Anatomy of a Suicide: Part 1

Lesson: 28th September 2017

The main premise of this session was to explore the themes surrounding Anatomy of a Suicide by Alice Birch. The play investigates the suicide of a mother (and grandmother) and the impacts that that has on her child (and grandchild) as the play progresses throughout the ages, from the 1970's, 1990's, and in the future in 2033. The stories are told simultaneously and lines cross over each other into each of the different scenes being shown on stage. It investigates what it means to be a mother, which is what we focused on during this lesson.

At the beginning of the session we thought about this statement of what it means to be a mother. we came up with the stereotypical things that are included as "womanly" things to do such as cooking and cleaning which tie into being a mother. We then organised them into the Venn diagram shown, into the sections "emotional", "domestic", and "social" which were all, in my opinion, very stereotypical.

One quality/characteristic that fit into all three categories was "Role model" as seen in the centre of the diagram. A mother has to be a role model towards their child so that their child can grow up as socially acceptable  and also teach them about how to act and what to think in a rapidly evolving world. In addition to this, they have to be an emotional role model in the hope that their child will give the same love and care that the mother did to a child of their own.

Another quality/characteristic that was suggested was that a mother has unswerving love which is where a mother will love their child no matter what they do, even if they don't agree with it, the mother would probably still defend their child in public. This could also link to how a mother is supposed to protect their child from anything that could send them harm, in society or emotionally.

Another quality/characteristic that a mother is said to have is that they are not as violent as the father, as they should cater for the child's emotional needs rather than the father. Mother's are often the ones who don't condone violence whereas the father would probably say that some violence is okay which shows an emotional balance of roles between the mother and the father.

A final quality/characteristic that was suggested was that mothers are stereotypically family oriented and that traditionally, mothers would solely look after their children and clean the house. Mothers, again, would cater for the emotional side of the family rather than the upkeep of the family, stereotypically, at least, because this is becoming more and more outdated as society progresses and mothers begin to branch out more.

We then began to talk about if the mother was absent from the family relationship or the family relationship had been split up from a separation either by the mother herself, or via a divorce. the impact of a divorce can be emotionally scarring for any and all children involved, especially as they become more aware of the people and situations around them. The family balance may also be upset if there is a break in the family.

In relation to Anatomy of a Suicide we thought about what would happen if the mother was removed from the family but by suicide and the repercussions that may have on the children and also the husband if she has one. We said that if a child was young when the mother commits suicide
then they probably wouldn't have any memories of her so wouldn't have had as much emotional support as they should have done, the responsibility then falling to the father, who stereotypically wouldn't be as emotionally inclined as the mother. This could cause some problems to the child as they grow up because they wouldn't have had a mother to support them emotionally, domestically, and socially as shown in the Venn diagram above. If a child was older, at around 16, they may feel more emotions because they would have suffered a heavier loss as they actually knew their mother. There also may be some doubt and anger at themselves because as an older person, you should realise when people are hurting and if they can't see that in their mother and she does commit suicide then this is going to weigh heavily on their mind for the rest of their life. They could also understand the feelings of suicide.

We also investigated the thoughts of society after the suicide and even years later. Society could become angry at the mother's selfish actions at the choice to abandon her children, especially if they're young as they will grow up without a mother's influence. At this time, other women such as close friends or family become much more important because they will become the mother type figure towards the children left behind.

In order to show the impact a mother has on the family and her children we created the freeze frames below:




The first freeze frame that we created was to show that a mother is a role model. In the freeze frame, we used dance to show how a mother would teach her children. We used different levels to show the ages of the children and as the line goes down, the ability to dance is reduced but the mother still seems to be caring for them. in the transition between this freeze frame and the next one, all the girls within the piece became the mother and Joel became a chid of our own. We wanted to show the impact of the absence of the mother so when Joel attempts to grab Kathryn's hand for comfort she ignores him and grabs my hand instead (and then I grab Leah's hand who grabs Bella's). This was to show that mothers will still bond together even if they aren't there to physically help their child.



The second freeze frame showed Joel, the collective child, throwing up. Initially we comforted Joel but when we wanted to make it look as though the mother was absent from the situation. We only put our hands on Joel's back for a second before turning away which symbolised how isolated a child could become after their mother has gone. It also showed how vulnerable a child could become. During the transition from this freeze frame to the third freeze frame, we pushed Joel to the floor which symbolised the hurt that he was feeling towards the death of his mother. We wanted to show that a mother has unswerving love as a mother could get angry if their child is sick on something important but they will still comfort their child.



The third freeze frame shows the way a mother would react to violence. Initially we had Joel and Leah in a fight with myself, Kathryn, and Bella as the mother trying to break it up as mothers are stereotypically not a fan of violence. Leah positioned herself over Joel to show how much more emotionally weaker a child would be without their mother. This also showed how a child could feel angry at themselves if their mother has committed suicide, especially if the child is older and more aware. In order to add to this aspect of our piece, myself, Bella, and Kathryn all 'pinned' Joel to the ground whilst Leah had 'hit' him which symbolised again, how a child could pin their anger on themselves. At this point, I didn't get round to Joel's arm quick enough which made my own performance within the piece look messier and as though I didn't know what I was doing. In the future, I'll be sure to move quicker in order to get to my position within the freeze frame. During the transition of this freeze frame into the last one, Leah extends her hand to Joel and then lets go which showed that the mother still wants to be there for her child even though she has slipped away from him. After Leah lets go, Joel slightly falls back which leads to the rest of us to pick him up; this shows how important other female members of the family or close female friends are when a tragedy like this happens, to take care of the children.



The final freeze frame initially showed how a mother is family orientated. At first Leah had her arms around all four of us and we were all tight together which showed how tight a family we were, supported emotionally and physically by the mother. But when the mother is removed as shown in the freeze frame, the children seem more isolated even though they're all crouched together in a similar way to the way they were when the mother was there to aid them. The mother is standing far behind her children in this freeze frame to show that she is separated from the family due to her 'selfish' choice to take her own life. I thought it could also show that the mother still looks on after her children even in death, which would fit in with the stereotypes that a mother has unswerving love (even in death).

The lighting and music also helped us to tell the story of the mother. The lighting, as shown in the image, was a bright white spotlight and in the background had a red light. The white light, I thought, showed how innocent the children were initially to their mothers pains before she committed suicide. The red light, however, suggested to me that the children's innocence has been tainted by their mother's selfishness; it could also give hints if the mother lost blood during her death. The music was sad in nature which affected me emotionally because it made the performance seem more real and as though the mother had actually died.