Anatomy of a Suicide - Part 31

Over the past few weeks, we have been running various scenes of AOAS and have been receiving notes on acting now that the majority of us know our lines relatively well.

Scene 5

We managed to get through the entirety of Scene 5 with few slip ups. In this scene, it was suggested that Anna should become more upset as the scene progresses as she's having to analyse her life leading up to how she entered the commune. This is what would prompt Jamie to be so cautious in making Anna speak about her journey, which would lead him to almost turning the camera off at one point during the scene. This raises the question about why Anna would continue with telling her story. She could want to tell someone outside of her family about what happened because they might not judge her as much as her family would because her family would have known her since she was small, allowing for them to question what could have been. Anna may have not told anyone at all the full story due to embarrassment or fear at how they'd react. As Jamie is making a film she may want to be as honest as she can and she suspects that she won't see him again so won't have to face that part of her life by being confronted by another person. Maybe Anna is determined to tell the entire story to someone so that she can get some relief from it, placing some of the burden on someone else whom its unlikely she'll see again. Anna may have wanted to do this for herself to prove that she'd gotten past the worst point in her life and that she was better for it. The two "Carol" 's towards the end of the monologue should be hard to say and should be stuttered slightly. We interpreted it as Anna saying her mother's name for the first time since her death and has finally come to terms with what Carol did to herself and how that affected Anna.

Scene 8

In Scene 8, Anna has no lines which made it initially somewhat hard for me to enact what the script was suggesting, especially as I often didn't have make up and we don't yet have access to a wedding dress. After Anna has done her make up she begins dancing which is why we showed her pretending to bow to a courtier as though she was a royal or something of the kind. She is overacting and may be trying to make herself feel fewer nerves about getting married to Jamie. This humour juxtaposed what is happening on Carol's side of the stage - Emma, John, and Toby are talking about Carol having another baby which soon turns into a full scale argument. Compared to this, Anna's scene is much calmer than Carol's. When John comes in to dance with her, Anna may feel slightly embarrassed because she's dancing to herself. However, John doesn't seem to mind because he twirls her around and pulls her into a dance with him.

Scene 9

Little was changed in the initial part of this scene. When Daisy says "I'm saying it looks nice" Anna enters and says "Thank you". At this point, Anna should put her hand on Jamie's shoulder to show that he should calm down as Daisy is joking and purposefully annoying him - before this, Daisy was making a joke about Jamie's penis. The main issue that I have in this scene is remembering the line "I want this baby" - it is vital that I remember this line because it directly juxtaposes Carol who says "I don't want another baby" directly after this. Additionally, an issue that is present for both myself and Maya (who plays Daisy) is eating the food on the table after this line. This is because we find it hard to eat invisible food but I think that during the final performance this will be okay because there will be real food within the scene (hopefully). Towards the end of the scene, Anna says that she's 'amazed' at what her body "is doing and will do and can do" and at this Anna stands up, using her body as a prop. I decided to stand at the line "completely connected to something" because it felt as though Anna's speech gains momentum at this point and she is becoming much more excited at the prospect of her pregnancy. It is this speech that makes Daisy say "I told your mother to have a baby. To give her purpose" because she feels more connected to Anna as Anna has revealed her feeling to Daisy. After this, Anna puts her hand on Daisy's shoulder to comfort her and could also show that Anna is beginning to act like a stereotypical mother - caring.

Scene 11

In this scene, there are easy parallels to draw between Anna and Carol. Not only do the scenes in this section directly correspond with each other for the majority of the scene such as various simultaneous lines, Anna's emotions and stance in this scene mirror those of Carol in Scene 5 after Carol has just had Anna. This similarity would be worrying to an audience member because it's clear that Carol killed herself and the audience may now be beginning to understand why Anna eventually commits suicide. At the beginning of the scene when Lola, the midwife, has yet to come onstage and during the early part of the scene with Lola, Anna stares at the same point of the room (at the moment the fire exit sign) which she stares at in some of the following scenes. This is to show that Anna is severely tired and potentially on various drugs/hormones due to the birth of Bonnie - it is normal for this to happen after giving birth because it's an incredibly tiring and shocking experience, especially because at the end of this, Anna will have to take home a baby that she'd have to care for. When Anna begins to say "No" she should move her stare towards the top of a chair in front of her, to show that she is becoming more aware because she isn't staring to a point that's that far away. The tone of voice for Anna in this scene is vitally important because she hardly moves, becoming a lot like Carol - any movement that Anna makes will draw the audience's attention due to the lack of movement from her in this scene even if they are small reactions. Many of these small reactions are from where Lola touches her back or tries to give her a hug. It could be that Anna is longing for touch because she needs to be comforted after a potentially traumatic birth, hence why she may lean in to Lola's touch. The moment of contact may draw her from her staring stupor hence why Anna asks "How did you make her sleep?". The song that we decided that Lola should sing in this scene is Hush Little Baby - Hush little baby don't say a word, Mama's gonna buy you a mocking bird, and if that mocking bird don't sing, Mama's gonna buy you a diamond ring" - as it can easily be manipulated so that Carol speaks at the same time as the word Mama is being sung. At the first Mama, Anna begins to get agitated and should use her arm to show this by raising them slightly. This would easily pave the way for the following "I'm frightened".

Scene 12

When Anna enters the stage, she stays in the same spot and maintains eye contact with John and has a small smile until she says "I might have been swimming" when she walks forward a bit. She moves slightly in front of John (Marlon) so that it doesn't seem as though John is threatening (this was due to Marlon's height as he is quite a bit taller than me). When Anna is talking about how she might have been swimming, her focus moves to the top of the chair on stage. This shows that she's going back into her own head space again and is acting more and more like Carol which deeply concerns John and may somewhat concern the audience. At the line "I'm glad to see you" Anna turns slightly back to John, changing her focus again. The minimal amount of movement so far remind me of how Carol is portrayed. John comments that something is painful. Before Anna's line of "What is Daddy?" there should be a slight pause to emphasise that Anna is calling John her dad again which we know from Scene 4 is incredibly emotional for John to hear. Additionally, the pause shows that she genuinely doesn't know what is causing John pain because she's so full up on drugs she doesn't know what's happening to her. This could be a possible reason for the ECT. After this line, Anna's focus returns to the top of the chair; when she sits on the chair, her focus returns to a high up place (the fire exit sign) showing a continuation from Scene 11. When Anna is speaking directly to John she moves her head slightly to the side (e.g. at the line "Can you?" and "Are you cold?") to indicate that she's speaking to him which is slightly disconcerting because she's not facing him fully.