During these three lessons, we worked on the second scene with Bonnie and Jo and on combining the other two scenes (of Anna and Carol) that happen at the same time as this scene.
Before this we consolidated our learning by creating freeze frames that summed up Carol and John's relationship. One was done in the style of Brecht and the other in the style of Stanislavski. I found the Stanislavski freeze frame harder to create because of the lack of surrealism that could be brought to the freeze frame. However, in some ways, the use of given circumstances (another Stanislavski method) made it easier to evaluate Carol and John's relationship. This was helped by the creation of the given circumstance timelines that I made, as shown on my previous Anatomy of a Suicide blog. I found the Brecht freeze frame easier to create because we could present parts, archetypes, such as emotions rather than having to be a character within the piece which allowed for use of all the actors and to have each of them have some form of symbolism. In the Stanislavski freeze frame, we made the scene where John could potentially be looking over Carol in the hospital where there could potentially be medical staff checking over her. This would show John's despair at his wife being unconscious and would allow him to show his emotions more, something which he tries to hide in the first scene of the play because of him having to be strong and the stereotypical 'man' in the situation. In the Brecht scene we had Carol and John stood in the middle, quite close together with carol holding their baby, Anna. We had an older Anna sat in the audience to show interaction with the audience and to show that Carol and John's actions would have an effect further down the line in their daughter, and two other actors in front of Carol and John who were gripping onto them to show how their past could affect their reactions to each other and to show that they were 'drowning' in their own emotions and thoughts, which ultimately destroy their relationship. We also had Carol staring into the audience to show how detached she was from the birth of her child and to show that she was still making the decision as to whether to leave and commit suicide or to stay with Anna. We had John staring at Anna in Carol's arms to show that he already loves Anna. We decided to use the character of Anna to show Carol and John's relationship because she is an integral part to keeping them together, and to keeping Carol alive.
After this, we were shown monochrome images of a play called Mother Courage and Her Children which was written by Brecht. At the time we didn't know what the play was about or that it was written by Brecht and were asked to decide whether they were from a Brecht style play or Stanislavski style play. For some of the images I was correct in confirming that they were from a Brecht style play but for other images I thought they were from a Stanislavski style play. I think that this shows how similar some of the techniques of Brecht and Stanislavski are which I didn't realise until I saw these images. In my opinion, I think Anatomy of a Suicide is a combination of both styles of practitioner. This is because there can be the use of given circumstances throughout and the actor can use things such as the magic 'if' and emotional memory to portray the emotion needed in some of the scenes within the play. Moreover, as the play has three scenes playing simultaneously throughout, the play is constantly distancing the audience from some of the action within each section.
Using the above script, we then got into same sex partners in order to portray Bonnie and Jo. Although me and my partner, Alex, remembered all the lines, I felt, especially towards the end of the rehearsal process, that we had cast the roles incorrectly. I feel that I should have played as Jo because I have a wider range of vocal tones and am much more enthusiastic as an actor, which matches Jo's personality, whereas Alex has a more subdued vocal tone which would have allowed her to access the more subdued personality of Bonnie. Henceforth, this made the tone of the scene completely different from what it was meant to be like and almost seemed to change the characters personalities. I portrayed Bonnie as quite anxious which doesn't suit her personality at all. Additionally, Alex wasn't as enthusiastic at playing Jo as she should have been which didn't suit Jo's personality. Below is a more accurate representation of Bonnie and Jo's relationship by Izzy and Kathryn (I think that their relationship is pretty much summed up in the analysis of the script above):
Izzy gives a great representation of Jo. She is enthusiastic and the audience can clearly see that she is interested in Bonnie whilst trying to avoid the awkwardness of their last encounter which was a one night stand. Both of them allow for this awkwardness to be seen by leaving large gaps of silence between each part of speech which as well as making the scene awkward, leave space for the other parts of speech that are said in the other scenes which are going on at the same time as this one. Kathryn gives a great representation of Bonnie by lowering her head and constantly looking away which signal to the audience how disinterested Bonnie is in Jo. These two opposing opinions on each other allow more awkwardness that the audience can see as the two are seemingly not on the same page on their feelings for each other. This is potentially because Bonnie has trouble with sharing her emotions due to a lack of motherly love from Anna as Anna committed suicide while Bonnie was around 6 months old (as babies have to be in a Moses Basket up until around 6 months old).
After this, we were told to go over the scene with Bonnie and Jo in, and mark on the script how long the gaps are between each line in order to give time for other lines in the Carol and Dave scene, and Anna and John scene. I found this initially quite easy to do because there were no other voices saying anything, which allowed for the silences to be long enough to feel awkward for the actors d most importantly for the audience. But as we began to add in more voices and the additional scenes, it became more confusing as to when to say the lines, than when it was with two actors having a prolonged silence. However, as the additional scenes were added, it gave a different atmosphere for the audience watching the scene as many of the lines overlapped and could relate to each scene.
In the final lesson, we created the first staging of the first page of this scene. The initial ideas for the staging is that each time frame will have one third of the stage and that the three women won't move from their section of the time frame. On the front of the stage there will be a time stamp for each scene which will either be projected onto the front of the stage area or somehow electronically put into the set. This will allow the audience to see the differences between each scene and make them understand when each scene is set without having the characters outright tell the audience. There will also be doors so that the stage crew and actors can access the wings, allowing props to be brought on and off the stage at specific points. The floor will also be different in each section for the different lineations. The will also be a light fitting between each scene to further split up the scenes. This, however, is subject to change.
Carol and Dave
In this scene, a pregnant Carol is being shown around a house by an estate agent, Dave. The house is in the middle of nowhere in the countryside and is seemingly a nice place to live. This is very significant because this is the family home that is mentioned in each of the stories and plays a major part in each of the stories. Carol initially liked the place because of its openness - it seems warm and nice. There could be soft sunlight pouring in from the window that Carol looks out of at the start of the scene. This is significant because Carol is looking out at the fields and plum trees that feature prominently in the other stories - Bonnie even says that her grandmother apparently bought the house because of the plum trees - and Carol loves to go walking which is probably why she bought the house in the first place; the garden and outside is more important than the house for her because she can get away for longer and feel more free. As Dave is an estate agent, the audience would expect him to lie to sell the house, but Dave here seems as though he actually likes the house. He also seems to have an element of respect for Carol as she is a middle class pregnant woman, and also because she seems largely interested in buying the house. At the beginning of this scene, Dave hangs back a bit, allowing Carol to investigate and look at the house and also because he wants her to say something regarding the house. Carol seemingly doesn't quite know what to say and appears to say her first line for Dave to which Dave responds quite amicably which creates the moment of orientation where the audience understand that Dave is an estate agent due to the Carol's first line. Much like the other scenes, this scene is also awkward as the two characters don't know each other that well which is why Carol says that first line as that's what she's socially supposed to say.
Anna and John
In this scene, John visits Anna in rehab, the first time he's seen her since she tried to have sex with him for drugs. John is Carol's husband, Anna's father, and Bonnie's grandfather, so by having him on stage it ties the scenes on stage together and the women together - this is the audience's first inclination that the three women are related, although they may not realise this. It is most probable that the audience may focus on Anna's and John's scene because they are in the middle of the stage and in most of the audience's eyesight. this makes John's presence much more significant due to his relation to all three women and by him being in the centre. The two of them are in Anna's room at the rehab centre and so she probably would have made the place her own. The rehab programme that Anna is on is a residential rehab that is run over 90 days - she is 12 days off finishing the 90 days - and is where someone will end up if lots of other programmes have failed to help you; this is way down on the list of things you try and do to recover from your addiction. Anna is as sober/straight out as she has been in years which would make John very emotional at how much she has come on since the last time he saw her. Anna is sat down which suggests she is more comfortable in being in the rehab clinic than John is, probably because she has been in there for 78 days already and does feel genuinely comfortable there. However, this scene would still be awkward due to the last time that the two had seen each other. The line "Are you happy now?" from Anna, her first line in this scene, could mean many different things. Firstly, it could mean that she's asking John if he's that she's now better and seems as though she's being genuine due to her following line. It could also mean that she's asking John if he's feeling better and if he's recovered from seeing his daughter in a bad state. This is why he may seem immensely emotional as he's standing in the space with the balloon which creates the moment of orientation. This is most probably why he doesn't answer her initially because he's drinking in her wellness.
Bonnie and Jo
Much like the two above scenes, this scene is also awkward. There wasn't that much movement in this scene because Bonnie is trying to get over the shock of Jo appearing and Jo is trying to impress Bonnie with the fish. This is why they are facing each other. They are also facing each other and are quite close together because they are stood in a hallway or living room. During this small performance of the scene, I played Jo and felt much more comfortable within the role and felt that I could act as Jo more effectively than I had been previously been playing Bonnie.
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