The play is a two-acter and is effectively also a two-hander. The audience does hear the voice of the third character—Rick, the television interviewer—but 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'!

Act One: Scene One
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 playwright's comment on the last slide that projects the words, 'Don't listen to rumour' - 'If only they had ...'

Student activities

1.   Make notes on the factual information Bridie reveals about the war.
2.   Make a list of words to describe first impressions of this character and include quotations from the script to support them.
3.   Make notes on the ideas or issues that are highlighted in the dramatic form of this scene.

Scene Two
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'.

Student activities

4.   Have students make notes on the factual information that the two characters reveal about the war.
5.   Have students make a list of words to describe the relationship between these two women in the present. Encourage them to consider whether the Relationship might have been different in the past.
6.   Have students make notes on the ideas or issues that are highlighted in the dramatic form of this scene.

Scene Three
This scene opens with the nostalgic sound of a 1940s song—'Something to Remember You By'—which is to take on an almost ironic meaning as the play continues and which we eventually connect with the shoe-horn. Sheila's 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 Sheila's upper-class British origins are confirmed. As Sheila recounts these events from her perspective, we see slides projected depicting the reality of the situation and hear Bridie's 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 Sheila's 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.

Student activities

7.   Make notes on the factual information that is revealed about the events of the war and the fall of Singapore.
8.   Make a list of lines which reveal the tensions in the relationship between the two women at this point. Discuss why this tension exists.
9.   Make notes on the ideas or issues that are highlighted by the dramatic form of this scene.

Scene Four
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 Larry's 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 performance—the beating of the young Bridie and Sheila's attempt to save her from it—and 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 glasses—a dramatic action that signals their reunion.

Student activities

10.   Make notes on the factual information that is revealed about the war.
11.   Explore the views that each character has disclosed in the process of recounting these past events in their lives. Identify lines that reveal these attitudes.
12.   Make notes on the ideas or issues that are highlighted by the dramatic form of this scene.

Scene Five
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 Street'—and 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 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.

Student activities

13.   Make notes on the factual information that is revealed about the war.
14.   Examine the questions that the interviewer asks and note the ways in which the two women answer them.
15.   Make notes on the ideas or issues that are highlighted by the dramatic form of this scene.

Scene Six
This scene opens in the empty hotel room. The women's 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 Japanese—but 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 reconciliation—but 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.

Student activities

16.   Make notes on the factual information that is revealed about the war.
17.   Examine the relationship between the two women as it is revealed in their actions and their dialogue.
18.   Make notes on the ideas or issues that are highlighted by the dramatic form of this scene.

Scene Seven
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 Bridie's 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 carol—ironically presented with the singing of 'O Come All ye Faithful' and 'God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen'—and the meeting with the man that Bridie was later to marry, presented against the song 'We'll Meet Again' highlight issues about camaraderie and loyalty set against the horrors of war.

Student Activities

19.   Make notes on the factual information that is revealed about the war.
20.   Examine the language of Bridie's monologue and how this reveals her attitude to the events that she is recalling and describing.
21.  Make notes on the ideas or issues that are highlighted by the dramatic form of this scene.

Scene Eight
This scene opens with the drinking of a glass of fizzing water—a 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 events and 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 role—a 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 Sheila's 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 voice-over 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'.

Student Activities

22.   Make notes on the factual information that is revealed about the war.
23.   Make notes on the events of the previous night and try to account for this behaviour.
24.   Make a list of words to describe impressions of the relationship between the two women at this point in the play.
25.   Make notes on the ideas or issues that are highlighted by the dramatic form of this scene.
26.   Discuss how the audience might respond to an interval at this point.