Shoe Horn Sonata :: John Misto

The Shoe- Horn Sonata***The Shoe- Horn Sonata is a play by John Misto that gives an brain wave into two lives of two female POWs in WW II and is a vector of Mistos thoughts. It explores the little known and often terrible events associated with female prisoners of war. The play follows a friendship of two women through the war to a point of tension thats beyond what any normal friendship would have to deal with. Misto engages his auditory sense by using a multitude of mediums to portray his story creating a truly multimedia performance. The playwright challenges the audience to look beyond this to the underlying ideas of survival, fealty and truth.***The play opens with a scene almost as dramatic as the characters, introducing Bridie. She stands on a spotlight demonstrating the Kow Tow bow for respect in the core group of the stage then claps her hands sternly, immediately revealing the strong assertive nature of her character. The audiences become intrigued, and listen as she st raightens difficulty from the Kow Tow, showing she is firm and feisty but not young. As the On Air sign becomes telescopic the audiences realize she is being interviewed as she informs her audience she had enlisted in WW II pursuance her dads footsteps. She tells her audience that her father gave her a Shoe-horn and two pieces of advice, Dont sit on a toilet seat until you have lie it with toilet paper and Never kiss a Pommie on the lips.A marching song Fall in Brother was heard as images became visible on the screen of Women Disembarking Singapore. Misto created a dramatic atmosphere that captured the audiences attention right through the introduction.The second scene appeared to be in the motel room where Bridies Friend Sheila is introduced. This scene was in the Motel Room, which was used several times in the play being a place where private apocalypse and growing tension between Bridie and Sheila took place. Tension between the two took place immediately i n scene two as, Bridie and Sheila stop in the doorway. There is fine but obvious tension between them,Silence and body language were used by the two characters to create such tension towards the audiences as it is a emotion which no words can cater for or adequately express.