Attempts on Her Life: 2015

AS Drama and Theatre Studies - Unit 2 Part B

Attempts on her Life

Director’s Interpretation - Jack Hughes

Martin Crimp’s ‘17 scenarios for the theatre’ dispense with plot and character altogether but are, nevertheless, a compelling catalogue of late twentieth century fixations. With themes ranging from suicide to ethnic cleansing, terrorism to talk shows its disturbing assortment of nameless narrators are attempting to come up with a story that speaks of a society in free fall.

Attempts on her Life was first presented at the Royal Court Theatre Upstairs, London, on the 7^th March 1997. It was revived in the Lyttelton auditorium of the National Theatre, London, on the 8^th March 2007. Eight years on from Katie Mitchell’s version, the play is still hugely relevant and could even be seen as a prophetic piece about the schizophrenic nature of contemporary Western life. To quote the playwright:

‘I don’t know what the next big thing is – maybe it will be good, not bad. I don’t think it has happened yet. So this play, is surfing along a wave which is still growing, still arriving.’

(Martin Crimp, NT Education Pack, 2007)

The overall concept of this director’s interpretation comes from the idea that, just as in modern life, the forces of good and evil can be hard to distinguish,the identity and objectives of the central character are likewise blurred. Is Anne an Artist, a business woman, cult leader, suicide victim, casualty of war, psychopath, terrorist, pornographer, megastar, killer or a brand of car? We don’t even know if her name is really Anne...it could be Anny, Annie, Anya. We assume that this person is guilty, but of what, we never find out. The notion that one can wage war on a belief system or put a concept on trial is very much a part of our society’s current outlook. Yet the reality of such a legal process is as brutal, absurd and fraught with difficulty as the one dreamed up by Kafka. So this production had to take the form of an absurd and nightmarish presentation of evidence, drawing on the influences of Artaud and the surrealists in which, to quote Strindberg:

‘The characters split, double, multiply, evaporate, condense, dissolve and merge. But one consciousness rules them all: the dreamer's; for him there are no secrets, no inconsistencies, no scruples and no laws. He does not judge or acquit, he merely relates’

(August Strindberg, A Dream Play, 1907)

Martin Crimp’s work defies logic and resists explanation leaving the director with great scope to experiment and play within the rules and structure of the text. The playwright said that directors who approach the text ‘must have a sense of humour. A sense of irony. A sense of fun. A sense of despair. Those are the things that are required.’ and my vision for the piece attempts to reflect that.

(Martin Crimp, NT Education Pack, 2007)

On first reading it became apparent that the piece, though still immensely relevant, is of its time in that it portrays the concerns of Western society at the end of the 20^th century. It is specifically set in the here and now of 1997, which is, coincidentally, the year that many of the students in this cohort were born. This seemed somehow significant, in that it is describing a world that these students never knew but are a product of. A world in which mobile phones were rare, people smoked on public transport and the worldwide web was an esoteric subculture populated by anoraks and academics. It seemed important to root the play in this era in terms of visual imagery, music and cultural references and yet I felt that the cast themselves, being the children of 1997, would bring their own inherent modernity to it. In this piece you will hear 90’s indie, house and gangster rap, see images of child soldiers, suicide cults, genocide and political triumph and be bombarded with a sense of a culture spiralling towards the end of a violent and explosive century.

In Crimp’s most recent play, ‘In the Republic of Happiness’ (Royal Court Theatre 2012), all the actors learnt all the lines and spoke whenever they felt the impulse to chime in. This was much too difficult a principle to entertain with my students, yet I was keen to work in a free and collaborative way that encouraged improvisation and experimentation. For this reason, lines were not fixed from the start and scenes were shaped and developed by what each actor brought to the sessions: physically, technically and vocally.

I have encouraged the adoption of some characterisation within this characterless play in order for the students to showcase their acting skills and have attempted to impose a type of narrative on a self consciously storyless piece, in order to present an abridged version of Crimp’s master work. All actors are on stage all the time and take it in turns to speak.

The running order of scenes is as follows:

1. ALL MESSAGES DELETED – In which the themes, images and ‘characters’ that will later be described are introduced. Anne’s body is seen circumscribed by police chalk as her answer phone messages are played back and her last memories relived. But is she the murder victim or the murderer?

2. FAITH IN OURSELVES – A beautiful landscape is described in which life is so precious, so felt,even the trees have names. People are seen tending the earth, preparing the soil for planting. But the harmony of generations is destroyed and it becomes unclear whether the holes they are digging are for planting trees or bodies.

3. THE OCCUPIER – A TV interview in three dimensions, in which we try to work out just what kind of person Anne is.

4. THE CAMERA LOVES YOU – A pop song, a fashion show, an in your face advert. Anne is so delicious every one must get their share.

5. MUM AND DAD – Why does Anne always carry that big red bag? Why is she always travelling? Set in the therapy room of a mental hospital we leaf the through the holiday brochure that is Anne’s life.

6. THE NEW ANNY – Test drive the new Anny. She handles like a dream.

7. THE THREAT OF INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM – A thug, a business woman, a schoolgirl, a psychiatrist, a terrorist, a checkout girl and a soldier give their evidence in the case of the state vs Anne.

8. UNTITLED (100 WORDS) – A private view at a contemporary Art gallery. Eight critics pick apart a work of Art that pushes the boundaries of what is acceptable.

9. THE GIRL NEXT DOOR – A gangster rap video that delivers the final verdict on just who Anne is. But how will she be sentenced?