Anatomy of a Suicide - Part 19

Lesson: Monday 18th December 2017


In this lesson, we started working on Scene 5 of AOAS which is, in my opinion, much more complex than the other scenes we have been rehearsing so far, largely because there is no pattern between which section is going to be speaking next.

In Scene 5, we see Carol after she has given birth to Anna. Not only does this show how Carol is affected by Anna's birth but it also shows the audience for the first time the relationship between Carol and Anna if they haven't worked it our prior to this scene because of the introduction of John and Anna's relationship in Scene 4. In this scene, it is clear to see that Carol is suffering following the birth of Anna because it was a traumatic experience. In the 60s and 70s, which is the time when Anna was most likely to be born, many mothers have no memory of giving birth - so called "twilight sedation" - and the husband was not allowed in the delivery room. This is most likely the experience that Carol had. Even so, the childbirth process was largely male dominated and not like the modern process we'd expect today.

In this scene it is clear to see that Carol is not coping after she has given birth, something which becomes more so when the Nurse requests to take Anna away. It could be said that Carol is suffering from postnatal depression but this could just be a wider symptom of her depression and unwillingness to live in the first place, something that has become more intense after she has given birth, especially because she now has more responsibility.

In this scene, we are introduced to the character of Emma who is Carol's sister in law. In the first scene it is mentioned that John's sister cleaned the floorboards of blood from when Carol tried to commit suicide before the play began. Birch makes a connection between that when Carol says "I appreciate you cleaning the floorboards that time" which allows the audience to make a link between the mention of Emma and of Emma herself.

There are many interpretations that could be said of Emma in this scene. One interpretation is that she has only turned up at the hospital because she has to as she is now aunt to Anna and has a responsibility (especially as Carol has never seemed to be well) to care for her niece. Another interpretation is that she sees Carol as selfish because Emma thinks that Carol has everything that she could ever want - a loving husband, a baby, and a house, seemingly the perfect life. Emma doesn't have a loving husband as shown by Daisy when she mentions to Anna and Jamie in Scene 9 that her father "turned out (to be) fucking the nanny" which shows that Emma doesn't have the best home life. This could also suggest that Emma couldn't take care of Daisy properly so had to hire a nanny to take care of her daughter; it could imply however, that because Toby was not a loving husband, Emma couldn't raise Daisy because of her longing for Toby so had to hire a nanny. Emma might not think that Carol appreciates having a loving husband especially as said loving husband is Emma's brother. Moreover, this could link to the interpretation that Emma sees Carol as the one who always gets attention, especially from John, which may show that Emma is severely jealous of Carol. Emma may also think that Carol is overreacting after giving birth, especially as Emma has given birth before Carol and seemingly no one has given any comment on how well she did or she wasn't as bad mental health wise as Carol appears to be.

In Scene 5, we see Anna meeting with Jamie, her future husband, for the first time. Up to now, we have seen Anna drunk, high, and in rehab, which isn't a largely positive impression of her, Now, we see a camera set up and Anna with a male that the audience haven't seen before. This could give the impression that the two are about to create a porn film which is further implied when Jamie asks Anna if she's been on camera before. This is discredited when Jamie starts to ask her to rephrase his question in her answer, which is potentially where the audience begins to understand that Anna is not as bad as she is made out to be in previous scenes. They may begin to feel sorry for her, especially when she begins with her monologue about how she came to be at the Commune and how much she regrets doing what she did.

Both Jamie and Anna are attracted to each other in this scene which makes it somewhat awkward, albeit a nice awkward as many people in the audience will be able to relate to meeting someone they have a crush on for the first time. Anna comes across as nervous and it could be possible that this is the first time she's felt such a strong attraction whilst being sober. It could be said that Jamie isn't as nervous as Anna is which could be down to him being cool and confident; he may also have a hero complex whereby he wants to save girls from destruction, which could be why he's so attracted to Anna. However, in my opinion, I think that Jamie is just as nervous as Anna in this scene because he feels such a strong attraction to her and doesn't want to mess up his opportunity. Jamie falls in love with Anna because of her monologue later in the scene and it could be said that their 'love' was just a fling. I however, believe that the two shared a deep love and that Jamie only chose to marry again because of the hole left by Anna after she died. I think this could have contributed to why he seemingly wasn't that involved in Bonnie's life, because Bonnie reminded him too much of Anna.

In Scene 5, we see Bonnie attend a work colleague's birthday party. The character Tim is only present for this scene so it comes as somewhat a surprise that Birch decided to include this scene in the play because it seemingly has no relevance to what has happened in her section before. Birch may have chosen to include this scene in the play to show that Bonnie doesn't stop thinking about work. Bonnie may have attended the birthday party to try and get over her break up with Jo that she admits to later in the scene. She may have also gone to the birthday to try and comfort Tim because he accidentally killed a child in that days surgery. Bonnie may see Tim as a friend, but Tim doesn't see Bonnie as a friend, he only sees her as a work colleague which highlights just how alone Bonnie is.