Yellow Moon: Main characters

The play's full title is Yellow Moon - The Ballad of Leila and Lee. This highlights how central Leila and Lee are to the action of the play.

Themes such as love, violence, and fantasy vs reality are explored through the characters’ relationships with each other, and other notable characters like Frank, Holly and Billy.

Lee is one of the main protagonists of the play. His journey shows his attempt to escape an unstable home life while trying to understand himself. Throughout the play, Lee struggles between fantasy and reality, and between violence and vulnerability.

Lee can be described as:

• impulsive
• vulnerable
• idealistic
• aggressive
• insecure

Impulsive

Lee often acts without thinking, which leads to serious consequences.

Early in the play he is clearly in trouble - he's been expelled from school, he steals Billy’s engagement ring, takes drugs and shoplifts, showing a pattern of reckless behaviour.

And Lee's bored.

When he finds a wee box on the mantelpiece.

A wee box with a silver ring in it.

Result.

Lee Macalinden takes Billy Logan's silver ring into town and pawns it for a couple of hundred quid. (Scene 3)

His impulsive nature is most clearly seen when he loses control in the cemetery, and stabs Billy. His violent reactions show he is driven by emotion rather than logic.

Vulnerable

Despite his tough exterior, Lee is emotionally vulnerable.

His difficult home life leaves him feeling worthless. His mother battles depression, his father is absent and his stepfather is abusive towards him. He lacks support at home and seems to have no friends. The only other relationship we hear about is with his drug dealer, Frank Harris, who "gets tired of Lee and chucks him out at eight o'clock." (Scene 3)

Lee's lack of social relationships and direction cause him to seek approval and connection elsewhere, particularly from Leila and from the idea of his father.

It is as a connection with his father that Lee holds his hat in such importance. He has worn it "since he was five years old and he never takes it off" (Scene 1). The hat has an image of a stag on it, which we later learn matches the tattoo on Frank's back. This further connects Lee with his father, possibly suggesting that his nickname and the persona he tries to project are attempts to emulate and relate to his missing dad.

While the hat seems to provide support and comfort for Lee, the potential loss of it seems to cause panic or at least to cause him to behave erratically:

• He tells Billy, after he's stabbed him, "I told you not to touch the hat." (Scene 5)
• He leaps through the flames, putting himself in danger, to get to Leila and his hat (Scene 15)

Lee's confession to his mum after killing Billy shows guilt and how he feels responsible for her:

Here's some money. Don't worry about me. Will you be OK? (Scene 6)

Despite his impulsive actions, his aggression and violence, Lee seems aware of their impact and of his mother's feelings. But his way of dealing with this is to run away rather than face things. In this way he repeats his father's behaviour.

Idealistic

Lee has an idealised image of how a man should behave. This is based on a stereotype of someone who gains value and respect through violence, crime and exploiting women. The image of a gangster or pimp seems lifted from rap culture, but a similar image of a hard man is at least partly shared with the other male characters.

Lee romanticises his father, imagining him as “the king of Glasgow” (scene 8). The postcard from Blackwaterside becomes a symbol of Lee's fantasy that his father is a "gangster" who "never got caught".

Lee imagines a life of wealth and luxury:

That's his house.

Must be about fifty rooms.

He’s got his own boat.

He’s got his own lake.

Got his own forest.

Got his own mountain. (Scene 8)

This exaggerated vision highlights how detached Lee is from reality. Even when faced with the truth, he struggles to let go of this fantasy.

Aggressive

Lee uses aggression as a way to cope with his circumstances. He talks about crime and violence as a way to gain power and respect.

However, he lacks judgement about who might be impressed. For example talking about making "big money from a life of crime" (Scene 3), to people in the queue at the chip shop shows a lack of awareness or understanding.

Aggression connects Lee’s identity to his imagined idea of what his father is like. At the end of the play, he fantasises about a violent shoot-out with the police. This shows how he uses violent fantasies to hide his feelings of being out of control and afraid.

He imagines himself as a character in a ballad or story, in a similar way to the legend he has built up his father to be. In Scene 5 he even attempts a rap about himself in which he attempts to portray himself as a figure who "drives girls mad." Rather than making him impressive, the result makes him seem immature and insecure.

The only person who seems impressed by Lee and the assertiveness he tries to project is Leila:

she notices the way he moves through the shop as though he owns the place." (Scene 4)

To others, notably Billy, it is clearer that Lee is hiding behind an image:

Billy: You think you're hard, Macalinden, but you're all front. (Scene 5)

Insecure

While Leila seems partly drawn to the persona Lee projects, she may also see and be drawn to the more uncertain Lee behind this image. She looks at his "slight smile" (Scene 4) before leaving the shop with him.

Lee’s behaviour around Leila reveals his lack of confidence. Although he tries to appear dominant, he becomes awkward and uncertain, especially in intimate situations.

you want someone better than me - you want someone who knows what to do - I don't know what to do - I don't know what you want - What do you want, silent Leila?" (Scene 13)

This shows that his tough persona is largely an act. The narratives he has built up around himself and his dad are very crucial to his sense of self, and when these are challenged, he has little to fall back on.

By the end of the play, Lee begins to recognise the gap between fantasy and reality. The stories he has told himself have all turned out to be fiction. His father is not the powerful figure he imagined, and a life of crime is not glamorous.

But he still imagines a dramatic shootout with the police, as if his story will end like an anti-hero in a ballad, or perhaps like the outlaws Bonnie and Clyde.

It is Leila's words that help him to finally let go of his fantasies. In burying Frank's heart and leaving his hat behind, Lee finally seems ready to face reality.

Lee and Leila

Leila and Lee’s relationship develops quickly after they run away together. Despite coming from different backgrounds, they share a desire to escape from their lives. Their relationship grows into emotional and physical intimacy. By supporting one another, they begin to confront their individual insecurities.

Lee and Frank

The play hints that Frank is Lee's father before the fact of their relationship is revealed;

• Frank calls Lee, "son".
• Leila notices that Frank walks through Blackwaterside "as though he owned the place." (Scene 10) just as she noticed how Lee walked through the shop in Scene 3.

Lee realises that Frank is his father in Scene 16. And in Scene 17 the parallels in their stories and behaviour become clear:

• They are linked by the image of a stag - Frank's tattoo and Lee's hat.
• Both stabbed a man and ran away to avoid the consequences.
• Both seem incapable of expressing their emotions.

Lee’s idealised view of his father contrasts with the reality of Frank, who sees himself as a failure. Although Frank cares for Lee and feels guilt about his failings as a parent, he struggles to express his emotions. Their inability to communicate leads to conflict and tragedy.

Lee and Billy

Lee and Billy have a very hostile relationship. Although Billy has taken on some responsibility for Lee, it is only out of his feelings for Jenni, Lee's mother:

I don't care about you or about your worthless life but your mother does and I love your mother." (Scene 1).

Billy is verbally and physically abusive to Lee. The two cannot talk except by arguing and they express themselves through confrontation and violence. Their conflict in the cemetery quickly escalates, and Lee kills Billy, ultimately forcing Lee to run away.

Leila is the other central protagonist of Yellow Moon. She comes from a high-achieving family and struggles with her self-worth, the pressure to succeed and her desire to escape reality. Leila can be described as:

• insecure

• escapist

• silent

• vulnerable

• supportive

Insecure

Leila is expected to succeed academically. It seems like the story of her life has already been decided:

One day she will go to Aberdeen University to study English and she will most likely get a first because Leila Suleiman is a good girl.” (Scene 2)

Leila feels pressured and the expectations projected onto her contribute to her self-doubt and low self-esteem.

She seems to feel invisible and detached from her own existence:

This hand doesn't belong to me.

This arm doesn't belong to me.

I'm not here. (Scene 2)

And she judges herself badly, referring to her "stupid ugly body self sitting there stupid and ugly" (Scene 2)

There is a hint from the description of her bedroom that she clings to elements of her past, as if they comfort her or stop her from having to face growing up.

A ceramic statuette of a wild horse galloping across a prairie, a postcard of the Great Mosque in Damascus and a selection of comical pictures of kittens." (Scene 2)

The horse poster suggests a cliched image of freedom, the mosque is a reminder of a moment of transcendence, when she feels she met God, while the kittens seem like cute images a much younger child would enjoy.

Leila seems unable to deal with her real life and emotions, and seeks escape through the comfort of the past, or through an imagined world of celebrity.

Escapist / Imaginative

Leila often tries to escape from reality. She reads celebrity magazines and longs for the lifestyle they show:

she lives in a blurry universe of beaches and red carpets and handbag shops on Rodeo Drive and stables in Hampshire." (Scene 4)

Her self-harm seems part of the same longing to feel something and be someone other than herself:

She feels like she's real like she's in a story. Like she's real like there's someone somewhere who wants to take a picture of her without her permission." (Scene 4)

The contraction between "real" and "story" reflect her confused sense of what she wants from life. While Lee tries to match an idealised image of aggressive masculinity, Leila is drawn to an ideal of women who are images to be photographed and looked at.

Running away with Lee is another form of escape from who she is expected to be:

Leila Suleiman doesn’t do that sort of thing.” (Scene Four)

Again, Leila seems unable to value real life, seeking some sort of importance from being a character who is seen, rather than a person with her own genuine feelings:

when I'm with you I feel like I'm real and I'm in a story and people are imagining me and wondering what I think" (Scene 8)

Her imagination also helps her make sense of Lee’s fantasies about his father and their own future.

Silent

For much of the play, Leila chooses not to speak, believing that people “hear what they want to hear, it doesn’t matter what you say.” (Scene Eight). This silence protects her and reflects her feeling of being invisible.

Vulnerable

Leila’s vulnerability is shown through her self-harm and her nervousness in unfamiliar situations. Her first spoken words to Lee ("Take of your clothes.", Scene 13) mark a moment of confidence, while revealing her past pain through visible scars.

Supportive

As her relationship with Lee develops, Leila becomes a strong source of support for him. She recognises he is vulnerable and reassures him that he is a good person. She encourages him to face the consequences of his actions and promises to stand by him:

One day, a day that seems a million miles away now, but one day, a day that will come, Lee, one day you'll come out and I'll be standing outside the prison gates waiting for you." (Scene 20)

Over the course of the play, Leila moves from a silent observer to an active participant in her own life. By supporting Lee and facing dangerous situations, she gains confidence and emotional strength.

Leila takes on work on the estate and surprises herself with her abilities. This is far from the image of celebrity she has previously craved. At the same time, she helps Lee confronts reality and ensures that the truth about events is understood.

By the end of the play, there is a sense that Leila still pictures herself as having a happy ending, like something from a story:

“…I’ll have bought Frank’s cottage with the money from my books and you’ll be the keeper and Holly Malone will own the big house and we’ll all be one big happy family.” (Scene 20)

This image may still seem unrealistic, but it is not just the idea of success her parents expect of her, the image of celebrity from magazines, or the rich gangster ideal that Lee was looking for. This is Leila's own idea of how she wants her story to turn out.

Leila and Lee

From Leila's perspective, her relationship with Lee starts as a rebellion from the restrictive expectations of her home life.

When Lee invites her to the cemetery to drink with him, she thinks "Leila Suleiman doesn't do that sort of thing" (Scene 4), but eventually goes with him.

Three times in the play (scenes four, seven and twenty), Lee asks her, "are you coming or are you coming?", at pivotal moments and she follows him on each occasion:

• to the cemetery
• on the train to Inverness
• out of the cave to face the police at the end of the play.

By the final time, she is not hesitating or thinking about expectations upon her - she is committed to Lee and supports him.

Interestingly, Lee asks Frank in Scene 8 "are you coming or are you coming?" and when Frank doesn't respond Lee admonishes him and storms out.

Leila's strength of feeling towards Lee is shown by the fact that he is the only person she actually speaks to. She risks her life jumping through the fire to save Lee's hat. This incident shows her taking the lead in their relationship. Rather than Lee asking her to follow, Leila acts first and Lee then joins her.

When they become intimate, Leila takes change of the situation, helping Lee cope with his feelings of insecurity and inexperience.

And at the end of the play, Leila talks Lee down, explaining Frank's emotions so that Lee can better understand him, and comforting Lee that he still has a choice, and that they can have a future together.

Leila and Holly

Leila initially perceives Holly as glamorous and desirable. Meeting Holly, however, reveals that her life is not as perfect as it seems. She experiences similar feelings of detachment to Leila:

I can’t feel my feet.

I can’t feel my fingers.

I can’t feel anything.

Both young women self-harm and struggle with their self-worth, and Holly actually envies Leila. Their relationship highlights the contrast between appearance and reality. Holly compares life to a “reality show” and frames dangerous situations such as the car chase as a game or challenge.

Information and support

If you, or someone you know, have been affected by the issues in this article, the following page contains a list of organisations and information for young people that may be helpful: Information and Support: Bitesize