In this lesson, we focused on Scene 6 of AOAS. Again, all three timelines are present in the scene but there is less speech in Carol's side of the scene which i think is what makes the scene easier to perform and easier to watch as an audience member.
In Carol's scene, she takes Anna as a baby to a zoo and at this moment she is showing Anna the wolves. As Carol has taken Anna to the zoo by herself, this could suggest that John has had little impact on Anna's childhood so far which can be confirmed as John works on the trains and Carol stays at home caring for the house and for Anna. There are two phrases from Carol's scene that stand out to me when I read this scene. Firstly "When a wolf dies the whole pack can call apart". Birch is definitely foreshadowing how Carol's own family is going to fall apart when she dies, something that has become evident in Scene 5 when Anna explains in her monologue that one reason why she started taking drugs was due to her mother's death. This quote also highlights how aware Carol is about what will happen when she ultimately kills herself, something which I think she is set on. I think that could show that to some extent Carol is selfish as she knows how John and Anna may react to her death and that it will cause her own 'pack' to fall apart. Secondly "No one ever regretted living So Much". Birch is obviously trying to show that Carol regrets living but this could be taken in a variety of ways. Firstly, that Carol regrets ever being born in the first place, something which can be identified in the following scene where an old school 'friend', Laura, says that Carol jumped off the school roof. This shows that Carol has always had the issues that are presented within the play. Secondly, that Carol regrets living after the first attempted suicide by Carol which is shown in Scene 1.
In Bonnie's scene, Bonnie is attempting to sell the house and is showing an estate agent, Karen, round. In this scene it is clear to see the similarities between Bonnie and Carol as they both look around the house in very similar ways. For example they both ask their respective estate agents for 'a minute' when they try to imagine what their life could be like in the house. However, for Bonnie she could be also trying to imagine how Carol and Anna fit into the house and how they lived there. On an unrelated note, the use of a female estate agent in this scene, as well as Bonnie's own profession, highlight how women are viewed in a much more professional way and shows by how much times have changed since Carol's era.
In Anna's scene, she and Jamie meet at a coffee shop (subject to interpretation) in order to discuss the film that Anna was helping Jamie to make in the previous scene (in Anna's mind) and to get to know each other better (in Jamie's mind). I think that this scene is initially quite sweet albeit a bit awkward because of how attracted they are to one another and because of how hard Jamie appears to be trying to show his affection (flowers) as is Anna (cup of tea and a cup of coffee). Despite how well they appear to hit it off in the beginning of the scene, it soon turns sour when Jamie kind of admits that he likes Anna because of her role in his film. This could show that Jamie has a hero complex where he only like Anna because he wants to save her from her past which can be later seen in Bonnie's Scene 13 when it is said that Jamie married another woman - this could show that Jamie had strong attraction to Anna but it wasn't love.
The scene begins with Anna smoking until Jamie walks in carrying flowers. I, as Anna, am sat on a chair down stage left in my section of the stage with Bruce, as Jamie, standing a little further back than I am when he walks onto stage. We made it so that Anna stands when she notices Jamie but then sits again when she makes fun of his "Unusual greeting". This element of fun in Anna's tone remains until Jamie mentions that the only good part about the film is her at which Anna becomes angry at as she feels that he may only like her because she's a "fucking misery project". Before this, however, we made a comedy-esque section to the scene whereby Jamie holds two mugs of tea/coffee and has the flowers under his arm. This will make the audience further warm to Jamie as it could be something that they themselves may have done to impress a significant other. Additionally, they could warm to him because he's showing embarrassment. Anna becomes slightly angry after Jamie tells her that he "can't stop thinking about her" which should build until her speech at the end where she may end up shouting towards the end of it. After he massive spiel, I suggested that Anna maybe should start angrily smoking to show how annoyed she is at Jamie. However, she stops the angry smoking when Jamie says the word "home" in his speech and then Anna turns to look at him. At the same time Carol looks down at Baby Anna in the pram and Bonnie looks up towards the bathroom ceiling where Anna killed herself - this simultaneous movement is somewhat like the simultaneous phrases that are said in the play.
No comments:
Post a Comment