"Ellen Schoeters is a member of Actorama + where actors can upload a monologue or scene performance for peer review. What do you think of Ellen Schoeters's performance?"
(0 votes)
| Character | Mrs Betts | |
|---|---|---|
| Gender | Female | |
| Age Range(s) | Senior (>50) | |
| Type of monologue / Character is | In love, Persuasive, Depressed, Lamenting, Reminiscing life story/Telling a story | |
| Type | Dramatic | |
| Year | 1920 | |
| Period | 20th Century | |
| Genre | Family, Drama | |
| Description | Mrs. Betts remembers her husband | |
| Location | One ACT play, page 16 | |
Summary
James and John is a one act family drama set in a suburb of London. In this scene we have Jamie and John Betts, two brothers, and Mrs Betts, their mother. Jamie and John are playing gammon while their mother is sitting on a chair, reading a novel and knitting. We soon learn that they are waiting for the arrival of Mr. Betts, their father. Apparently Jamie has a grudge against him, he claims that he has ruined his life. This is because Mr. Betts, years before, had robbed the bank where he worked of a lot of money to support his hooker addiction. The same bank where Jamie now works. John and Mrs Betts have forgiven him.
In this monologue Mrs. Betts expresses her frustrations about trying to undestand what drove her husband to do what he did and remembers the night he came back home and told her what he had done at the bank.
In this monologue Mrs. Betts expresses her frustrations about trying to undestand what drove her husband to do what he did and remembers the night he came back home and told her what he had done at the bank.
Written by Administrator
| Excerpt |
|---|
| MRS. BETTS He was always and kind man . . . always . . . I don't understand - I never shall understand what made him do . . . do . . . what he did . . . . He . . . he used to be so fond of children . . . You don't think hardly of him John?. . . [JOHN Not - not for a long time now, mother.] MRS BETTS I never shall understand what made him do . . . because - because he - he never really turned from me . . . I should have known if - if he had done that . . . . Do you understand, John? [JOHN I am trying, mother ---] MRS BETTS He was sometimes impatient with me . . . and . . . and I was a foolish woman . . . Such a clever man he was. . . But he never turned from me. . . [JOHN No ---] MRS BETTS I remember now . . . often . . . when he told me. . . . How kind he was . . . and gentle. . . . He had been ill and worried for a long time, and then one day he came home and sat without a word all through the evening. . . . It was raining then. . . . About ten o'clock . . . [JOHN is sitting with his head in his hands on the sofa between the fire and the window] about ten o'clock . . . he came and kissed me, and told me to go to bed. Then he went out. . . . I don't know where he went, but he came back wet to the bone, covered with mud, and his coat was all torn. . . . I was awake when he came back, but he spoke no word to me. . . . He came to bed and lay trembling and cold. . . . I took his hand. . . . He shook and he was very cold. . . . He -- he turned to me like a child and sobbed, sobbed. . . . Then, dear, he told me what he had done. . . . He told me that . . . that he had tried -- tried to do away with himself . . . and -- and could not. . . . He never asked me to forgive him. . . . He told me how the directors had asked him to go away to avoid prosecution. . . . He said that he must bear his punishment. . . . He is not a bad man, John. . . . Men and women are such strange creatures . . . there is never any knowing what they will do . . . |
