Scottish Contemporary Theatre

1. ScottishContemporary Theatre A comprehensive review of The SteamieMen Should WeepTally’s Blood

3. ‘Men Should Weep’

4. ‘The Steamie’by Tony Roper

5. Social, Political, Religious Issues The Steamie Humour Nostalgia Issues of Gender History and Popular Tradition Click to jump to specific areas

6. Social, Political and Religious Issues In ‘The Steamie’

7. Social Issues Nationalism is not featured fully throughout the play, however there are some passing references to the ‘English’ and the British films by the characters during the play; “I cannae stand the wey they talk aw yon ya ya ya.” – Doreen Money is a theme throughout the play. The women bring up money frequently in their conversations during their time at the wash house, in reference to the American houses; “They cost a fortune” - Dolly

8. Alcohol is mentioned a lot throughout the play. Most of the time, the subject of alcohol is brought up by the only male character, Andy who, is drinking on the job, yet accuses the women of drinking; “Do you know where they’re getting’ the drink fae Mrs Culfeathers?” - Andy This is ironic as, throughout, men are described as being drunk all the time; not the women as we find out when Andy has too much to drink. “Ah’ve hid a wee drink…but that’s between you and me” – Andy “He’s lying up there drunk already, oot the game, sick o’er the carpet, pig” - Margrit “Aye, he likes a drink your Peter.” - Dolly

9. Imbalance of wealth- in the play there is a clear divide between the hardship of the working class and the wealth of society. This is shown mainly through Mrs Culfeathers’ situation as she is a very old woman who is not particularly very physically strong but she is having to do a lot of hard work for her and her husband: • “she said shed been here since wan o’clock. Imagine havin’ tae take in washin’ at her age. Y’ed think her family wid help her oot.” • This shows that Mrs Culfeathers was form the working class part of society and was having to work till a very old age just to be able to keep herself and her husband alive.

10. Political • Use of Scots language- in the play they use more Glaswegian dialect rather than just Scots. However this does not seem to create the feeling of nationalism. I also feel that the use of the Scots language creates a sense of closeness between the characters as they use slang words and they can also make the play more fun and enjoyable at times: • “eh does she have bowly legs?” • The use of the Scots language make this more humorous and interesting.

11. Stereotyping- in the play most of the characters are stereotypes but possibly not Mrs Culfeathers. They are all working house wife's with ages ranging from being a teenager to late sixties. In the play there is a lot of talk about how much the woman have to do in the house, how much hard work it is and how much the men do not do to help. We hear a lot about this from Margrit’s monologue “Isn’t it wonerful to be a woman.” • “you get up at the crack of dawn….you don’t even get a cup of tea before you tidy up. Then you’ve got to go to work..” • This is a a typical middle ages woman’s day with a family. This shows how much work the women had to do and then they were in the Steamie doing the washing with no help.

12. The Steamie Humour

13. Humour • The dictionary definition for “Humour” is : the quality of being funny. 2 Also called : sense of humour. The ability to appreciate or express that which is humorous. • The Steamie as a whole is full of humour so it’s quite hard to find just snippets of it to give you examples

14. Different types of humour • One liners/punch lines • Long running jokes • Double acts • Visual comedy • Patter • Dramatic irony

15. One liners/punch lines • A punch line is a joke that gets straight to the point and has an immediate effect on the audience • E.g. When Magrit refers to her Husband : “…His breath’s like a burst lavy, ye could strip paint wi’ it” Magrit’s joke about her husband has an immediate effect on both the audience and on the actors.

16. Long running jokes • A long running joke is one that will be referred back to through out the play and continually be made funny, i.e. the women's husbands are made fun of through out the play, as from the slide before the men are usually referred to as being lazy and drunk this is highlighted through the only male appearance, “Andy” he is shown to be getting rapidly drunker throughout the play as a result he is proving the women's theory, all men are the same!

17. Double acts • A double act is formed between two characters to perform the same joke, Magrit and Doreen are great examples of teaming up throughout the play, • Together when they are on there own on stage there is the conversation about film and the actors. • The best example though is of Doreen and Magrit on the “Phone” when they full Dolly into thinking there is an actual conversation on the phone going Magrit “Bring, Bring, bring, bring, she’s no in Dolly.” … Doreen (to magrit) “Ah cannae keep this up.”

19. Visual comedy Examples of visual humour in The Steamie are; • At the very start when the audience can clearly see a big sign indicating that no dirty overalls are to be put in the washing, then they clearly see Dolly putting her husbands overalls in the tub. • Dolly hiding under the sheet while she tries to wash herself while Andy gets into trouble by Magrit - “…insinuating that my friend Dolly’s washin’ is so dirty it’s movin’?”

20. Patter • Patter is much like gossip-which is shown between the women on stage. An example of this is when they gossip about “Maureen McCandlish” This is someone whose family they do not approve of- Dolly- “They’re aw mingin. The Sanitary’s never away fae them.”… Magrit “..I mean nane o’ us have goat much money, but there’s nae excuse for thon. Ye can aye afford a bar o’ soap can’t ye?” They also disaproove of her because they suspected her of “ hawkin’ herself”.

21. Dramatic irony • This plays a huge part in The steamie, this is where the audience knows something that the characters do not, an example of this is how much Doreen goes on about “Drumchapel”-Doreen imagines this to be the start of a wonderful life for her and her husband, but in fact the audience know that Drumchapel did not become that great place she imagined it would be. • Doreen “Ah’ll get it eventually Magrit, ah’ve put ma name doon fur a hoose in Drumchapel”

22. Why is humour used • Mostly the women use humour to make good of a bad situation, in reality they have nothing to be happy about, there husbands are drunk already, they have a never ending amount of work to do and they’ve got kids to look after. • Humour is used to lighten the atmosphere and make the women realise that not all things end up bad- because hey they’ve always got their “pals”!

23. History and Popular Tradition

24. Popular Tradition • In the Steamie they have many ways to show Popular Tradition. e.g. • Songs • Hogmanay • Meeting together/ Gossiping

25. The steamie shows these women enjoying themselves wile at the Steamie. Although in reality it would probably not have been like this, and many would have dreaded going. Gathering together/ Gossip

26. Hogmanay • The play is set on Hogmanay which immediately brings to mind familiar associations to a Scottish audience. • The associate Hogmanay as a time that is spent with family and this is often mentioned in the text to Mrs Culfeathers who is not with her family and has been working long hours.

27. Hogmanay • They also show Popular Tradition through the women all buying drink for when they go home. • Andy “I mean this is no fur the management’s ears…….Ah’ve hid a wee drink….”

28. Hogmanay • You gradually begin to see that all the women have been giving Andy a drink just like Dolly, Margrit and Doreen. So this shows it was a popular tradition. • The audience would be able to relate to this comfort of Hogmanay.

29. It shows popular tradition and history through Margrit’s song “Isn’t it wonderful to be a woman. It shows the roles of women at this time and how they had to deal with work and family life, all without the help of their husbands. Songs

30. Songs • Dolly’s song “pals” also has this effect of popular tradition of women in there friends about there troubles. • Which many audience members can relate too. • Sung by Dolly-“when you’ve got pals You can aye have a terr If you want tae come and see me Take a dauner Doon the steamie”

31. History of the Steamie • The steamie was set on December 31st which is a good time to set it because many people will have memories of celebrating at this time and can relate to this factor.

32. There are many Gender issues in the steamie which has a lot to do with this period of time and how women were expected to do a lot of work. History of the Steamie

33. History of the Steamie • It also shows in retrospect about Drumchapel, where Doreen wants to live one day. • This place was considered to be a lovely place to live before it was built. Although we know now that it did not end up a nice place.

34. The history of the steamie themselves are important to the play. As there are non left and they have been replaced with laundrettes and washing machines. History of the Steamie