Anatomy of a Suicide: Part 2

Lesson: 2nd October 2017

The focus of this lesson was around Anatomy of a Suicide where we explored the staging and line use of the play, without picking the play up.

We were split into groups in order to create three freeze frames that summed up the three titles: "Worst Break Up Ever", "Worst Home Coming Ever", and "Best Ever Night Out". After making them, we gave a time frame to each of them; Era of the Cavemen, 1950s, and 1980s respectively. This can be equated to Anatomy of a Suicide because the play takes place over three generations, and by using a time era it allows the audience to gauge what the stereotypes are that are associated with that era. For example in the 1950s, women were lesser in social standing than men and took care of their child and the home - much like the stereotypes of a mother I talked about in the previous blog on this play. By placing a time stamp on a piece, it also allows the actors themselves to act as though they are from that period in time, enhancing the audience's understanding even more.

We then used one of the freeze frames to create a scene based around the time period and frame made; myself and Joel chose the "Worst Home Coming Ever" because it was the freeze frame that we most understood what the meaning behind it was. We started with the freeze frame so that we could have the scene immediately follow it; the scene centered around a husband coming home and finding out that his wife has been cheating on him with another man. As this scene was based in the 1950s, we used sentences such as "I expect the dishes to be clean when I get home" from the husband (played by Joel). This would allow the audience to gain a clear picture of when this scene is set due to the derogatory/stereotypical language towards the woman. In order to show that the husband has control of the situation, the husband was stood up and I (as the wife) was sat down. This use of proxemics allowed the audience to see that the wife was lower in social standing - this understanding was enhanced by my head being lowered and refusing to look up at Joel, even though he was speaking to me. During this scene, I only said the line "I'm sorry" which showed how little input the wife has into their relationship due to the stereotypes at the time we set the scene. After this, Joel 'grabbed' underneath my chin, forcing me to look at him - this enforced the idea that the husband had the control and that the wife was afraid of him.

After this, we were told to reduce the amount of speech to four sentences and, additionally, to include the phrases "I'm sorry" and "You look radiant". These two phrases are used often in Anatomy of a Suicide. The following sentences are what we used during the performance (and are in the order that we used them:

"I expect dinner to be laid out for me when I get home." - Husband
This shows what a husband would expect from his wife during the 1950s (stereotypically) and would immediately set the scene. It also allows the audience to see who holds the power within the scene and judge power dynamics.

"Plates clean in the kitchen, pudding waiting for me in the oven." - Husband
Again, showing that the husband has control and shows expectations of what a wife should be. It also suggests that the husband feels victimised and at this point, the audience may be against what the husband is saying due to their modern day opinions on how a wife should behave as what the husband is saying is quite an archaic opinion.

"Not another man in my own home." - Husband
This would change the audience's perception on the husband and wife as the wife has been outed as a cheater which would make the husband's expectations of the wife slightly less shocking. It also makes the scene make sense to the audience making it the moment of orientation - another challenge that we had to include.

"I'm sorry." - Wife
This shows that the wife was accepting of her mistakes and also allowed her to seem nervous, making the audience see that there was something wrong within the marriage between the husband and the wife. This is further enhanced by this being the wife's only sentence as the wife is seen as having less of an impact within the relationship due to the time period at which we set it.

"You look radiant." - Husband
At this point, Joel 'grabbed' underneath my chin which juxtaposed the line because the line was positive. We decided to do this because it shows that the wife has no control over the situation so it was 'stupid' for her to attempt to leave the relationship. It also shows that the relationship is unhealthy which would allow the audience to feel sympathy for the wife. Additionally, Joel said the line in a menacing tone which again juxtaposed the positive line.

Next, we were told that anywhere within the scene there should be a pause of dialogue but not of action. This relates to Anatomy of a Suicide because there are often pauses between lines due to other lines being said in other scenes happening on stage. I thought that this part of the task was fairly easy because it allowed for tension to build up within the scene and could show the differing emotions of the characters. However, in practise, this was fairly hard because without the ability to speak the scenes turned more into pauses of action and dialogue rather than just dialogue itself which is not what happens in Anatomy of a Suicide as action continues on stage for all characters in all scenes.

After this, we were put with another group so that we could combine our two pieces, much like how the second section of Anatomy of a Suicide plays out, with the stories of Carol and Anna happening simultaneously. This proved to be quite a challenge because we had to figure out where to put the pauses without either scene pausing for too long and turning into a freeze frame. In addition to this, the lines "You look radiant" and "I'm sorry" had to be said at the same time. As these lines were in separate sections for each of our groups, the other group changed their sentence order which changed the tone of their scene. Moreover, their scene was very similar to our own which brought up the issue of whether men having control over women is something that transcends throughout the ages and has no time period. During both of our scenes, the husband grabs the wife underneath the chin; we decided to do this at the same time so that the emphasis of the abuse is present. However, this wasn't as effective as it could have been, because both husbands were quite rapid with the grab which made it seem to the audience as though they were watching the same scene, just one had a child in it.

Next, another group was added to our two groups in order to create three scenes that would happen simultaneously on stage. This is how the majority of Anatomy of a Suicide is performed as three women's stories - Carol, Anna, and Bonnie - are told on stage at the same time. Again, we had to say the lines "You look radiant" and "I'm sorry" at the same time. In my opinion, it was harder to combine three scenes over two because there were more lines to combine and it was also harder to say the lines at the same time. The video below shows our final three way scene performance:




There were many positives within this performance which enhanced the overall effect of it. For example, we all kept within our areas of light which allowed facial expressions to be seen more clearly. The light, in my opinion, suggested an innocence and naivety that some of the characters had, such as my character (who was naïve for thinking that her husband wouldn't find out that she's cheated), Lauren's character (who was oblivious to the situation between her parents until it was presented before her), Bella's character (who was naïve in the respect that her husband would forgive her for not making dinner), and Kathryn's character (who was naïve towards the situation that Izzy's character was in). In addition to this, the characters who were supposed to say "I'm sorry" all did so at the same time which allowed the line to be more punctuated and more effective to hear for the audience; it also meant that we successfully met the criteria in that respect. Additionally, we all kept moving during our dialogue pauses and all had four sentences or less for our scenes, again meeting the criteria given for this section.

Moreover there were additional positives in mine and Joel's scene. For example at around the 0.40 mark on the video, Joel's grab of my neck is captured. Compared with the rapid movement that we used during rehearsals, this movement was slower and more calculated which made Joel's character more menacing and as though he knew more of what he was doing to hurt his wife than the other group he did a similar scene to ours. Throughout the piece, I kept my head down and kept my body small and tucked in to show that my character was ashamed of what she had done and would also be frightened of her husband. When I said the line "I'm sorry" , I was quite quiet compared to the rest of the characters who said this line at the same time to show that my character was scared of Joel's character. I only looked up at Joel when he grabbed me which showed that the wife was not on the same level as the husband; even then I diverted my eyes because it showed that the wife can't look at him due to her innate fear of her husband as to what he's going to do to her. after the grab, I held my neck (which unfortunately cannot be seen on the video) and rubbed it slightly to show how much it physically (and somewhat mentally) affected the wife and also suggested that the abuse had happened before.

However, there were some negative sections of the piece. For example from around the 0.22 mark to the 0.32 mark I didn't seem to be moving as much as the other people in different scenes. This may be due to my role as a scared wife. In the future, especially during the rehearsal process and performance of Anatomy of a Suicide, I will attempt to make my movement more obvious so that it doesn't look like a freeze frame. For example, I could have wrung my hands more excessively to show my nervous state, or breathed slightly harder so that it would be visible to the audience to show that the wife is extremely nervous but does not want to show anymore weaknesses towards her husband. As a whole, we didn't say the line "You look radiant" at the same time as only Joel said the line. This prevented the line from becoming effective as it wasn't as pronounced as other lines within the piece, such as "I'm sorry". In order for this section to improve, we could have done with more rehearsal time and better communication as to when the line should be said. Although, as Joel was the only character to say the line, this made our scene fit the specification the most.

Overall, we could have probably done with more rehearsal time of the three way scene so that we can get simultaneous lines perfect and accurate. We will try and say lines that need to be said simultaneously at the same time during Anatomy of a Suicide because we will have had more rehearsal time to get this accurate.