Anatomy of a Suicide - Part 14

Lesson: Thursday 23rd November 2017

In this lesson, we tried to determine whether Anatomy of a Suicide was in the style of Brecht, Stanislavski, or Artaud. There are clear representations of each practitioner in the play, but in my opinion I think that the play is largely in the style of Brecht. This is because of the three scenes that are happening at the same time, almost continuously throughout the play which create the Verfremdungseffekt (the 'distancing' effect) which means that the audience can't get invested in what is happening in other scenes. For example in Scene 3 where Carol is at Daisy's thirteenth birthday party, Anna is taking heroin, and Bonnie meets Jo for the first time, the first two of the three scenes are largely serious and could be said to be Stanislavski due to how the audience could get invested in their emotions. However, the third scene of the three with Bonnie is largely comedic creating spass and also distancing the audience from the other two scenes.

Additionally, the Carol and Anna scene combat social issues which is another Brechtian technique, in fact, the whole play can be said to be combatting the social issue of mental health which presents the play to be largely Brechtian. The Carol scene targets drinking and smoking, both of which are somewhat acceptable in society. However, as Carol is doing this at a thirteen year old's birthday party, it can be seen to be socially unacceptable because she is hiding away in another room drinking it mainly to hide away from the other people. This could be trying to show the audience that Carol doesn't want to join the other people at the party because of their digs at her mental health, as shown by Daisy later in the scene. The Anna scene is showing the extent of her drug abuse which is definitely socially unacceptable. By showing it us at the same time as showing Carol's lone drinking and smoking, Birch could be trying to show that addiction can be passed down through the family as ways to deal with deteriorating mental health, of which mental health is a current social issue, showing that Birch is using Brechtian techniques.

However, the play can be said to be in the style of Stanislavski, especially Scene 1 and Scene 16. Scene 1 shows Carol and John after Carol's attempted suicide and Scene 16 shows Bonnie finally selling the family home. These can be said to be Stanislavski because they allow the audience to become invested in the action happening on stage. This is mainly because there is only one scene happening on stage compared to two or three which happen during the rest of the play which means that there is no Verfremdungseffekt. However, it can be said that Scene 1 is somewhat Brechtian because it alludes to mental health and suicides which is a social issue which is a Brechtian technique. I think that Scene 16 is emotional, and allows the audience to become invested once again in the character's, not only because of the lack of other scenes around this scene, but also because it shows the end of an era. It is also emotional because it shows that Bonnie is finally ready to let go of something that meant so much to her which many audience members may have had to go through themselves. The line "You should pick some of the plums." is very emotional because it is alluding to the plum trees which are relevant in all three stories, and also reminds the audience that Carol and Anna are dead which has only happened one to two scenes ago, meaning that the audience will already be somewhat emotional from their deaths - they may not be as emotional because of the Verfremdungseffekt on the previous scenes, which may make them less emotional when seeing the final scene because they may not have connected as much with the characters.

Although, the play can be said to be in some aspects in the style of Artaud especially in scenes 11 and 13 for Anna. In Scene 11, Anna explains to a nurse that she wanted a baby boy instead of a baby girl and says that she had a graphic dream where she crushed the baby between her "finger and thumb". This shows an Artaudian technique because of the graphic nature of what Anna is talking about which may shock the audience. However, as this scene is also taking place alongside Carol being talked into having another round of ECT and alongside Bonnie after a one night stand the shock of what Anna is saying is some what taken away due to the Verfremdungseffekt. Additionally, what is happening in all three scenes can be said to be somewhat socially unacceptable drawing upon social issues, which is another Brechtian technique. In Scene 13, Anna has a round of ECT which can be said to be an Artaudian technique as many of Artaud's influences was drawn upon his experiences of ECT, of which he had 52 rounds of. Additionally, this scene could be quite shocking for an audience to watch and could also be uncomfortable. At the same time as this scene, Carol is talking to a doctor about it being "necessary to end (her) life" and Bonnie is having a conversation with Jamie about why she hasn't yet sold the house. This again shows a Brechtian style through the use of Verfremdungseffekt whereby the audience may not focus on Anna's scene or may not feel properly attached to her.

Overall, I think that the play has the styles of Brecht, Stanislavski, and Artaud but is mainly in the style of Brecht. This is because of the somewhat constant Verfremdungseffekt which may disallow the audience from focusing and becoming attached to any of the characters. The play still has emotional impact which is what Brecht also wanted to achieve and draws upon Stanislavski methods.

After discussing this, we tried to stage a scene within the play. Our group chose Scene 5; Carol has just had Anna; Anna is telling Jamie about her journey to get to the commune; and Bonnie is at a work colleague's birthday party. We used our own words to tell part of this scene as we wanted to see the impact of how we were going to stage the scene on the audience. It transpired that where you sat was where an audience member would focus which could in turn influence what they thought of the characters and the play as a whole. Those who sat stage left mainly focused on Carol; those who sat in the middle mainly focused on Anna; those who sat stage right mainly focused on Bonnie.

At the end of the lesson we also found out our parts within the play and which cast we would be in. I am Anna in Cast A.

Anatomy of a Suicide - Part 13

Lesson: Monday 20th November 2017

At the end of last lesson, we were told to select a piece of the play that we could give an audition with. I decided to audition for the part of Anna because her past interests me as she may have been training to be a nurse which is entirely forgotten after her drug addiction. Her immense struggle to overcome and somewhat conquer her addictions shows that she is a strong individual, not weak or vulnerable, which is why it's interesting why she becomes like Carol in the final scenes. I think that she is much stronger than Carol and somewhat Bonnie because Anna allows her emotions to be shown as seen in the piece that I auditioned with, and also is somewhat guarded when she talks to John in her second scene, much like how Bonnie is throughout the play.

Below are my initial thoughts about the script that I auditioned with, I tried to include pauses/breaths and words that are emphasised before I started learning the script so that I could learn it with these points, making the performance more effective. Through my rehearsal process, I may have adapted this to create shorter and longer pauses and also emphasised different words.

 Below is a video of the script, which although was not recorded in the audition gives a similar feel to how I wanted the monologue to look. 

I chose to have different pacing in each half of the monologue. At the beginning of the monologue I decided that Anna should speak quite quickly as though her mass of thoughts was over flowing into her mass of speech about what she had done. This is supported by a couple of stutters that she does in her monologue - "a a a dealer" and "and I I I I and he so and when I" which show that she's speaking so fast and about something largely traumatic that show her mass of thoughts. Towards the end of the monologue I decided to slow the pace down because it shows that when she's speaking about calm things that she herself is calm. Additionally, on the script, the monologue is set out so that the beginning of the part that i did is cramped together and the end of that part is spaced out. This is also what led me to the decision of swapping the pacing of the monologue as I slowed down when the script began to become more spaced out. 

 The pauses that I chose worked well in some places. It made it seem as though Anna was thinking about what she was about to say at some parts because of the amount of graphic images that are presented in the monologue. This is possibly because she has never told anyone about her life, or if she has, this was probably in rehab where she might not have told the entire story of how she came to have a drug addiction and how she was during the addiction. Although, she may have told someone about this before, but is still slightly embarrassed to say anything due to the nature of the events (e.g. hitting on her own father - John). Additionally, in the commune, Anna and others may have had conversations about how they ended up there in which she may have told her story, however, she may think that Jamie hasn't heard something as bad as what she has told him, which brings about a fear at what Jamie will think about her after she's said this to him.

Another audition piece that made me think more about characterisation was Kathryn and Peter's performance of Carol and John in the scene just after Carol has given birth to Anna. In the scene, it seems as though Carol is trying to come to terms with having Anna to which John seems largely oblivious to what she is feeling. Kathryn and Peter performed the scene as though John walks in on Carol saying her line "a baby" over and over again which made it so that he was more aware of what Carol was feeling. I think that John should be more oblivious to what Carol is feeling because he is overcome with such immense joy at having a child that he only thinks about his emotions in this scene. Carol should say her continuous line of "a baby" as though she is trying to reassure herself that she is okay and trying to make herself feel okay with the prospect of now having to care for another human. The line "Does it get better now?"  which is said by Carol suggests that she is expecting her life to be solved by the birth of Anna, which is what Daisy had implied in a previous scene. It also shows how vulnerable Carol is in this scene, which I think both Emma and John don't understand to some extent (Emma kissed Carol earlier in the scene). 

After this, we imagined that we were estate agents walking around the house that is the house that is present in all three stories after all the events have taken place. The rooms that we focused on were: the living room, the kitchen, the master bedroom, the bathroom, and the garden. We focused on these rooms because they play key roles in telling the stories. We then used freeze frames to show the key events that happen in each of the rooms. 

Living Room and Garden 

We decided that the south facing windows were ones that you could look out from, from the living room window. The garden has significance because this is where Carol would go when she wanted to go for walks. The garden would give her access to the fields behind the house, as it is set in a rural landscape, so that she would be able to go on the long walks as described in the play. This is why we included an image of Carol going for a walk in this section of the piece. Also, Anna most probably played in the garden as a child so it has some significance there. Finally, Bonnie gardens and has a rabbit in the garden which is why we included Bonnie talking to a child whilst gardening, because the child, much like Daisy, suggested that Bonnie should get a rabbit so that the child would come round more often. 

The Kitchen

The kitchen has large significance in Carol and Bonnie's stories. Carol spent a lot of time cooking in the kitchen because she believes that being a good wife is cooking, cleaning, looking after children, and looking immaculate which is supported in the first scene in the hospital after Carol has tried to commit suicide. We included a freeze frame of Carol in the kitchen staring out into the garden, as the kitchen also has south facing window. Bonnie has significance in the kitchen, because Bonnie and Jo have an argument in the kitchen about Jo wanted to be involved more in Bonnie's life; we included an image of Bonnie and Jo fighting to show this. 

The Master Bedroom

This has significance for all three women. For Carol and John, this is where they most probably had unfulfilling sex, especially after they try for another baby after Anna that Carol doesn't want. This creates a melancholic undertone to the bedroom as it is somewhere where Carol doesn't share the fondest memories. For Anna and Jamie, this room is one of love, especially during the early stages of their relationship as they seem to have been wanting a baby as shown in Scene 9 where they announce to Daisy that Anna is pregnant, something which the two seem happy about. For Bonnie, the master bedroom signifies how she doesn't know her family as well as liked to have done, and this is the most intimate room to some extent. I don't think that she would have had sex with Jo in this bedroom as it holds too much sentimentally which is why in the freeze frame Bonnie was stood watching her family as they were with the husbands. 

The Bathroom

This holds significance for Anna as she killed herself in the bathroom. It also links to how Carol had tried to commit suicide in another bathroom in a different house. 

Artaud - Part 3

Lesson - Thursday 16th November 2017

During this lesson and after school on Wednesday we adapted our previous piece by using the ideas and freeze frames that we had before into a longer performance. Unfortunately the video that we got from the performance is very dark and is not that easy to see what is happening from it. When we next work on the piece, I think that we should make the light a tad brighter enough so that the audience (and camera) can see what is happening but not so much that the effect that we were trying to achieve isn't lost.

Instead of dragging a piece of set on stage, we decided to use a knife being scraped on a riser to create the same sound effect. This allows the knife to become part of the set which allows us to use it as part of the set for the rest of the piece and also creates a small soundscape which we will be able to expand upon at a later date. This scraping can be seen from the beginning of the piece which immediately assaults the audience's senses.  The images between each scrape can't really be seen as the lights are on for a too short amount of time and because of how dim the lights are. I used the idea of things moving when you can't see them from the Weeping Angels from Doctor Who.

At 1.00 the relatively quiet scraping is contrasted by the banging of risers. We did this to try and show the earthquake that takes place during the play (Spurt/Jet of Blood). The contrast in volume assaults the audience's sense again and shocks them somewhat. As I was watching the video and making notes, I myself jumped from the volume of the soundscape, even though I knew what was going to happen. After this, quieter music came on which again contrasted with the banging from before and also showed an additional Artaudian technique of using technology. Instead of music, we could add in some humming from actors to further assault the audience's senses.

At 1.07 we try and interact with the audience but this can't be seen, again due to the darkness of the lights. We could make the lights stay on during this part of the piece but at  dim level so that the effect would be kept and the audience can see the shapes of the actors as they come towards them.

At 1.19 we used the phrase "I love you and everything is beautiful" which is taken directly from the play. The murmuring of this line worked well because it seemed as though the 'characters' didn't believe what they were saying, which could show how the Young Girl may be being manipulated by the Young Man in the piece. We also touched various audience members to 'freak' them out; at this point the lack of light worked well because the audience's members don't know who's touching them. In order to make this part more effective, the lights could be turned to full brightness as we make our way towards the audience and then brought down to dim as we make our way over to them. This would allows the audience to see the action on stage and still keep the desired effect.

At 1.29, we can't see the image that we made due to the lack of light again. The image opposite is what we were trying to create. We wanted to create an image that would also project somewhat onto the back wall behind us using shadows. Although this can't be seen on this image, I think that the connections between all the actors suggests an implication within the play. It is implied by the Bawd and the Knight that the Young Man and Young Girl are related, which alongside the line "You love me and everything is beautiful" suggest that this is what this image is trying to show the audience.

At 1.47 it is clear to hear an audience member being 'freaked' out and 'assaulted' by her voice and screams. This is how we know that what we're doing is effective because it had the desired reaction from an audience member that we wanted. However, we only touched and 'attacked' one audience member which left others wondering what was going on in the piece. Maybe if we moved the audience together a bit more instead of spacing them out as far as we did, then all the audience members would be able to experience what was going on in the piece.

At 2.27, courtesy of Lauren, there was a shrill scream which shocked and assaulted the audience. I think that the piece needs to have more random screams throughout it and maybe some manic laughter to make the audience feel more uncomfortable.

There were many positives to this piece which was mainly due to the audience vocalising their uncomfortableness, which was the desired effect that we were searching for. We also used some form of soundscape and dreamscape as well as some stylised movement, especially in the image above.

However, some of the audience weren't involved which can easily be solved by moving the audience closer together which may help in making them feel uncomfortable. The obvious negative is the lighting which meant that the camera didn't pick up the entire piece properly which can be solved by brightening up the lighting. Also, I think that we should add a section of stylised movement and another of some form of humming in order to create visual poetry and more soundscape.

Anatomy of a Suicide - Part 12

Lesson - Thursday 16th November 2017

At the end of last lesson, we chose some words to add to the movements that we had created in order to create a physical essay, summarising the main events within the play that are most important to the three main women. We decided that the lines of script that were said should correspond to the characters that each actor was trying to portray so that it was easier for the audience to understand who we were playing. Below is the piece that we created:

Carol says the line "It's sort of chaos. Isn't it. Once you've gone". This can be directly shown to be true when there is a chaos of overlapping words that are shouted at her whilst she is trying to break free of the first freeze frame that we created. This contrast of calm and chaotic summarise possibly what Carol feels when she's tried to commit suicide and by the influx of questions and opinions that ultimately follow that Carol doesn't want to hear. The amount of noise that the other people make whilst saying their next lines seem to almost trap Carol which could be how she feels after the birth of Anna due to more opinions that flood in from other characters.

The lines that are said simultaneously are:

Bonnie - "This is all the stuff I've wrestled to be told" which could show that Bonnie is finding out about her life through the physical essay as she watches it all unfold. "Me choosing to be here". "Now get the fuck out". These could both relate to Carol's state of mind as she chooses to live for Anna for 16 years and additionally could show that she doesn't want any support, she just wants to be left alone.

Anna - "I can't remember anything"  could possibly link to Bonnie, showing that Bonnie doesn't know much about her life as Anna was never around to be able to tell her about her heritage. "Heads a bit swimmy" could show the impact of everyone's words on Carol (because they are being directed at her) which would have had a detrimental effect on her mental health.



John - "Do you feel steady?" "Do you understand what's happened to you?" The use of questions here makes Carol question her ability as a mother, which is why she is trying to break free from the pregnancy and responsibility that comes with it. The repetition of "steady" from John and Anna emphasise how none of the characters really feel as though they are in control of their own actions, especially Carol in this instance, as she is being forced back into life and into the role of a mother, physically by the other characters. The line "Yes constantly, I'm very controlling" is said sarcastically and by Jamie in Anna's storyline but this can also relate to Carol and John's relationship in the play as John seems to be trying to 'control' Carol's life so that she stays alive such as him suggesting another child after Anna. This line tails off after all the others, which I think gives it more emphasis, especially as Carol is being physically forced down as John says this line.



Jo - We decided to include Jo here because through John, we projected both John and Jamie (through the last line) and so by including Jo here, it made it so that the relationship that is most prominent in the three women's lives can be seen. "Really. Fucking. Stupid" could show how Carol feels about getting pregnant which means that she'll have to stay alive for longer and be a mother to Anna which I don't think she's prepared for. "Please stop saying sorry." "Shall I just go?"



After this, John and Carol say their line about vows. I decided to lean back and watch this conversation unfold which shows how Anna slowly watched her parents' marriage fall apart right in front of her eyes. I think that this somewhat shows the impact that Carol and John's somewhat failed marriage had on Anna as well as the loss of her mother.



As I am being pulled through Peter's legs, Bella and Lauren take on the role of people who have questioned what happened to her mother and why Carol decided to commit suicide - specifically Daisy. The lines that are said are: "Did she really flood her whole house?" "Is she happy now?" (this may imply that Carol is happier being dead rather than being alive) "Was it very dramatic?" "Did she see lights?" This questioning shows how some people will ask questions and hear the rumours about something tragic like this happening, which links back to a very early post about the play. It also shows how unsympathetic some people can be, especially the very young like Daisy was when she heard these lines, when something tragic happens. Moreover, these lines could be something that Bonnie wants to know about how both Carol and Anna died, especially the "Is she happy now?" This could have been a line that I could have used in the lesson where I took on the role of Bonnie/the hot seating lesson. Anna's response to these questions may show that she either doesn't want to answer them or doesn't know the answer to them because Carol or John never told the answer to her.



The repetition of the line "It's sort of chaos. Isn't it. Once she'd gone." shows just how alike Anna and Carol are, especially as they both suffer from post-natal depression. It also suggests the amount of abuse that Anna did to her body after the death of her mother which is summarised in the timeline on a previous blog post where the part of her life is shown as the 'mess'. It also suggests the breakdown of her relationship with her father (due to her hitting on him when she was high) which is only somewhat corrected after her time in rehab. This is shown by Anna calling him "Dad?" and John responding with "I haven't, I haven't heard you call me that in-". We decided to abruptly cut John's line off here to show that their relationship hadn't been repaired yet, as shown in Scene 5 when Anna says that they are "getting to a good".



We decided to have Bonnie say the final line of the piece with "That it goes no further, no deeper, no longer. That it finishes here." to show that Bonnie is determined to finish the tragedy that made up her past.

Anatomy of a Suicide - Frantic Assembly

Wednesday 15th November 2017

During a free period on Wednesday, myself and Kathryn created two physical theatre based pieces around AOAS. We decided to use Frantic Assembly methods such as Chair Duets to show the relationships between the characters within the play. Firstly, we created an Around/By/Through piece which showed the relationship between Carol and Anna. We started by creating simple movements which developed more meaning as the piece came together. We also decided to add speech to the piece to further solidify their relationship and their characters. We decided to use the scene where Anna goes swimming when she's still young and Carol seems fairly distant from her, partly because this is a scene that has dialogue between the two women, and also reveals Carol's state  of mind. In one sense, I think that this could be described as a physical essay due to the addition of words.

After this, we created a chair duet using the characters of Carol and John which is below. I think that this presents the entirety of their relationship with one another. I played John in this piece and Kathryn played Carol. When John walked on at the beginning, this showed how he has become to understand that Carol is not mentally well, which is when she initially tries to commit suicide. Carol moves away because she is trying to protect herself from the love that John will try and give and also trying to protect John from herself. When we both laid on each other, it represented how both rely on each other; Carol relies on John for financial support and John relies on Carol for emotional support which I don't think he receives much of throughout the play. When Kathryn put her hands on her stomach it represented the pregnancy with Anna, however, when she pushes John away, I think that is could show how little John seemed to be there for Anna which could be potentially due to Carol's influence. Moreover, every time John tried to put his hands on Carol, she removed them which showed how she didn't want his love and wanted to distance herself from him, possibly so that he wouldn't get too attached to her so that he won't become as sad and guilty when she eventually commits suicide. When Carol leaves John at the end, that signifies her leaving for good but as John looks on after her, it could show that he did become attached to her and became guilty for not being there for her as much as he feels as he should have been due to her pushing him away.

Artaud - Part 2

Lesson: Thursday 9th November 2017

In this lesson, we worked on the script Jet/Spurt of Blood by Antonin Artaud. It was written in January 1924 and as it is only 3 pages long, could have been completed in one day. It is vastly surreal and most definitely follows the 'criteria' for Theatre of Cruelty due to its outlandish stage directions and general horrible subjects.

This was the first time that I had encountered the play and had many first impressions on the script. I was very shocked at what is in the play as it is very graphic and included lots of things that many people wouldn't be comfortable speaking in public about. This is very much an Artaudian technique because Artaud wanted the audience to be shocked and confused by what is happening on stage.

The first part of the script says something along the lines of "I/You love you/me and everything is beautiful" which is a conversation which is happening between a Young Man and Young Girl. Even the character names could set an edge of shock to the actors (as Artaud wanted to be cruel to both the actors and the audience) as Young Man implies that the character is much older then the Young Girl. This could imply an abusive relationship whereby the Young Girl is being manipulated into thinking that she is in love with the Young Man. I thought that this part could be acted whereby the Young Man and Young Girl are facing each other fairly close but don't seem to put much emotion into their voices and not touching each other. they should still follow the different pitches of voice that are suggested in the script, but these should be done with little emotion. I think that this should be done like this to show that the characters are somewhat uncomfortable with what they're saying which would also make the audience uncomfortable due to the obvious difference in ages. I think that at this point, Artaud may be mocking young love and how it can often be manipulative and not worth people's time.

When the hurricane sequence ends I think that everything that falls from the hurricane should remain on stage which may attack the audience's senses, especially if the objects land in the audience.

I also noticed that the stage directions are very detailed in some places which is very appealing when looking from a directing point of view. Some of the stage directions are very graphic such as the part where scorpions begin to crawl out of a character's dress. This may shock the audience, actors, and especially the director who would have to find a way to effectively portray what Artaud wanted to achieve from the piece. I think that when the scorpions crawl from the character's dress and then transfer to the Knight that this could resemble the spread of an STD. This can be supported as the play is set on the streets near a brothel whereby both parties may have had sex with prostitutes and as it is implied that the two are married so may have regular sex where they could have spread the STD. Linking to the stage directions, the amount of tech that is involved in the stage directions create a dreamscape which can further confuse the audience's senses and shows an Artaudian technique.

We were then given a choice between developing the script by using either props or set, with tech being used in each. I chose to use set because I thought that interesting soundscapes could be used with the set as well as more interesting shapes. Additionally, I thought that props would make the piece too realistic if too many were used within the piece. Below is the piece that we created:

Initially, we tried to follow the script which resulted in us not being able to sustain a piece or create a piece that seemed Artaudian enough. I think that we should have started by creating freeze frames and having a small discussion before attempting to make a scene rather than starting initially with something that seemed as though it was more natural than surreal.

Eventually we created some freeze frames that we thought signified the major parts within the script which allowed for more effective use of Artaudian techniques.

The first freeze frame that we created was the one opposite. This shows the Young Man and Young Girl who are gripping onto each other, which shows their 'love' for one another that they declare. Myself and Lauren are reaching through the bottom of the riser which could have been slightly discomforting for the audience - this however, was not that effective because we didn't actually go into the audience to interact with them.

 The second freeze frame that we created was the one opposite. This shows the part in the play where the Bawd's hair is gripped by God. I wanted to make a giant hand like was said in the script, but by using our bodies and contorting them in such away that was both disturbing and able to create a hand. Instead, we simply put a hand on the Bawd's head which I don't think was as effective.



 The final freeze frame that we created is the one opposite. This shows the fury of God after the Bawd bites His hand. We used the risers to show how much taller God would be over the rest of the characters. Initially we wanted to lift Joel up and have him suspended in the air to show how impressive God was, but found this to be difficult. However, with multiple bodies being lower than him, it seemed as though he was much taller than the other actors.

There are positives about this piece. For example, the use of soundscape at the beginning of the performance with the use of the set by dragging it along the floor attacked the audience's senses slightly, but not enough to make it cruel to them. Additionally, the lighting was in some places effective such as the use of the light to create the image of the moon in the first part of the piece. However, the performance was quite dark which although can be effective at some points, sometimes blocked the action from some people's perspective. Despite this, I thought that this was a good first attempt to combat the script but when we adapt the piece even more, I think that we will incorporate more Artaudian techniques to make the piece more effective.

Aanatomy of a Suicide - Part 11

Lesson - Monday 13th November 2017

At the beginning of this lesson we restrained someone on the back wall who was trying to get to the opposite wall. This created lots of interesting shapes as we were having to physically restraining people who desperately wanted to get to the opposite side who's faces became quite feral in some instances. I think that this can relate to AOAS in a variety of ways. For example, the restraining of people could resemble Carol being kept alive by John in the first scene of the play; trying to get to the opposite side could resemble Carol's desperation to leave and eventually commit suicide. For Anna, i think this could resemble how she wants to become healthy again and the people restraining her are her drug addiction; additionally, this could show how Anna becomes like Carol later in the play and wants to commit suicide. For Bonnie, I think that this activity could resemble how she wants her family line to stop at her (her sterilisation) and the people that are restraining her is the doctor who tries to persuade her that she'll want children later in her future. Similarly, all three women achieve their goal eventually which could be due to their shear determination.

We adapted our piece from the previous lesson to show the struggles that Carol, Anna, and Bonnie go through in the play by making many of the moves and transitions seem more as though we were struggling to break free. Below is the piece:

The lift at the start of the piece was used to show how desperately Carol is trying to escape from society and life. This is shown when Maya reaches forwards into the audience - something which all of the characters do throughout the piece - and she is restrained by the rest of the actors on stage. I think that this could show how Carol is constantly restrained of her will whereby she has to try and act normal in front of people and eventually by Anna herself, when Carol decides that she has to be a mother to Anna and be there for her as much as possible - this is forced into Carol's brain by Emma who says "You're a mother now" in Scene 5 which I think brings this fact to Carol for the first time properly.

The first freeze frame that we created is the one opposite at 10 seconds into the piece. This shows the moment when Carol realised that she was pregnant. We decided to use this image because it shows the possible moment that Carol decided to extend her life by 16 years. The other actors are in close proximity to her because they show how trapped Carol feels by the impending pregnancy and her impending role as a mother that she isn't sure she can achieve. We added in a slight struggle here from Carol because we wanted to show how restricted she is by all the other characters within the play, especially by Anna as mentioned above. It is difficult to see that Carol is clutching her stomach at this point due to the amount of people around her which could show the amount of opinions that other characters have about her pregnancy and about her attempted suicide - this is mainly by Daisy early on in the play with Carol and later in the play with Anna.

The transition into the second freeze frame used some of the techniques as show by the previous DV8 video. For example, Maya was lifted onto Peter's back and I was pulled through his legs. The lift onto Peter's back showed how much Carol relies on John for support and by how much John is willing to support Carol. Additionally, it could show that John is trapping Carol by holding onto and restraining her too much which can also be seen in the first lift. The slide under Peter's legs shows Anna struggling to break free from what her parents marriage has become which is looming over the top of her as she slides underneath them. It also shows her reaching towards the audience much like Carol did in the first lift, which I think could show how they go through similar struggles as they grow older.

The second freeze frame we created is the one opposite at 27 seconds into the piece. This shows the funeral of Carol and how both Anna and John reacted to it. It's clear to see Anna's despair as she seems to be at the fore front of the image by being in the middle and having two people looking at her and gripping onto her hands. I think that this moment is the moment when Anna's life begins to go downhill because of the lack of support from her mother and the loss that she feels. The two people looking at her and gripping her hands I think represent the people that may have tried to help Anna get through such a difficult time - this may include Emma and Daisy because Daisy makes an appearance when Anna herself is pregnant. These people may have done a lot to help, especially during the first few years after Carol's death especially as Anna goes to university, but this support may have stopped which could have contributed to Anna's drug abuse. On the other hand, John's despair is not as easy to see because he is still lifting Carol up and is hidden by her body. This could show how the audience don't really get to see his grief as much as they see Anna's but it is still there as shown in the Picnic scene for Carol.

The transition into the 3rd freeze frame used more reaching and more fast paced moving. I think that Anna is reaching here potentially to see her mother again or to try and find a solution to her drug abuse problem. As Anna is whipped back around by Bonnie, this could show that Bonnie wanted to get to know her mother before she committed suicide and is attempting to get to know her again through Jamie's memories but is largely unable to do so because of Jamie's mind set that Anna and Bonnie look alike. The part where Carol is pushed off of John by another character, who resembles other characters who told her what to do in the past, shows the amount of influence that they were able to have on her which may have contributed to her eventual suicide as she is removed from the play. This could also suggest that John's struggle is being brought to the audience's attention which is what is somewhat brought to their attention when John visits Anna in rehab. This may suggest that now that he no longer has to support Carol he doesn't know what to do with himself. When Anna looks at John for a long time, there is possibly a moment of orientation as they seem to be seeing each other properly for the first time since the death of Carol which the audience could recognise. When Anna pushes John away, I think that this could show that she is like her mother in the respect that she doesn't want John to be constantly watching over her every move. When Bonnie pushes Anna, I think that this could show that Anna committed suicide really soon after the birth of Bonnie, something which Bonnie may dislike about her mother, and shows that they didn't get a chance to get to know each other.


The third freeze frame at 40 seconds shown opposite shows Bonnie's decision to become sterilised by the end of the play to stop the trend of depression and suicides in her family. The people in front of Bonnie show her umbilical chord, possibly connecting Bonnie to Anna and to Carol but could also show the past that Bonnie is about to cut off and the fact that she won't ever experience what Anna and Carol went through after the birth of their children and subsequently won't ever become close to them.

Anatomy of a Suicide - Part 10

Lesson: Thursday 9th November

During this lesson, we further investigated the relationships between characters and the events within the story that are most important to the three women, Carol, Anna, and Bonnie.

The most important event for Carol that our group chose was when she has found out that she is pregnant. We chose to use this because this is the determining factor whereby Carol choses to live for the following 16 years for Anna.

The most important event that we chose for Anna was the death of Carol. We chose this because it seems to be the event in which her Anna's life appears to go downhill and spiral out of control shown by her drug addiction when she hits her twenty's. Although, I felt that another equally as important event was when she 'recovers' from her drug addiction in rehab. This is because although Anna seems to recover, she clearly doesn't when she spirals again after the birth of Bonnie. These events are both as important as each other as they reveal Anna's mental state and how it declines and rejuvenates.

The most important event that we chose for Bonnie was when she decides to sterilize herself at the end of the play. This is vastly important, not just for Bonnie, but for Carol and Anna. This is because it seems that the depressions and suicides follow/get worse after the birth of a child and if Bonnie were to have a child, she would get depressed and potentially commit suicide. Additionally, her sterilization would stop the trend of women becoming depressed and distanced from society like Carol and Anna became.

The following video is from a DV8 performance. They are a physical theatre based company and use dance, naturalistic movement, videos, circus skills, and text to present their stories.

There are many aspects about this piece of theatre that I enjoyed and became entranced by when we watched it in class. I thought that the couple resembled Carol and John. The element of someone watching the couple within the piece implies that they want what the couple have but also seems like they are invading the couple's privacy. In Anatomy of a Suicide the audience are invading the character's privacy, especially during/after the suicide attempts, the multiple births, and the relationships within the play. In this sense, the audience may want some elements of what the women within the play have, for example a loving husband in the form of John.

There are some moves that the couple do in the above piece that show that they hold each other up. In AOAS it is shown that John holds Carol up emotionally, especially after her attempted suicide, however, Carol doesn't hold John up emotionally. This could be because she is trying to distance herself from John, so that when she does eventually commit suicide, he's not as emotionally attached and can stand emotionally on his own without the aid of Carol. However, this treatment towards John doesn't work because he keeps coming back to Carol to hold her up emotionally which may be for his own reasons rather than for Carol as he may want Carol to reciprocate the feelings that John still harbours for her.

At some points within the piece, the light made it seem as though the couple were made from shadow. I think that this could relate to AOAS because the shadows of Carol and John's relationship can be seen throughout the play in the speech that other characters use, sometimes at the same time as other characters, and in the actions that the character's take and their reactions to it such as Anna's reaction to the birth of Bonnie, which is somewhat similar to that of Carol after the birth of Anna.

Moreover, as the above piece takes place in the confined space of a hallway. I think that this could relate to AOAS because all three women feel trapped by something which is what the piece feels like. Carol feels trapped by life and somewhat by Anna; Anna feels trapped by her past addictions; and Bonnie feels trapped by her heritage.

In the piece, the couple is seen to be moving through gaps that have been created by their bodies. We used this to develop the transitions between our freeze frames and it also made the freeze frames and stories to be more interconnected. These interconnections can be seen by the overlapping speech and scene titles throughout the play.

The freeze frames and transitions can be seen in the next blog piece.

Anatomy of a Suicide - Part 9

Lesson: Monday 6th November 2017

During this lesson we used Stanislavski's magic "if" to explore the characters within Anatomy of a Suicide. The characters that we looked at were Carol, Anna, Bonnie, and John; I was given Bonnie. Individually, we looked at the script and found the key events of our character. For Bonnie her key events mostly included Jo, the house, and the presence of her dad, Jamie, towards the end of the play. Her major event is the decision to sterilise herself which I think that she did to stop the legacy and post natal depression that occurred after her grandmother and mother had children. I think it also gives Bonnie the chance to make her own decisions about her future rather than being encompassed by a child like Carol and Anna were.

After this, we were told to further imagine what it would be like to be our character and have the experiences that they have throughout the play. We tried to play our characters as they are at the last point that we see them - for example, Bonnie would be a few days before she decides for sterilisation. Below are some of the questions that we were asked as our characters and my responses to them as Bonnie which I thought about:

1) What year is it?
Late 2030s.

2) How old are you?
Mid to late 30s.

3) Where have you been living?
Partially in my own flat but most of the time in the house that my grandparents bought in the late 1960s.

4) What is the most significant thing to happen to you this year?
The decision to stay in the house and not to sell it which goes against Jamie's, my father's wishes.

5) Imagine the ceiling. What does it look like?
Bumpy with lines in it.

6) Imagine the room that you sleep in. Who's room is it? Where is the bed? Where is the window? Where is the door?
The room is the bedroom that belonged to Carol and to Anna when they lived here. The bed is pushed against the back wall and is the same bed that Anna and Jamie had when they first moved in - it has hardly been slept in, due to Anna's premature death. The window is to the left of the bed's headboard and you can see fields and plum trees (although not as many as there were when Carol and Anna used to live here). The door is to the right of the foot of the bed and next to the door is a large cabinet. Next to the window is a dressing table that belonged to Carol and then to Anna. The dressing table is the thing that is significant to Bonnie because of Carol's will to always look perfect which could have in some ways been passed down to Anna and to Bonnie. I chose this object because I don't think that Jamie would have allowed anything of Anna's to be given to Bonnie such as their wedding ring, although I could have used another object such as a key which would symbolise Bonnie not being able to sell the house.

After this, we each devised a small interaction with the room we were in and with the object we had chosen that had special importance. I walked into the room and immediately went to look out the window towards the plum trees - I think that this enables Bonnie to feel closer to Carol and Anna because of their strong attraction to the trees and it also makes her think that she won't ever get to know them but wants to anyway, and the trees are one of the only ways to do that without becoming pregnant and developing post natal depression herself. I then sat down on the bed and stared at the dressing table to show again that Bonnie wants to be connected to Anna and Carol in some way, and as this belonged to them, it brings Bonnie somewhat closer to them.

Then, we added some speech to the scene by talking to the object as if they represented another character from the play. I chose to speak to Anna through the dressing table because it shows Bonnie's longing for a maternal figure and to want to know if Anna ever loved her. The speech that I used was along the lines of:

"Plum trees. Did you like them? Okay. Would we have shared something? Like dad does with his kids and his wife? Were you lonely? I'm sorry."

I said the line "Plum trees" whilst I was looking out of the window to show the audience what I was doing and what I was looking at. The following line was said because Bonnie doesn't know about what her mother liked or disliked as she only knows a few vague facts such as where she was born in the house and where Carol and Anna committed suicide. She is trying to feel closer to Anna in this respect. The "Okay" was said because this is a line that Bonnie uses frequently throughout the play and I felt as though the scene would stray from Bonnie's character if this wasn't included. The next line is supposed to show how much Bonnie missed out on by Anna committing suicide so early on in Bonnie's life. Bonnie wants to know that they would have shared a bond so that she can have some form of love which clearly seems to be lacking from the rest of her life, be it from her refusing love from Jo or not receiving any from Jamie throughout her childhood because she reminded him of Anna so much. The line about her father and his relationships with his other children and his other wife is supposed to show that Jamie can't bare to see Bonnie because of her affiliation with Anna. It is also supposed to be quite cynical because if Anna hadn't committed suicide then there would be no need for the other children and the other wife. "Were you lonely?" implies that Bonnie feels isolated from her father and from anyone else in her life. This can be seen throughout the play as no family members from Anna and Carol's side of the family talk to her that we see. This can only imply that Bonnie is isolated from her family, much how Anna and Carol felt before they committed suicide, and may hint that Bonnie is also about to do something life changing - the sterilisation. The final line echoes what Bonnie says throughout the play or attempts to say as these words don't come easy to her sometimes.

Next, we did a version of hot seating whereby we interrogated the four characters that we were given. When we asked John questions, we set his character just after he has seen Anna in rehab. The majority of the questions that we asked were to do with John's relationship with Carol and how he had failed to help her much how he had failed to help Anna through the later teen years of her life, it seems. The questions that were about his relationship with Carol were mainly bout their marriage and how it was falling apart due to their differing views on each other (John loves Carol but Carol doesn't love John) and their lack of sex life. We also brought up that John wanted another child whereas Carol didn't which emotionally affected John because it was clear that he was still largely in love with Carol.

When we asked Carol questions, we set her character a couple of days before she commits suicide. The majority of questions were about her mental stability and her relationship with John. Something that interested me was her response to what a marriage was to her - she responded with being a good wife which included cooking, cleaning, and looking after children. I think that this sums up much of what Carol fills her time with, especially as Anna grows up.

When we asked Anna questions, we set her character a couple of months before she falls pregnant.  This made the majority of our questions about her mental state and how similar she was to Carol, especially when she began to talk about wanting children where we criticised her because of the post natal depression that she could suffer much like her mother. We also asked about her relationship with her husband and if he knew about her recreational drug addiction in the past and is she was scared that she'd become like that again even though addicts don't generally recover from their addiction.

When we asked Bonnie questions we focused on her past relationship and about her parents. At first Bonnie refused to answer about what her parents do but quickly had to open up when we kept prying. If in was in the hot seat at this time I would have reacted quite angrily to how much they were prying much like how Bonnie reacts when Jo turns up at the house with lamb in order for Bonnie to cook something. A question that again stood out to me was if Bonnie had ever been in love to which she responded yes. If I was in the hot seat I think that I either would have not responded to the question at all or gone with no. This is because I think Bonnie has a hard time expressing her feelings and additionally I don't think that she was ever in love with Jo because she only responds to Jo when Jo begins to tell her about how she feels about Bonnie.

Anatomy Of A Suicide - On Veracity

In the first scene of Anatomy of a Suicide when the audience meets Anna, she says "veracity" whilst drunk. Not only does this show the extent of her intelligence, it also suggests that she has gone to university as shown in my timeline of Anna's life on a previous post. The word veracity means accuracy and furthermore, in nursing it refers to the ethics of telling the truth and is one guide of the conduct of medical practitioners. Anna could have learnt this whilst studying to be a nurse. In this sense, it could be said that Anna met Dan whilst they were both working in hospital, hence why they have a past and know each other so well but Dan decided to cut ties after Anna became a drug addict and raped his brother. This could be why Bonnie decides to be a doctor to feel some way in contact with her mother whom she never got to know. This could, however, be a coincidence, but I thought it was interesting that Anna says this word to Dan whilst they're in a hospital and that Bonnie becomes a doctor herself, especially when Jo asks Bonnie in their first scene if Bonnie's father had been a doctor (in this sense it would be Bonnie's mother that was almost the medical professional).