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Anatomy of a Suicide

  • Alice Birch
  • Full Length Play, Drama, Contemporary, 1990s, The Future, 1970s
  • 4M, 6F
  • ISBN: 9780573709784

Three generations of women. Their lives play out simultaneously. For each, the chaos of what has come before brings a painful legacy.

More information

Description

  • Full Length Play
  • Drama
  • 120 minutes

  • Time Period: Contemporary, 1990s, The Future, 1970s
  • Target Audience: Adult
  • Set Requirements: Unit Set/Multiple Settings
  • Cautions: Alcohol

  • Performance Group:
  • College Theatre / Student, Community Theatre, Blackbox / Second Stage /Fringe Groups

  • Accolades:
  • Winner! Susan Smith Blackburn Prize (2018)
Three generations of women — Carol, Anna and Bonnie; mother, daughter and granddaughter — exist in three different temporal spaces but their stories are told simultaneously. Carol is in the hospital after having attempted to kill herself by slitting her own wrists. Anna is recovering from her drug addiction and has a daughter. That daughter, Bonnie, grows up to be a skilled physician who is gay, guarded and dead-set on not having children. 

The play, written in a unique style in which the characters' lives play out concurrently, asks whether trauma can be passed down through DNA. It's a harrowing, original work that leaves a lasting mark. 
REVIEWS:

"Odd, arresting and highly original."

The Guardian

"Somewhere between a dream, a nightmare, an art installation and a melodrama."

TimeOut London

"It is gut-level, subliminal: a depiction of tragedy as a disease that swims silently through the bloodstream."

TimeOut London

"It’s a beautifully organised play, an elegant information overload. Birch is an exacting writer."

Variety

"It has eaten into my thinking in a way many more conventional plays do not."

WhatsOnStage

Premiere Production: The play had its premiere at The Royal Court in London on June 3, 2017. It was transferred to the US, where it played in NYC at Atlantic Theatre beginning February 10, 2020.

Characters

  • Casting: 4M, 6F
  • Casting Attributes: Reduced casting (Doubling Possible)

  • CAROL
    ANNA
    BONNIE
    JOHN
    JAMIE JO / LAURA / LOLA
    DAN / DAVE / FELIX / LUKE / NICK
    DAISY / ANNA / CHILD
    EMMA / KAREN / DAISY / ESTHER / MAY / DIANE
    TIM / TOBY / STEVE / MARK

    • Available Material

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    Anatomy of a Suicide Script This is optional. Order Now

    Three generations of women — Carol, Anna and Bonnie; mother, daughter and granddaughter — exist in three different temporal spaces but their stories are told simultaneously. Carol is in the hospital after having attempted to kill herself by slitting her own wrists. Anna is recovering from her drug addiction and has a daughter. That daughter, Bonnie, grows up to be a skilled physician who is gay, guarded and dead-set on not having children.

     The play, written in a unique style in which the characters' lives play out concurrently, asks whether trauma can be passed down through DNA. It's a harrowing, original work that leaves a lasting mark. 

    		$24.95

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