Act I: Page 9-14

ACT I

Stage directions

The Stage directions of Act I act as an orientation to the play, communicating to the audience the potential themes of the play. The audience is positioned quickly to view the play as being about race, of being about different attitudes to race and about the impact that this has on minority cultures.

Set

The setting is of particular importance. The audience is given visual cues before the dialogue begins. The backyard is to be designed so as to be a stereotypical migrant house depicted by the untidy backyard and the untended lawn. Making more of an impact is the contrast between the fences on either side of the lawn. The fence on the right-hand side of the stage is suggested to be 'a formidable barrier' complete with barbed wire running across the top of it. This is a hyperbolic exaggeration of realistic situations, but it gets the point across quickly: they are being kept out of the house to the right of them. The barbed wire, particularly in our modern context, may have connotations of refugee camps. On the left-hand side of the lawn stands a fence that, in contrast, is in a state of 'friendly dilapidation' meaning that it is more or less falling apart. This has connotations of barriers being broken down. The audience has been instantly made aware of a variety of attitudes towards the family who own the house.

Harmonica

The next cue that the audience receives is an audio cue, with no dialogue. Poppa Bianchi plays a traditional Italian tune, 'Santa Lucia', on his harmonica. As a fish sails over the 'formidable' fence he changes the tune to 'Waltzing Matilda'. There are two striking connotations here. Firstly, his change of tune to a stereotypically Australian tune is brought about by the aggressive discarding of fish remains. This implies that in some ways the Bianchis are being forced into assimilation. Perhaps more poignantly is the way that Poppa Bianchi is directed to play the tunes. He is not adept at playing Santa Lucia and Waltzing Matilda has 'a plaintive sadness about it; an error of adjustment' (p.8). The audience has been informed that the Bianchis do not belong firmly in either culture, a theme that will be developed throughout the play.

Ironically, the first voice that the audience hears is Leila's. Her tune has little relevance to Australian culture. The tune is American and the topic of the song is 'dreaming of a white Christmas' - an impossibility in Australia, where it is summer for Christmas. What do you thinik the impact of this is? What is Beynon implying about culture in general? Certainly, Leila, as a stereotypical Australian, has little pressure to conform to any cultural norms.

The fish

The contrast between the way that Poppa throws the fish into Leila's yard and the way the audience perceives the attitude with which the fish was thrown into Poppa's yard is important. These two actions, physically identical, are differentiated by attitude and intention. Consider how the physical sight of the formidable barrier implies a bad intention and how the 'friendly dilapidation' of the other implies a playful intention.

Pg 9 - 12 Leila and Poppa

The relationship between Leila and Poppa is informal and fun. Their relationship is perhaps best defined by the way in which Leila takes the fish as a joke and enters the yard 'by simply pushing two boards aside' (p10). This communicates an ease of interaction. Their attitudes towards racism are quickly established. Leila tells Poppa that he is 'too soft' and that if 'you keep taking it, she'll keep giving it' (p9) whereas Poppa would rather let it go as he 'don't want no trouble' (p9). This balance between confronting racism and ignoring it will become a central tension in the play.

It is interesting that, although Leila seemingly accepts the Bianchis and knows of their family situation, she is still guilty of defining them by stereotypes. She assumes, based on the fact that the Bianchis are Italian that they will be eating spaghetti for Christmas dinner. Her response to Poppa's reply that they will have 'the biggest, fattest tremendousus turkey you ever seen' is a suitably ocker 'dinkum?' (p12). Leila is redeemed however by her capacity to learn more about the family and, probably most importantly, she is up front about her criticisms. She tells Poppa that he makes too much noise yelling at Gino (p11). This communication is starkly contrasted with the lack of communication from the hostile neighbours, where the communication is so poor that they gossip about the Bianchis at the butcher shop.

Of further importance is the relationship between Leila and her husband. We learn that she is not perfect. This is important as it demonstrates that both cultures are fallible and human.

13 -14 Gino

The way that Gino is treated by both Leila and Poppa is different. Throughout the play the audience will examine the family's attitude towards Gino. Do they treat him too much as a child as he struggles to come to terms with his identity and manhood in an intolerant society? His interactions with Leila suggest that he is indeed grown and mature as he plays and flirts with her. On the other hand, Poppa interrogates him, in some detail, about where he has been and what he has bought.