Brief Encounter With…The Play About Charlotte’s Writer-Director Hannah C Patterson
August 28, 2009
Hannah C Patterson is the author and director of The Play About Charlotte, which is at C Soco during the Fringe, having premiered earlier this year at Stage@leeds theatre in Leeds, where Patterson - and her company - are currently studying.
How have you found directing your own play?
Difficult at first. It became clear pretty quickly that I needed to find a way to separate the two roles as much as possible. When writing a play, you have a certain image in your mind, and the danger is that you want to stick to it when you’re directing. It’s important, however, to give the cast an opportunity to experiment with how the lines should be said and what characters should look like. If there’s an idea set in stone before you start rehearsals, then I don’t think a play will reach a very high standard.
Tell us a bit more about The Play About Charlotte.
The play is about a young woman called Cathy, struggling to grow up and succeed with Dissociative Personality Disorder in the 1960s. Amy Marchant, who plays Cathy, and myself worked hard to get the balance between Cathy’s youthful energy and her mental state. The play has changed a bit since its first run. It’s now a four-hander, while it used to require a cast of nine. Although it has a different feel to it, the aim remains the same. It’s as much about a feeling that life is passing you by, and that your mind, and the world it’s in, is working against you.
Why did you choose to write about mental health?
The therapist in the play, Michael, was inspired by some of the writings of RD Laing, who believed patients deserved compassion as opposed to emotional distance which I thought was suitable for this subject matter. Also, the very current mental health campaign ‘Time to Change’ (www.time-to-change.org.uk) was a valuable resource. Their message is all about reducing the stigmatism surrounding mental health. Bearing this in mind, I thought it was appropriate to explore some of the emotions one might feel when you, or someone you love, deals with a mental illness.
What was the biggest hurdle in getting to the Fringe?
The Fringe for me is about stamina. The whole thing is relentless. It has been a long process getting here, most people have a venue by March time at the latest. It goes without saying that there are sacrifices, which kind of just have to be made. Along the way, we’ve been lucky enough to receive invaluable advice and support for which we are extremely grateful.
What’s next for you?
I would, no doubt, love to return to the Fringe next year. I am always writing about something, and I have got a few ideas for my next piece. I think it’s good to be ambitious, maybe I will write a novel next. Before that, there is the little matter of a degree in Theatre and Performance to complete!
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