Anatomy of a Suicide - Part 22

Lesson: Monday 15th January 2018

In this lesson, we worked largely on Scene 7. However, before this, we did a small 'kissing workshop' whereby we were taught how to stage kiss. Intimacy is a huge part of AOAS and without it, we would lose most of the impact in the play. Carol and John share little intimacy with few hugs and no kisses within the piece, they do however, share an awkward post sex scene where Carol says that she doesn't want another baby. This lack of intimacy between the couple is could be what cause their issues or is something that itself is caused by their issues. Carol is kissed by two women within the play which could allude to Bonnie's own sexuality and could highlight the lack of intimacy between herself and John. Anna and Jamie also share little intimacy but I think this could be because the two aren't together until Scene 7 officially and in that scene they share seemingly domestic intimacy such as a kiss on the head (from Jamie) and a hug that lasts for around five or so seconds. However, I feel like their intimacy is lost from Scene 10 onward due to the birth of Bonnie and Anna's reaction to it. This is also shown because we don't see Jamie in Anna's story at all from Scene 10 onward, instead we see him in Bonnie's story much later in the play. Bonnie shares a large amount of intimacy but I don't think that it is as hopeful as the intimacy shared between Anna and Jamie. This is because Bonnie never really seems to like the people with whom she shares intimacy. The kiss between her and Jo in Scene 4 could be because she was trying to show Jo that the sex that the two of them had was only 'good'. Bonnie also seems to have many one night stands, such as the one shown with Esther in Scene 11, which doesn't seem to show emotional intimacy, rather simply showing physical intimacy. I think that Anna and Jamie show the most emotional intimacy, particularly in Scene 7 because of how content and hopeful the scene seems. As we are performing the play in a school setting some of the intimacy is lost due to some people feeling uncomfortable with it, which is understandable.

In Scene 7, Carol is at a wedding with John and with Anna who is a small child. We don't see Anna or John in this scene as John has taken Anna back to the hotel room. This raises the question as to why John would do this. Obviously, there is the fact that he is Anna's father, but there could be more to it than that. He could have noticed that Carol needed a break from being a mother and by taking Anna back to the hotel, allows Carol to have a break. Carol could have remained at the wedding to have a break or because it would be deemed socially unacceptable if she left at that point at the reception. Laura, someone who attended the same school as Carol, approaches her at the reception and attempts to make conversation. It is clear that Laura is much more confident and open than Carol is, and it could be said that this is how Laura expected Carol to turn out to be as Laura seems to have based most of her personality on what she thinks Carol was like at school. This can be proved as Laura says "God, we were all so in love with you at school". Another point of interest in this section is when Laura comments "Like a line of little ducks. Little Carol's. That time you jumped off the school roof." This would imply that now that Laura knows that Carol has had one child, she would expect that Carol would have more, as it is the socially expected thing to do. Moreover, the comment about little ducks implies that any children that Carol will have, specifically Anna, will follow Carol in whatever she does. This seems like a harmless comment, especially as these lines are interrupted by speech from Anna's side of the stage, but as Laura says that Carol jumped off the school roof, it could be suggested that Anna will follow with her mother's suicidal tendencies and will end up dead at the end of the play herself. At the end of the scene Laura kisses Carol which could link to the aforementioned line "God, we were all so in love with you at school" which could suggest that Laura likes Carol in a romantic way which can be further proved at Laura admits that she doesn't have a husband.

In Scene 7, Bonnie is planting flowers at the house when a child walks by and the two have a conversation. This could lead to the question as to why Bonnie is largely associated with children, which is one of the questions we raised in lesson. Much like Bonnie, Carol also has a scene and a conversation with a child, Daisy, but this is largely so that Daisy can plant the idea of Carol having a baby in her head to make her feel less lonely. Bonnie doesn't want children as highlighted in one of her final scenes where she decides to get sterilised. One interpretation is that Bonnie has a personality that works with children as she is indifferent to them which means that they don't have anything to bounce off of like the child in Scene 5. It could also be a buffer to stop the shock for the audience when Bonnie does decide to get sterilised as she isn't what society would class as 'normal' in interacting with children. This can be shown as she asks the Child if they have any children of their own which is somewhat abnormal, however, the audience may expect this of Bonnie because of her personality.

In Scene 7, Anna and Jamie are moving into the house. Anna is painting for the majority of the scene which will create a nice visual effect for the audience. If the back wall on Carol and Anna's side are the same for the first six scenes of the play it could show that Carol's presence is greater. When Anna paints over it, it removes some of the essence of Carol and shows that Anna is finally starting anew. This effect may be lost if I don't fully paint the wall in time but this can easily be reflected as being complete in Bonnie's side as that wall may remain the same colour as Anna's wall. The scene is quite hopeful and calm compared to Anna's previous scenes which could be because she finally feels content at her life as she has a home, a man who loves her, and she is off drugs. However, there is always the thought in the audience's mind that Anna will die at the end of the play as highlighted by Bonnie in the previous scene when she admits to the estate agent that her mother (Anna) died in the bathroom. The audience may begin to question what's going to go wrong and why it does go wrong. The comments about what pet Jamie and Anna should get in this scene seem domestic, especially when Jamie kisses Anna on the head (highlighting the intimacy that I mentioned at the start of this blog), which shows how hopeful the scene starts out. When Anna becomes slightly scared in the scene and goes off stage, Birch could be trying to suggest that Carol's "Legacy" (as mentioned by Carol in Scene 4) is still there, especially as Anna admits that she can feel Carol's presence. This gives a hint as to how Anna is going to die as Carol's presence is quite strong suggesting they both die from suicide (this is obvious due to the title of the play and Carol's previous attempts at suicide).

At the start of the scene and up until about halfway, Anna remains at the back of the stage and doesn't turn around when she says her lines. The small interaction with Jamie about the pet suggests that they're carrying on a conversation from before the scene started, which can show a Stanislavski method as Stanislavski said that the scene shouldn't start from when characters walk on stage. Anna is facing the back wall throughout her initial interactions with Jamie in this scene which could suggest more elements of Brecht creeping into the play as not facing the audience would distance them a small amount from the action onstage - this is the Verfremdungseffekt. Anna only turns around when a door bangs - presumably from Jamie in another room - and begins to look anxious, moving slightly towards the middle of the stage. This sudden movement and sound may attract the audience's attention to Anna's section of the stage allowing them to see that something has clearly troubled Anna and that she has left the stage. When Jamie enters and Anna isn't there, he moves towards the bottom of the stage so that when Anna enters and stays by the door, he can turn his back on the audience again creating the Verfremdungseffekt. It also creates a gap between the two which could show the gap that grows between the two after Bonnie is born. After this, Jamie embraces Anna which again shows hope for the audience and would make them question what goes wrong. The embrace highlights how different Anna and Jamie's relationship is to Carol and John's; Carol and John never seem to show much intimacy on stage whereas Anna and Jamie clearly do. This could suggest that Anna and Jamie's relationship is much more open which could be because Jamie already knows about Anna's previous drug abuse so she has nothing to hide from him or feel ashamed about in this section of the play. When Anna begins to tell Jamie what's wrong, she walks down towards the middle, verging on the bottom of the stage as though she's trying to envisage what impact Carol had on the house and how she's still there in some ways. This could link to how in previous scenes Carol and Bonnie both imagined what their life would be like in the house; here Anna is allowed to do the same. She says the lines out to the audience almost which would engage them more, meaning that they may become more attached to Anna's character, allowing them to become emotionally invested in her. This would make her death slightly more traumatic for the audience.

At the end of the lesson we briefly touched upon Scene 8. In Scene 8, the attention is largely focused on Carol's scene as Anna doesn't say anything in the scene as she's getting ready to get married and Bonnie only feeds her rabbit and then leaves the stage. In Carol's section, Carol and John appear to be holding a dinner party for Emma (John's sister) and her husband Toby. An argument arises between the four and ends with Carol throwing a dish full of food to the floor because the argument has woken Anna who's only just gotten to sleep. Carol potentially gets angry because she's had to put Anna to sleep and cook dinner suggesting that John has done nothing to help, fitting the role of a 60s/70s husband perfectly. Before the argument, Emma suggests that Carol should have another baby "if she's bored" which could suggest that Daisy got her opinions about Carol having a child in the first place from overhearing Emma talking about Carol. This also demeans Carol as she is now just a "wife and mother" (quoted from Laura from the previous scene) and the only thing she can do now is have more babies so she doesn't get bored.