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 Beachy Head - 2008/09
'As his eyes fell shut - the world became quiet, still and dark. The angry flame softened to a warm glow and his head was filled with dreaming.'
It's been a month since Stephen jumped.
Amy is called to collect her husband's personal effects - the things he had with him that night gathered in a single box. She is haunted by the fractured memories of their last night together - rewinding, replaying, unravelling. She is in desperate need of someone to listen.
Joe and Matt are making a documentary. Whilst reviewing their footage they make a startling discovery - the blurred image of a man jumping from the cliffs.
Amy, Joe and Matt help each other to find out what traces a suicide leaves behind. But as the lid on Stephen's box come off for the first time what discoveries will she make, and will they force her to re-edit the way she remembers him?
Beachy Head charts the ripple effects of one man's decision to take his life, as those left behind search for answers and understanding. Fusing text, 3D animation, object manipulation and physical performance, Beachy Head is the follow up to the Analogue's award-winning Edinburgh 2007 debut Mile End.
Devised by Analogue Directed by Liam Jarvis & Hannah Barker Producer Ric Watts
Co-produced by The New Wolsey, IpswichScript by Dan Rebellato, Emma Jowett & Lewis Hetherington Devisers / Performers (in order of appearance)
Dr Rachel Sampson Hannah Barker Music Composer Simon Slater Lighting Design Chris Pye & Edmund Mckay
In 2007 a newspaper article caught our attention. It featured a photograph of a solitary telephone box which was installed on the cliff tops at Beachy Head in 1976 with a sign planted a few feet away that reads, ‘ALWAYS THERE DAY OR NIGHT'. Below this message is a telephone number for The Samaritans. We had never been to Beachy Head, although we were aware, as perhaps you are, of its reputation as one of Britain's prominent suicide spots. There was something about the idea of this phone box, at the very edge between life and death that was incredibly hopeful to us. Its very existence being perhaps the kindest gesture directed towards those who, for whatever reason, had come to the cliffs and might want someone to listen at a moment of despair.
Inspired by all kinds of questions, we first visited Beachy Head on a field trip on 22nd September 2007. The phone box looked surprisingly ordinary. It did not sit on the edge of cliffs as we had imagined, but between the road and the pub, with an ice cream van parked directly behind it. It was a sunny day and the first impression of the place was its breathtaking beauty. During the two years we have been developing this project it has been confirmed that Beachy Head and the South Downs area is to become the 15th National Park in the UK, and it's not hard to see why. People were not wandering around sombre and morose, but enjoying the weekend with their families and taking photographs of the breathtaking vistas.
And yet there were small details that distinguished the beautiful surroundings as more than just a tourist site. Makeshift memorials were dotted along the cliff edge, marking the place where loved ones had jumped. Visitors paused to more closely inspect each sentiment, but unlike the gravestones of a cemetery, the small bunches of flowers and wooden crucifixes did more than commemorate the passing of a son, daughter, sister or mother; they pinpointed the decisive place and moment when someone chose death over life.
On this first trip we found ourselves much closer to the subject matter than we had anticipated; from the gardens of The Beachy Head pub we witnessed in the distance the sight of the Police and local Chaplaincy team comforting the grieving relatives of Melanie Wells (wife of Sussex cricketer, Alan Wells) who had jumped earlier that morning. Witnessing this tragic aftermath from afar, the ethical dilemmas of making art about this incredibly sensitive subject became very real indeed. We spent the day and into the night up on the cliffs, walking the two or three miles to the old Belle Tout lighthouse and back, trying to make sense of our project and whether we should continue with it. What good could staging this kind of grief possibly do?
When creating a project over a long period of time, frequently the initial objectives change. They alter and adapt based on your experiences as you learn and become more aware of the stories surrounding the subject. As you begin to go down one path of inquiry, real life presents itself in sometimes shocking and surprising ways. Such was the case with news of the extraordinarily sad deaths of the Puttick family which made the headlines over this summer. Whilst the timing of these events has coincided with our project, tragic events at Beachy Head are not uncommon and the timing is less coincidental than it might seem. On average 20 people take their lives at Beachy Head every year. In essence it could be argued that there would never be a right time to investigate Beachy Head; art would always be far too close to real life wouldn't it? For this reason the journey of this play has been one long investigation into the ethics of telling such stories, focusing increasingly on those who are left behind.
With Arts Engagement funding from the Wellcome Trust, we were able to invest two years researching. Our research was separated into two phases which explored Biomedical and Psychological research. Ruth Semple, Outreach Project Manager at the Royal College of Pathologists put us in contact with a number of contributors in the field who we then went on to interview. A key area of interest was to better understand the misconceptions surrounding pathology (the kind of myths you might expect to be represented in popular television dramas like CSI), and to understand in reality what secrets behind a body can be unlocked through autopsies. We were also interested in the psychological effects of a suicide on the relatives that are left behind. We wanted to better understand how relatives are able to cope and deal with this kind of trauma. We we're also interested in understanding the different kinds of therapeutic processes available to those dealing with grief through suicide, and for this reason we interviewed several members of the Samaritans and bereavement counsellors. We also met those who had previously attempted suicide as well as relatives and friends of those who had taken their own lives. From these encounters, we are painfully aware that this subject continues to be an enigma. All too frequently those who are left behind cannot determine definitive reasons or understand the motivations that compelled such an act. In one interview, Vittoria Ardino, Senior Lecturer in Forensic Psychology at the European Society for Trauma (Metropolitan University), likened the stages of grief associated with suicide to those suffered by survivors of the Holocaust. The manifestation of these feelings is erratic. It does not conveniently fit into the dramatic arc of a play; to put the inner workings of a person's mind onstage can come across as unbelievable or inconsistent. Similarly, the real life journey of someone grieving the loss of loved ones is not necessarily one of consistent melancholy. There will be lighter moments, but when it comes to putting that in the context of theatre it can too easily come across as flippancy.
The subject of suicide has media guidelines to coach those who represent it, advising against particular language or detailed imagery that could incite it amongst vulnerable audiences. This poses a very interesting question; as a potentially controversial subject, is it best to communicate facts openly so as to avoid reaffirming a taboo, or if it is best to contain the information to prevent those who may be vulnerable from copying what they see? The existence of this play necessarily means that we must think the former to be true. History has shown with the emergence of internet Usenet newsgroup's such as alt.suicide.holiday (or ASH) that the conversations are being had, in this example with catastrophic consequences as the suicidal counsel the suicidal. Art forms can have the propensity to romanticise suicide, but we we're conversely drawn to what's left behind. To the demystification of the act; Eric Steel's 2006 documentary film The Bridge being a common reference point throughout our rehearsals.
Whether people go to the theatre to avoid or embrace real life is another debatable subject. In the lead up to the Edinburgh Festival 2009 at a time of economic crisis, this is a point that has already been discussed openly in the press. Theatre exploring the bleaker facets of life is likely to have little appeal isn't it? Moreover there is an important concern that those who might be vulnerable and attracted by the title, come to find solace or help, and instead are confronted with a bunch of theatre-makers (!)
So what are we doing? Why attempt to tackle a place so steeped in a dark and inexplicable history? Why spotlight an issue that has so few answers? We think it comes down to a need to openly ask informed questions in the only way we really know how; to let our characters ask those questions for us. To stage a team of documentary makers who face the same issues of representation that we do, and let the audience see them fumbling for the truth of a story, as we have. To see the character of a widow trying to understand. Trying to find the truth of one person's death. Taking heed of the advice we have been offered and the expertise available to us to ensure we present them in a way that reaches out positively. Ultimately we feel it is better to have taken the risk of opening up a discussion, than to seal all communication on a complex subject and isolate further those who are in desperate need to talk about it. Ultimately that phone box invites conversation; at best, we hope this play does too.
Hannah Barker & Liam Jarvis Co-Artistic Directors
Co-produced and commissioned by The New Wolsey Theatre, Ipswich. Co-commissioned by Farnham Maltings. Developed at Lyric Hammersmith, South Hill Park and The Pleasance. Funded by The Wellcome Trust and Arts Council England. Supported by Royal Holloway University.
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