What is the purpose of Margaret?

[Deanfan5]

I began this somewhat philosophical debate with several Forum members on Tuesday night and would welcome further comment as our discussion ended somewhat inconclusively.
No I am not talking about Mrs T but Margaret the girl who at the opening scene stands slightly off centre stage with a rather vacuous facial expression twiddling her hair only to be ordered abruptly to the side by one of the women. I have always found this to be a rather strange piece of scene setting with little relevance and wonder what audiences make of it. Does it happen in New York and Chicago and Korea? Did it happen in Australia or is Margaret peculiar to London? Therefore please help me understand the relevance of Margaret before I completely lose my marbles

[burtond]

There's absolutely no point in Margaret. I say lets start a campaigne to get her removed


No seriously deanfan5 - does there have to be a purpose? I can think of many scenes throughout the show where you could ask the same sort of queston.

BTW, there could soon be a deanfan6 and deanfan7 you know. Do you know who is deanfan1?

[ERinVA]

I think Margaret is there to create a "family moment." There are a couple more of these in the show as well, such as the scab coming in and ordering Kevin to leave ("I told you not to come here!"), and the bit (at least in the US production) where Leslie comes and picks up the small boy to keep him from dropping any more coins in Jackie's helmet. The point is that the other children in the show besides Billy, Michael and Debbie, all belong to the men and women you see onstage throughout the show.