When is a game a game?
After numerous discussions about who’s playing a game in the 2nd half of Act there were some hard conclusions made which increased the scenes power.
Essentially McQueen is playing his own game. Ensuring that Hanson doesn’t want to kill him and at the same time making Hanson realise that Shelly is desperately unhappy and unstable. Shelly does think that McQueen treats her in a special way and she thinks that McQueen does feel like she is treated differently to all his other clients.
The way the scene develops is that we want Shelly to be all confident when she first comes in and is in control. She is dominant from the start, throwing her coat across the room to McQueen, kicking the door shut and then moving on stage to a position where she is on display and physically demanding that McQueen kisses her. She then plays with him teasing him at this point. McQueen is completely himself (or presenting himself as Shelly normally sees him) and laughs off his bruised and bloodied face as being jumped on by a jealous husband.
As the scene develops McQueen slowly ensures that whilst Shelly still thinks they are playing a game, McQueen gets all the information out of her to ensure Hanson knows exactly what she is like. But she does start to grow suspicious later on in the scene, as McQueen keeps looking towards the wardrobe.
We see the desperate side of Shelly when McQueen throws the money at her and at that point she starts to almost follow him round the room, clinging onto the hopes that they will run away together to some fantastical beach-side island.
This to Shelly is her fantasy she has stopped living in reality and clings onto the desperate hope that her life will change into her fantasy.
McQueen becomes colder and colder. Max spending a lot of the 2nd half of the scene looking away from her. As she clings to him and almost begs him not to leave her and the fantasy she had created.
He drives her to the point of despair as he tells her it’s not going to work and her only option is to pull the gun out. McQueen realising that his last option is to call on Hanson to come out of the wardrobe and have it out with his wife.
Essentially McQueen is playing his own game. Ensuring that Hanson doesn’t want to kill him and at the same time making Hanson realise that Shelly is desperately unhappy and unstable. Shelly does think that McQueen treats her in a special way and she thinks that McQueen does feel like she is treated differently to all his other clients.
The way the scene develops is that we want Shelly to be all confident when she first comes in and is in control. She is dominant from the start, throwing her coat across the room to McQueen, kicking the door shut and then moving on stage to a position where she is on display and physically demanding that McQueen kisses her. She then plays with him teasing him at this point. McQueen is completely himself (or presenting himself as Shelly normally sees him) and laughs off his bruised and bloodied face as being jumped on by a jealous husband.
As the scene develops McQueen slowly ensures that whilst Shelly still thinks they are playing a game, McQueen gets all the information out of her to ensure Hanson knows exactly what she is like. But she does start to grow suspicious later on in the scene, as McQueen keeps looking towards the wardrobe.
We see the desperate side of Shelly when McQueen throws the money at her and at that point she starts to almost follow him round the room, clinging onto the hopes that they will run away together to some fantastical beach-side island.
This to Shelly is her fantasy she has stopped living in reality and clings onto the desperate hope that her life will change into her fantasy.
McQueen becomes colder and colder. Max spending a lot of the 2nd half of the scene looking away from her. As she clings to him and almost begs him not to leave her and the fantasy she had created.
He drives her to the point of despair as he tells her it’s not going to work and her only option is to pull the gun out. McQueen realising that his last option is to call on Hanson to come out of the wardrobe and have it out with his wife.
posted by Mark Bullock at 1:36 PM
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