Summary
Mickey returns home and introduces Eddie to Mrs. Johnstone. He says Eddie is his blood brother and new best friend. This upsets Mrs. Johnstone who tells Eddie to go home. Mickey goes inside while Mrs. Johnstone asks Eddie if his mother knows he is here. He says that she does not. She says that he is not to ever return to their house under any circumstances.
Eddie goes home and his father briefly reads him a story before returning to work. Suddenly, the doorbell rings and Mickey is standing on the Lyons' porch. Eddie introduces Mickey to Mrs. Lyons and she responds by hurrying him out of the house. Eddie is upset by her rude behavior. She tells him he is not allowed to play with Mickey anymore and that he is forbidden from playing where Mickey lives. He gets angry with her and she slaps him. Immediately remorseful, she holds him and apologizes for her actions.
In the next scene, all of the neighborhood children gather together to sing "Kids Game." In the song they describe how they play various games in which they pretend to die. They sing about falling down, counting to ten, and then springing back up, miming violence that has no permanent side effects. They do impersonations of various characters, including scientists and mobsters, and then sing that "the whole thing's just a game."
The kids begin to make fun of Mickey before his friend Linda defends him. She threatens to tell some adults that Sammy has been stealing money. The children are then led off by Sammy, who says he doesn't want to play with "kids" anyway. She comforts Mickey after he gets upset. Mickey then reveals that he stole Sammy's air pistol, which makes Linda laugh. He suggests that they go play with Eddie. The two of them head out to Eddie's neighborhood.
They find Eddie. He is initially hesitant to come out and play, but is convinced by Mickey. Mickey introduces him to Linda. The three of them joke around together. Mrs. Lyons comes outside looking for Eddie and cannot find him. The narrator sings a reprise of "Shoes Upon the Table." Mrs. Lyons becomes extremely agitated and calls Mr. Lyons. He says Eddie is probably just out playing with his friends. She says that they need to move, as she fears something truly terrible will happen if they don't.
The kids fire off the toy gun for a while before starting to throw stones at a window. They are stopped by a policeman who threatens to bring them in for vandalism. Eddie jokes with the policeman before quickly realizing he is not amused. They quickly run away. Later the policeman stands at Mrs. Johnstone's doorstep and tells her that he better not have any more trouble with Mickey, as his brother Sammy has already had a number of run-ins with the law.
Mrs. Johnstone begins singing "Bright New Day," a hopeful song about moving away and starting over. The policeman then shows up at Mrs. Lyons' house and speaks with her in a much more friendly and warm manner. He leaves and the Lyons discuss the possibility of moving. Eddie says he wants to stay and does not want to be away from Mickey. They insist that things will be better but Eddie gets upset. Eddie leaves and goes to the Johnstones' house. He tells Mrs. Johnstone that they are moving away. She gives him a locket with a picture of herself and Mickey in it, saying it can be a memento, but he has to keep it a secret.
Analysis
The song "Kids Game" uses children's singing to unnervingly frame acts of violence. The drums and electric guitar create a jagged rhythm that the various leads play off of. Their voices, in contrast to those of the main characters, are harsh and somewhat unpleasant. The mood of the music here is anxious and uncomfortable, setting up Mickey's discomfort with being mocked and insulted. The unsettling quality of this song suggests that while these "games" may be acts of make-believe now, they will eventually take on more serious consequences. For this reason, the song lacks the more innocent quality usually associated with children's voices.
Similarly, the reprise of the song, "Shoes Upon the Table," reminds the audience of the role of fate in the musical. As the narrator reiterates that "the devil's got your number," he shows that both Mrs. Lyons and Mrs. Johnstone are afraid of what will befall their sons. Despite the mothers' best efforts to keep them apart, the boys seem continually drawn together. The reappearance of this lyric and motif keeps the audience aware of the fact that the boys will eventually meet a tragic end. The music creates an atmosphere of tension and dread, as they seem constantly pursued by superstition and bad luck.
Family is also an important aspect of this section of the musical. Both Mrs. Lyons and Mrs. Johnstone struggle with the love that they feel for Eddie. In Mrs. Lyons, this manifests as controlling behavior. She worries about him playing outside and slaps him when he disobeys. She has the overwhelming feeling that, despite raising him, he will never truly belong to her. Mrs. Johnstone has a similar feeling, which pushes her to give him a locket with a picture on the inside of herself and Mickey as a baby (though it is implied it may be her and Eddie). For both characters, the bond they feel with Eddie is overwhelming and undeniable, but they also both sense that they are missing something essential. Mrs. Lyons worries that their lack of biological relation keeps him at a perpetual distance, while Mrs. Johnstone aches to be closer to him, and for him to know that she is his mother.
Class is another important theme in this part of the musical. Early on, Mrs. Lyons makes a comment to Eddie, instructing him not to play with Mickey in the area where he lives. She not-so-subtly states that the children from the more economically depressed neighborhood should be avoided. Later, the audience watches as the local policeman is harsh with Mrs. Johnstone about Mickey but very friendly to Mrs. Lyons about Eddie, despite them both having committed the same acts of vandalism. These moments highlight the rampant classism in English society. In the first, Mrs. Lyons casually insults people like Mickey and Mrs. Johnstone, despite having contributed to their difficult lot in life.
This part of the play shows Eddie and Mickey becoming closer friends, while hinting at the causes for their eventual deaths. It also shows them resisting their mothers' efforts to keep them apart. While they are happy for a short time, the divide in their social statuses as well as the lingering threat of everyday violence show that clear problems await them down the road. Whether it is their familial relation, or the strength of their friendship, the boys seem determined to remain together, unaware of the eventual cost of this choice.
