Anatomy of a Suicide - Part 37

The past week has been packed with tech and dress rehearsals and with three performances of Anatomy of a Suicide. I have completed both performances that I had to do as Anna in Cast A but we still have one more performance of Cast B on Monday before we move on to the interviews for this piece and then onto Berkoff.

Monday - Tech Rehearsal

We worked through the play methodically from Scene 1 to Scene 16. At the end of every scene, the lights go dimmer and music plays - if there was music playing in the previous scene then that is used for the transition. If scenes are omitted from the following tech list, then assume the only tech part of the scene was the lights and music at the start and end of the scene

Scene 2
The telephone rings on Carol's side of the stage.
Carol switches on the radio - Pale Blue Eyes by The Velvet Underground plays.

Scene 3
Anna switches on the radio - Venus in Furs by The Velvet Underground plays.

Scene 8
A baby cries on Carol's side of the stage.

Scene 15
Lights dim at Anna's line "Lights are gone."

Tuesday - Dress Rehearsal

There was little to be said about the dress rehearsal apart from a few small adjustments and a rather big adjustment for Scene 15.

In Scene 3, I had no sponge for the shooting up sequence which meant that I was inaccurately 'taking' heroin. Before I take the heroin, I should put the bag of sugar into the larger bag that I take on stage. This is practically done so that Bruce doesn't have to pick up a large number of props off the floor - during the scene 3 to 4 transition, I saw Bruce drag a lighter across the ground with his foot which we don't want to happen. In Anna's mind, this is done so that some other person steals her bag of heroin. I was also told not to fiddle in changeovers.

During the Scene 4 to 5 transition, I take too long getting the dungarees on even with the help of Bella. As I am centre stage, this meant that the audience's focus would be on me. Chipp introduced a simple walking sequence for the characters of Tim, Jamie, and the Nurse. This distracted from the changing of my clothes in this transition.

Scene 15 Adjustments

We decided to change Scene 15 completely before the dress rehearsal. This is because the bath has awful sightlines for the audience when placed behind Anna's door. It also doesn't make it obvious to the audience that Anna is committing suicide. We changed it so that now Anna is holding Bonnie as a baby and is also holding a knife. This makes the scene much more worrying as a mentally healthy person wouldn't hold a knife that close to a newborn baby. It also shows that Anna is severely mentally ill and needs professional help that doesn't involve ECT.

At the beginning of the scene, Anna like before is sat at the bottom of the stage holding Bonnie but this time is rocking her violently whilst holding tight onto the knife. She is looking straight ahead at the audience rather than looking at Bonnie - this is where she says the first two lines of the monologue. Now when she tells Bonnie not to cry and go back to sleep, it is more like a plead for her to do so. Towards the end of the lines of "To sleep" Anna begins to become hysterical because she herself can't sleep.

At the line "Lights are gone" the lights change. In my version of Anna, she slows down her words and her movements and looks up at the ceiling. This directly contrasts with the following line of "Hello" which is said after a quick look down to Bonnie. This word is softer than what has been said before - perhaps Anna does love Bonnie and doesn't want to harm her in any way. There should be a gap between this lines and the following lines so that Anna has time to put down Bonnie on the floor and leave her there - which is concerning for a mother to do.

After Anna has put Bonnie down, she is still rocking back and forth. This lets the audience know that Anna is rocking for herself rather than for the sake of Bonnie. At this point, Anna's grip on the knife is hard allowing her hands to turn whiter. The following lines are said whilst Anna is in the process of standing up. The line "Wrist has gone" is said when Anna is stood up and has put the knife close to her wrist to further emphasise that Anna is going to commit suicide. The "finger and thumb" lines are said whilst Anna is backing away to the door, knife still held firmly in grasp, and Bonnie left abandoned on the floor. Before she exits the door, she relaxes and has a sense of calm as she looks into the audience. She then walks off stage - I am allowed to walk straight through Anna's door to offstage right showing that Anna has died.

During the dress rehearsal, the knife wasn't inside the Moses basket for Scene 14 which meant that Joel had to go off again and bring it on again, meaning that the transition went on for a longer period of time and almost resulting in me not having the knife for the scene which would have been disastrous.

For the dress rehearsal for Cast B, I was doing transitions. I still find them quite difficult as I haven't practised these sets of transitions for as long as other people have practised the Cast A ones. In the dress rehearsal, I put the New York tee on Bella for Scene 15 which we had agreed on beforehand. However, this extended the transition for far too long and it didn't look as effective as all the other transitions we had done before. Scene 15 still looks effective with Anna still wearing hospital scrubs.