During this lesson, we blocked the remainder of the play - scenes 14 to 16. Anna doesn't speak much in these final three scenes apart from a small monologue that doesn't seem to have any coherent thought. In the final two scenes that Anna is in (Anna is not in Scene 16) she is seriously mentally unwell which is possibly caused by severe post-natal depression or from ECT. I have previously commented on these scenes, but as we were blocking them, we collectively came up with more ideas about the meaning behind each scene and the lines within the scenes.
Scene 14
Carol's section in this scene is called Picnic and doesn't feature Carol. It shows John and Anna on a clifftop where John tells Anna that Carol has died. The speech that John gives is an immensely long winded way to say that 'your mum killed herself' but maybe he is doing this to keep on protecting Anna from what Carol has done. This can be seen later in the scene where he says that he "wanted to shield" which further shows that the majority of what he has done is to protect both Anna and Carol. Maybe the reason the way he says the speech is because he has been stood on the clifftop for some time so has had plenty of time to think about how he's going to phrase it. It was suggested that John is angry with the way that Carol killed herself - by being hit by a train. This is because John is a train driver so it feels as though Carol has purposefully chosen this way to die as if to hurt John even more - it's incredibly tiring to go out of her way to find some train tracks and a train.
There is no speech in Anna's section of the scene, instead all of the feeling is largely internalised in Anna and we only show this through small movements. In this scene, Anna is staring at baby Bonnie in a Moses basket where she "desperately wants to pick her up but can't". This may be a physical ailment due to the impact of the ECT on Anna's body but I think that this is much more of a mental ailment. This is because before Bonnie was born, Anna was ready to become a mother and seemed happy at the prospect. Now, however, she feels as though she can't even touch her baby which is possibly a fear from the dream that Anna describes in Scene 11. It may be that Anna is struggling to feel close to Bonnie or that she doesn't want any connection with her so that Bonnie won't be impacted in the way that she was from her mother's death.
The direction for this scene was fascinating to participate in because there are moments of physical simultaneousness which weren't as present in the earlier scenes. I think that this was easier to include because there are fewer lines in this scene meaning that physical movement can be enjoyed much more by an audience and as it is easier to remember the physicality of a scene when you don't have any lines to say during the scene. In the first 10-15 seconds of the scene, the stage is quiet. Anna is sat on a chair/hospital bed staring at a Moses basket, internally reaching for Bonnie. After 10-15 seconds she draws her hands back to signify that she can't pick up Bonnie for the aforementioned reasons. Throughout the next part of the scene, Anna remains still and continues to stare at Bonnie. In Carol's section of the scene we see a 16 year old Anna wearing a denim jacket that Anna may wear in scene 2 to show continuation. When John says the word "dead" there is movement from all three sections of the stage. In Carol's section, Anna sinks to the floor and sits cross legged, mirroring the position that Anna in Anna's scene is sitting on the chair (cross-legged with a straight back) - the older Anna moves to this position at the word "dead". In Bonnie's section, Bonnie also sinks to the floor but is much more open as she is more shocked rather than upset in her section. This creates a nice echo throughout the time zones and makes for a nice physical image.
Scene 15
I have already explained my ideas for this scene in a previous blog, so I will focus on the directing element for Anna. At the beginning of the scene, Anna is sat near the front of the stage and is holding Bonnie in her arms - she is somewhat afraid of Bonnie, hence why she puts her on the floor at the word "Down". We have set it in the hallway outside of a bathroom so that a bath doesn't have to come on stage, it can remain in the doorway offstage which makes it easier for Anna to run the bath so that she can commit suicide. After Anna puts Bonnie down, she backs away from it silently so she doesn't wake it up and doesn't have to calm her down from another crying fit. When she gets to the doorway, Anna gets into the bathtub (standing up) and continues with the rest of her small monologue. This creates for a nice image as we could potentially have water raining down on Anna whilst she's saying her monologue. When Anna says the line "Kettles gone" she smiles as though this is funny and shows this in her tone as well - this is to hint to the audience that Anna is going to use a kettle (electricity) in committing suicide. It also highlights how mentally unstable Anna is. During the course of this section of the monologue, Anna sits down in the bath where she remains until the end of the scene which again creates a nice image.
A large idea that spans the whole of the play was presented during this rehearsal. This was that all of the scenes are happening on the same day but years apart. For instance, Scene 5 may take place on the 31st March but in the 1980's for Carol, the 1990's for Anna, and the 2030's for Bonnie. This would suggest that the actions that have happened before in the opposing sections have a direct impact on what is happening in one section. For example in Scene 14 when Anna is told that Carol has died, this would be the same day in Anna's section which could further explain why Anna is so affected in this scene, despite the impact of the ECT.
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