Main Characters
Character who bangs on Marie's door in Act 1
Deirdre
Scene 4: The truth is revealed
Marie discovers (or rather, she finally admits to herself) that Michael cheated on her with Cassie, and had another daughter - Deirdre - with someone else
Had an affair with Cassie
Michael
"Your daddy was a good man and a brave man."
Marie about Michael
Country and city
Northern Ireland, Belfast
One's husband is dead; the other's is in a prison cell
Marie and Cassie
Scene 1: reactions to the newcomer
Marie: kind, welcoming.
Cassie: suspicious, affronted.
Nora: intrigued, but ultimately has her own concerns.
Cassie is disgusted by him
Her husband Joe
"You're a mug."
Cassie to Marie about her behaviour towards Deirdre
Main theme of the play regarding the religious and political background
Conflict
Tells concerning anecdotes about the soldiers and violence
Nora
Scene 2: the climax
Cassie attacks Deirdre for mentioning seeing her "with a man"
He wasn't good at "keeping his belt buckle fastened."
Cassie's brother (and Nora's son) Martin
"a wee bit of hard truth"
Deirdre or the knife
The "destroyer of dreams"
Deirdre
How Cassie has £200
Been stealing little bits of money for months from Nora who sends her to buy fruit every week for the family in prison
Scene 3: the irony of what Marie asks Cassie
"Have you been seeing someone?"
On one hand a loving father; on the other an abusive husband
Nora's husband, Sean
"so it goes on and so it goes on and so it always will go on, till we learn some way to change."
Marie at the end of the play, about dreams and deluding yourself
Marie and her attitude towards Michael
Truth/self-delusion
The "Bold Girls" and how they are "bold"
Marie: tries to live a happy life in spite of her pain
Nora: stood up to soldiers and dealt with an abusive husband
Cassie: not afraid of saying what she thinks
Deirdre: demanding answers from Marie and doing what she needs to survive
Scene 2: what it begins with
A minute's silence in the club
A bet was made between two men about "a dog that never was"
Michael (Marie's husband) and Sean (Nora's husband)
"A part-time job licking envelopes for a wage that wouldn’t ... "
"keep a budgie."
Held on to at the beginning; shattered by the end
Dreams