Hard to Swallow Drama Exam Evaluation

‘Hard to Swallow’ is an adaptation of an award winning book (and film) “Catherine” which is written by Maureen Dunbar. The book is based upon her daughter’s battle with anorexia and her families struggle in coping and adapting their lifestyle to the illness. Although I knew the main symptoms and effects of anorexia well, the play helped me to see the illness in a different light. The characters in the play were easy to relate to as it was a typical family household, so it was easy for me to see the anorexia take its toll on (not just Catherine) but the whole family and saw how each character coped with the anorexia in different ways.
As we worked in groups to recreate the ‘Section 2: Christmas ’73 – The Dunbar Household’ scene, we decided to use one thought track per character to make the scene more effective. I played the character of Anna and my thought track was: “Catherine is such an attention seeker!”, I chose to say this because of Anna and her portrayal in the play as someone who doesn’t show any sympathy towards Catherine and her illness, as she does let her feelings get the best of her at times, an example of this is when she says to Catherine that her “obsession is ruining all our lives!” I wanted to show Anna’s resentment even before Catherine’s illness is around, simply because she is the younger sister and craves for attention that she wouldn’t receive as the youngest in the house. From my knowledge, Anna is the youngest so I made her voice high pitched. I said the thought in a very bratty tone and her words came out very bitchy and envious at the same time. I was trying to shown Anna’s jealousy of Catherine yet her indifference and childishness through her voice. This taught me that even though Christmas is a fun and family orientated event, Anna is stubborn and is not willing to change her resentful and insensitive feelings towards Catherine and her illness, hence her telling Catherine that “I can’t stand you when you’re like this! I hate being your