Anatomy of a Suicide - Part 40

Costumes

Throughout the play, Anna has a variety of costumes that she wears. It was very important that myself and Bella acquired costumes that were true to the time setting of the play, but also showed the various stages of Anna's life from drug addiction to mother. Unfortunately, we didn't get any pictures of Cast A in the dress rehearsal, so instead these pictures were taken during the Cast B run through. I chose slightly different clothing choices to Bella in some scenes, but for the most part, the clothing choices shown here are what I wore as Anna in Cast A. The base for my clothing choices were a black vest top and black shorts which were incorporated into the costumes for each scene.

Scene 2

Bella is pictured on the far right wearing a blue denim jacket, a leopard print skirt, tights, trainers, and the base layer as well as a bandage on her right wrist. This outfit was chosen as it portrays Anna as promiscuous and risqué. Anna presents these qualities in this scene, especially when she tries to suggest that she could go home with Dan, portrayed in this image by Marlon. The tights are used in the following scene where Anna takes them off and uses them as a prop to tie around her arm, hence why it was sensible for Anna to wear tights in the preceding scene. The denim jacket that she wears in this scene is worn by Anna (as portrayed by Leah) in Scene 14 when John tells her about Carol's death. The use of the jacket then allows the audience to see a direct link to Leah playing Anna and myself (or Bella) playing Anna. The bandage is used for a pragmatic reason as it shows the audience clearly that Anna has injured her wrist as pointed out by Dan in the scene.

Scene 3

The same costume as in Scene 2 is used in this scene which brings the scenes closer together in time. Anna is shown laid down in the middle of the stage. The denim jacket is discarded in this scene and used as a makeshift pillow; the tights are tied around Anna's arm; the trainers are also discarded.


Scene 4

Anna is shown at the front of the image sat on a blue hospital chair wearing blue scrubs. The scrubs easily show that Anna is in a place of medical attention, however, to some extent the scrubs don't show that Anna is in rehab, rather suggesting that she's in hospital. For the purposes of a school environment with limited choices, the costume was efficient in showing that Anna is attempting to recover from her drug addiction.

Scene 5

Anna is pictured in this scene sitting on the commune chair in front of the camera. In this scene, she is wearing the base layer, blue dungarees, flip-flops and a grey cardigan that isn't pictured. The dungarees were chosen to show that Anna has reverted to a more casual way of life especially as she's in a commune - this is also shown with the flip-flops. The grey cardigan not pictured was used in order to store cigarettes in the pocket for the next scene - we wouldn't have time in the transition to put the cardigan on so had to use it in this scene. Anna takes off the cardigan mid-scene in order to reinforce the idea of a porn film into the audience's minds before destroying this later in the scene.

Scene 6

The costume choices didn't change from the previous scene as there was no need to do this.


Scene 7

Anna is pictured in centre stage stood across from Jamie (Joel) in the denim jacket. The costume choice has again remained largely the same apart from discarding the cardigan. Bella added a green bandana in Cast B, however, as I couldn't work out how to put it on correctly, I decided to forgo this accessory.

Scene 8

As mentioned in previous blogs, Anna wears a wedding dress in this scene.

Scene 9

Again, Anna is wearing the dungarees as well as the base layer. She is also barefoot. Both of these clothing choices show that she is comfortable in the house whilst still maintaining the 'hippie' vibe she had in the commune. This 'hippie' vibe can be seen as she has naturalistic furniture such as the wooden commune chair, table, and wooden cutlery and bowl.

Scene 10

The clothing choices in this scene are the base layer and the New York tee pictured. I chose this tee for this scene because it is quite loose and allows for greater movement in the scene - also when people are giving birth they tend to wear loose clothing so that they can actually get the baby out. I also thought that this tee could have 'belonged' to Jamie and that Anna has 'stolen' the shirt from him showing how close they are in their relationship.

Scene 11

This tee is kept on. This is because Anna remains gave birth in her house so it would be assumed that she would wear the same shirt, possibly in order to feel closer to Jamie and to Bonnie.

Scene 12

Anna wears blue scrubs in this scene to show that she is in hospital. This would suggest to the audience that Anna is not coping after having Bonnie so has had to have special treatment - the ECT as shown in the following scene.

Scene 13 

Again, Anna is wearing hospital scrubs. This is needed because Anna has ECT in this scene.

Scene 14

Scene 15



Despite what is shown in these images, in the final performances we did not use this tee in this scene. in the dress rehearsal, we attempted to use this tee but it made the transition far too long. Instead, we used the same hospital scrubs from the previous scene. I think that we should have changed into this scene because Anna is home at this point and is desperately trying to find a connection with Bonnie and potentially with Jamie again which is why she'd wear this tee. Moreover, hospital scrubs would suggest she is in the hospital which she isn't and may have confused the audience as to her whereabouts.

Hair

In the play, I only varied my hairstyles twice. From Scene 2 to Scene 9 I had the following hairstyle (as seen from the back):

This allowed for none of my facial expressions to be blocked from view by my hair. 

The following hairstyle is what I chose for Scene 10 to Scene 15 (as shown from behind): 

This shows a marked decline in Anna's personal appearance. Moreover, it is practical for Scene 10 as people usually have their hair up when giving birth and also allowed Bruce's face to be at my neck without my hair getting in the way. 

Changes to Set 

There have been some small changes to the set since my previous blog about the set. Polythene has been put up between each doorway allowing for a better backstage area to store props. Moreover, the yellow paint that was applied to Anna's doorway has been rubbed away slightly to show that the paint has been there for a long time so Anna is changing it. the most marked change has been the timelines put above each doorway allowing the audience to understand when each story takes place. As shown in the image below, Carol's timeline begins in 1972, Anna's in 1995, and Bonnie's in 2024.