'Anatomy of a Suicide' at the National Museum of Natural History: Explaining the Deepest Pain in the Most Poetic Way

BarcelonaCan trauma be transmitted genetically? How can we break inherited patterns so that the cycle isn't inevitable? How do we pick up the legacy of our parents? How do we overcome the suffering of lives that are too fragile? Playwright Alice Birch (Malvern, UK, 1986) wrote Anatomy of a suicide In 2017, in four weeks, shortly after becoming a mother for the first time. The play, which addresses all these questions, was a professional highlight for the British playwright, author of plays such as Curve. She said. Curve again. (2014), screenwriter of the film Lady Macbeth (2016), inspired by the story by Nikolai Leskov, and co-adaptor of the novel Normal people by Sally Rooney on televisionNow, director Glòria Balañà has taken on the challenge of bringing Birch's play to the Sala Petita of the National Theatre of Catalonia (TNC) with a company of 10 actors. Anatomy of a suicide It premieres on Thursday and will be at the TNC until June 8.

"The idea of inherited trauma is the driving force of the story, but Birch goes much further. It unfolds three stories about the complexities of psychic life, the ambivalence of motherhood, and the unfathomable fragility that comes with psychological suffering," Balañà points out. The show is conveyed through three protagonists: Carol (Marta Ossó), Anna (Maria Ribera), and Bonnie (Patrícia Bargalló). They are the same age, but from different eras and are united by a family bond. In the text, the playwright doesn't indicate period elements, but Balañà has decided to place them in the 1970s, the late 1990s, and beyond our present, in 2028.

"Their existences occur synchronously, which makes for impossible dialogues," in chronological time. In fact, one of the text's great difficulties is the formal experimentation Birch opted for: sometimes the characters speak simultaneously, other times they speak at the same time but say different things. The stage is filled with resonances, polyphonies, cacophonies, fragmented sentences that begin but never end, reflecting the characters' psychological fragmentation. "They make attempts to express trauma, but they don't succeed," Balañà points out, adding that "the text is written like a score."

Anatomy of a suicide It's a show that moves away from naturalism and embraces poetry to explore the wounds of mental pain. "It brings together sensitivity and sadness about themes that have touched me personally, and at the same time, it does so with a sense of humor and brilliant writing," says the director, who adds that motherhood is an important backdrop in the work. "It moves away from the idyllic image to talk about depression. Giving birth is where life and death come together, where a woman breaks, splits in two," emphasizes Balañà.

'Verbatim' at Tantarantana

The premiere ofAnatomy of a suicide coincides with another mental health show on the bill. Adrift it is a play verbatim Written by Lara Díez, Elies Barberà, and Marta Montiel, based on interviews with witnesses who have suffered psychotic episodes and have been admitted to psychiatric hospitals. The production, which will be at the Tantarantana Theater from May 14 to 26, is a first-person account of life in hospitals. "It captures the experiences of people who have been there from a place that tries to be as illuminating as possible," notes Díez. On stage, they reflect the stigma suffered by patients and the treatment they have received from healthcare services. "It's a call to not stigmatize and to question what it means to be crazy or not to be crazy," adds Díez. "Psychotic episodes don't just happen like a mushroom; they have a context that leads the person to that moment of crisis. If you follow the path backward, perhaps you can find ways to rescue them."