Bridie and the sound of machine
gun fire, etc each sound has a specific purpose to enhance an incident being portrayed.

As well as the focus on sound the use of silence is important and it is used to emphasise a
moment of tension or indecision. The play itself begins with darkness and silence.

Darkness. Out of the silence comes the voice of BRIDIE

And the use of silence continues throughout the play at various stages. It is also important to note
here that Misto indicates when he wants silence in the script. This is not open to directorial
interference and highlights how important it is to the overall impression that the play creates.

Once the silence stops the dialogue begins and here Misto uses a mainly colloquial tone
suited to oral history. For this is what we are actually getting; oral histories on aspects of war and
the relationship between Shelia and Bridie. The use of the Japanese words such as Keirii, Ichi,
San and Ya-ta give and air of authenticity to the play and the womens story as it shows that
they have first-hand experience of the culture.

Dramatic Form and Theatrical Structure

The play is a complex non-naturalistic piece that works particularly well in a small theatre
space. It uses techniques that are reminiscent of Brechts notion of epic theatre. The episodic
structure with slides, sounds, music, specific lighting effects and symbols point out the larger issues
for the audience and reader. These are essential aspects of the textnot simply directorial or design
elements associated with a particular production. It is important that students understand that these
aspects are not addenda to the main action but essential components of it. The dramatic and
theatrical devices communicate the plays meanings.los
Projected images:
There are many images projected throughout the action on the stage. These images also include
words projected onto the screen. The images juxtapose the fictional and the real so as to heighten
the audiences understanding of the enormity of the issues.
Music:
Music is essential to the action. The words of songs and the particular musical items highlight the
notion of the sonata. The placement of particular items of music serve to link the actions of the

~ 33 ~
 present, the memories of the past, the reality of the past and the officially sanctioned versions of the
past.
Sounds:
The sounds are particularly important in establishing the mood and the meanings of the play. There
is a range of sounds that establish the reality of the pastthe singing of the crickets or the lapping
of the waves. The dues ex machina effect of these amplified sounds further highlights the issues of
memories and reconstructions of past realities. There are also significant moments of silence.
Lighting spots and darkness:
Lighting is commonly designed for a particular theatrical production. In The Shoe-Horn Sonata,
Misto has designed particular uses of lighting and darkness as essential to his script. These are,
therefore, essential components of the playwrights meaning, rather than aspects of the directors or
designers interpretation of the script.
Symbols:
A symbol is an image which contains a meaning of greater significance than its concrete
manifestation. A symbol may be an object, an action, a sound or projected image. In this play there
are several images that take on symbolic significance. The most important symbolic object is the
shoe-horn. The significance of this object which is used to help put on boots grows as the play
develops. There are other symbols in the play, including the kowtow, the song Jerusalem and the
Japanese counting.
Humour:
This play exposes an atrocious situationnot only of the war and its effects on the women who
were caught up in itbut also of the ways in which the truth about such atrocities is hidden from
public view. Yet it is a very funny play. The humour derives not only from the way in which the
women used the power of the human spirit to laugh at adversity, but also from the way in which the
playwright has juxtaposed those moments of recounting of comic events with the horrors of the
memories of the reality. The light and dark in this play allows us to be both horrified and
entertained. As in any great tragedy, the comic allows not simply relief from the pain, but helps us
to question the reasons for the horror.

Glossary of Terms
Term Definition
Allegro Very fast. A musical term
Andante A musical term that means moderately slow
Bamboo A tropical treelike grass that has hard wood stems that are hollow
Barrage Artillery fire that comes in large amounts designed to destroy everything. A
barrage can be verbal, for example, one person yelling at another.
Bayonet Object like a knife attached to the front of a rifle. Used to stab or cut the enemy.
Bliss A feeling of complete happiness
Brooch A piece of jewellery that is attached to a dress by a pin
Brothel A place or building where prostitutes entertain clients for money
Cerebral Anything relating to the brain
Charcoal The black substance left after burning wood
Choir A group of singers that are organised to sing particular songs
Chooks Australian colloquial term for chickens
Conga line A dance where a group form a line and dance
Coo-ee Australian term for a call when saying hello or looking for someone
Decadent Refers to an individual falling into moral decay
Edible Anything that is fit and able to be eaten as food
Emaciated Person made to be very thin by lack of food and/or disease
~ 34 ~
 Term Definition
Evacuate To move away from a place of threat, danger or disaster. Usually refers to large
groups.
Fag Slang term for cigarette
Ferry A boat used to move passengers from one place to another
Fever Usually associated with a rise in body temperature. Fevers are one part of a
disease, some of which can lead to death.
Flustered To become excited or confused
Haggard To look thin because of worries, ill health or over work
Humiliate To embarrass a person and take away their pride
Hymn A song sung in honour of God. Usually sung as a form of praise.
Impoverished To make someone poor
Kow tow A stiff bow from the waist in Japanese culture that is used to show respect
Lecture A talk on a subject given to an audience
Liberate To make free, for example, We are going to liberate the prisoners.
Lice The plural word for a small, wingless blood sucking insect that infests people.
Loin-cloth It is a piece of cloth worn on the hips to hide the genitals and bottom. Lik,e
underpants.
Malaria A disease passed to people by mosquitoes that causes fevers and can kill
Mature Fully developed in both mind and body
Menstruation The monthly act of discharging blood etc from the womans uterus.
Missionary A person who goes to another country to tell people about his/her religion.
Mug shot A photograph of a persons head taken by the police for their records.
Myopic Near sightedness
Nips Slang term for the Japanese, often used in a derogatory way
Orchestra A group of players with different musical instruments that perform music.
P.O.W. Abbreviated version of Prisoner of War
Passed away A common term used to describe someone who has died
Patriot A person who loves their country and supports it to the full at all times. In the play
Shelia is described as a patriot.
Pier A long platform, usually of wood, built over water to allow people to get on and
off boats
Porter A person employed to carry luggage or loads. In the war prisoners did this for
food.
Prestissimo A musical term for the most rapid tempo
Quinine A medicine used to treat malaria
Racist A person who thinks that one race or type of people is better than another.
Rape To have sexual intercourse with an individual against their will. Usually with
force.
Red Cross Organisation that, as one of its jobs, tries to ensure prisoners are treated well.
Red light district Term used to describe a street or area where there are prostitutes and brothels.
Risotto An Italian rice dish
Saki Japanese alcoholic rice wine drunk with meals
Shoe-horn It is a shaped piece of metal that you place in the back of a shoe to make it easy to
put on.
Snout Part of an animals head that refers, usually, to the nose and jaws.
Sober Not drunk on alcohol
Sonata A long instrumental usually of three or four movements that tries to be balanced
Squabble A small argument
Strafe To attack with machine guns from an aeroplane, for example, The Japanese flew

~ 35 ~
 Term Definition
past and strafed the ship.
Survivor An individual who lives through a tough time
Tribute An offering to another person to show respect or gratitude. Can be money or
written etc.
Tuberculosis A disease which is easily spread and infects the lungs. It eventually kills
Waltz A dance performed in ballrooms to a particular kind of music also called a waltz
Whinging Complaining

~ 36 ~