“I just want more. I want to feel something.”
Marital relationship and its complexities are the core of the first half of the play that explores two marriages. The infidelities that interlink the couples make up most of the dialogue and conflict in the narrative. Therefore the spouses air out their thoughts and reasons for their choices of adultery and opinions on marriage life. The statement uttered by Pete alludes to his sentiment regarding his choice to engage in an extramarital affair. Pete is married to Jane who is unfaithful to him with Leon while Pete engages with Sonja, Leon’s wife, but does not have a one-night stand.
“Sonja/Jane: I want to know something about the woman I’m hurting.
Leon: Let’s get something clear. / You’re not hurting her. I am.
Pete: You’re not hurting her. / I am.”
Bovell’s play focuses on marriage life and infidelity but its take is much more nuanced as he interlinks dialogues between the four characters. Through the mirror image, the spouses are intertwined into a similar fate as their conversations are for the most part emulating each other. Basically, the format alludes to how their actions affect one another because they are having the same experience and issues just in a different setting. The dialogue demonstrates how the women are concerned about the wife of their respective cheating partners. Leon and Pete take accountability for the hurt they are inflicting on their wives but do not consider that the guilt is shared by all of them.
“I wanted to know if I was still attractive.”
The deceit and betrayal in the marriages stem from a place of insecurity, jealousy, and deficiency. Each character offers their excuse or reason for why they are stepping out and engaging in extramarital affairs. Pete expresses the need to feel something as he feels marital life has made him lack certain emotions. Whereas through intertwined dialogue Sonja and Jane express the desire to feel attractive in the eyes of a stranger or rather another man. Consequently, each of the women finds this through Pete and Leon respectively, coincidentally each also being the partner of the other woman.
