Act 1: Mrs Johnstone & the Pact
A Mother With Nothing Left
Act 1 opens with Mrs Johnstone already at breaking point. Her husband has left her for a younger woman. She has seven children to feed on a cleaner’s wage. The milkman, the catalogue man and the finance company are all chasing debts. When she discovers she is expecting twins, her reaction is not joy but terror: she cannot afford the children she already has.
Russell establishes Mrs Johnstone’s character through her opening song, “Marilyn Monroe.” She compares herself to the glamorous film star, remembering when her husband told her she was “sexier than Marilyn Monroe.” The song is simultaneously comic and devastating — it reveals a woman whose youthful dreams have been crushed by poverty, abandonment and relentless childbearing. The audience is positioned to feel sympathy for her from the very start. Russell does not want us to judge Mrs Johnstone — he wants us to judge the system that failed her.
“Marilyn Monroe” establishes Mrs Johnstone as a woman whose dreams have been destroyed by poverty. She was once full of hope; now she is abandoned, in debt, and facing an impossible choice. The song uses dramatic irony — the audience knows Marilyn Monroe died tragically, foreshadowing Mrs Johnstone’s own tragic fate.
Mrs Lyons: Manipulation & Desperation
Mrs Lyons is Mrs Johnstone’s employer — a wealthy, childless woman whose husband works abroad for long periods. When she learns that Mrs Johnstone is expecting twins, she seizes the opportunity. She tells Mrs Johnstone: “Give one to me.” The line is chillingly direct. Mrs Lyons does not ask; she instructs. Russell uses the imperative to reveal the power imbalance between employer and employee, between the middle class and the working class.
Mrs Lyons’s argument is calculated. She points out that Mrs Johnstone “already has seven” and that the child would have a better life with her — a big house, a good school, everything money can buy. She promises that Mrs Johnstone can still see the child every day because she works in the Lyons household. The logic seems almost reasonable, which is precisely what makes it so dangerous. Russell shows how the middle class uses rational-sounding arguments to exploit the vulnerability of the poor.
To seal the pact, Mrs Lyons makes Mrs Johnstone swear on the Bible — a symbol of absolute, unbreakable commitment. For Mrs Johnstone, who is deeply superstitious, this transforms a desperate agreement into a sacred vow. The Bible oath is the play’s catalyst — the moment that sets the entire tragedy in motion. Once the oath is sworn, there is no going back.
Mrs Lyons then invents the superstition that if the twins ever discover they are brothers, they will both die. “They say that if either twin learns that he once was a pair, they shall both immediately die.” This is a lie — Mrs Lyons fabricates it to ensure Mrs Johnstone never tells the truth. But Mrs Johnstone believes it absolutely, because her world is one where superstition fills the gap left by powerlessness. When you have no control over your life, you look for patterns — even irrational ones — to explain why bad things happen.
The Narrator’s Warning
The Narrator appears immediately after the pact is made. He warns: “Shoes upon the table / An’ a spider’s been killed.” This is the first of many foreshadowing interventions. The Narrator links the pact to a chain of superstitious omens — shoes on the table (bad luck), a broken mirror (seven years of misfortune), a magpie (sorrow). Each omen signals that disaster is coming.
The Narrator’s role here is complex. On one level, he reinforces the superstition — his ominous tone makes the audience feel that the pact truly is cursed. On another level, Russell uses the Narrator to create dramatic irony. We know the twins will die because we saw it in the opening scene. Every moment of hope or happiness that follows is undercut by our knowledge of the ending. The Narrator is not telling us the future — he is reminding us that we already know it.
Mrs Lyons uses three tactics to secure the pact: (1) she exploits Mrs Johnstone’s poverty (“you already have seven”), (2) she makes her swear on the Bible, and (3) she invents a superstition about the twins dying if they learn the truth. Each tactic reflects the middle class’s power over the working class — financial, religious, and psychological.
When the twins are born, Mrs Johnstone immediately regrets her decision. She tries to keep both babies, but Mrs Lyons takes Edward. The stage direction describes Mrs Johnstone reaching out for her child — a physical, visceral image of loss. Russell makes the audience feel the cruelty of the separation. This is not a fair exchange between equals; it is a transaction in which a desperate woman is coerced into giving up her child.
Mrs Lyons then fires Mrs Johnstone to prevent her from seeing Edward. The promise that Mrs Johnstone could “see him every day” is broken immediately. Russell shows how the powerful break promises to the powerless without consequence. Mrs Johnstone has no legal rights, no contract, no power to challenge her employer. The class system protects Mrs Lyons and punishes Mrs Johnstone.
From this point, the two boys grow up in entirely different worlds. Edward is raised in wealth, security and education. Mickey is raised in poverty, chaos and deprivation. The nature versus nurture experiment has begun — and the audience watches it unfold with the devastating knowledge of how it will end.