Play for study: Find Me

Helen Day
Sunday, March 1, 2020

Each issue of D&T we bring you a teacher's guide to a play for study with your students, written by a fellow teacher. This issue, Helen Day explores Find Me, a set text for OCR at GCSE

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Find Me makes an excellent choice from the list of seven possible study texts within OCR's GCSE Drama: Performance and Response component. A powerful piece with contemporary relevance yet historical context, it is written for a cast of only eight, with actors playing multiple roles. It therefore lends itself well to practical exploration with smaller class groups, and while it is short and easy to read, it offers plenty of opportunities for engaging, in-depth study.

Synopsis

Based on a true story, Find Me explores the life of Verity Taylor, from child to young woman, as she battles with increasingly damaging mental health issues. The play's focus is on the impact this has on her immediate family, and it draws into question the way her case is processed through the health and social care systems.

The narrator clearly tells the audience what will happen at the end of the play at the very beginning: Verity will be charged with damaging a chair while in the locked ward of a mental hospital, and following a brief spell in prison will be sent to Broadmoor. The action then takes us back to the beginning of the story, starting when Verity is nine, and continuing chronologically.

Staging

When Find Me was first staged at the Orange Tree Theatre in Richmond, it was performed by a cast of eight (5f, 3m). Although it has since been performed with bigger casts (particularly by youth theatre groups), learners should note the relevance of Wymark's use of multi-roling, with actors swapping characters throughout the piece, and the fact that this enables the audience to view the characters as representational. When exploring the piece practically, this will also offer students the opportunity to consider the range of expression, body language and vocal tone each performer must deliver in order to present effective storytelling.

The simplicity of the intended staging, with a bare stage, an emphasis on lighting, and with minimal costumes and no props, should be investigated. Students may explore how differently the piece might be received and interpreted if a more complex staging and design were undertaken. They should consider the impact the minimalist approach has, and how a designer might choose to approach this work, with that in mind.

Themes

The treatment Verity receives within the healthcare system, and how this sheds light on the cultural and historical relevance of the play, is a huge theme. Learners should understand the system that was in place at the time Wymark was writing and be able to identify moments when she offers a commentary on Verity's care (or lack of it). Lack of suitable facilities and the necessary finance to properly treat a case like Verity's is directly referenced in the text, leading both characters and audience to question whether her treatment in fact caused the outcome rather than helped to avoid it.

Many summaries of the play refer to Verity as autistic, however given the changes in mental health awareness since the play was first performed, and indeed the current understanding of how to approach a huge variety of mental health issues, it seems unlikely that this would be the diagnosis given to her. Learners may research a spectrum of mental health issues to deepen their understanding of Find Me, and should also consider which elements of Verity's treatment, and indeed society's understanding of her, have a sense of being historical, and which might be just as relevant today. There is space to explore how well the director and actors should understand these issues in order to present the piece effectively.

There is also much to be explored around relationships, in particular parent-child relationships. The relationship between Verity and her mother offers plenty of material to investigate how what is said in the text – as well as what is left unsaid – can offer both director and actors key information to draw on. Verity also continually seeks safety throughout the play. Students should identify key moments at which she does this, and how this in turn impacts the action that follows.

Influences

The structure is episodic, with each episode having a stand-alone quality, and in this sense the piece aligns with Epic Theatre. We also note the removal of suspense over the outcome of the story, in order, presumably, to allow the audience to fully engage with each episode without their minds wandering to where the story might lead. Exploring these elements will allow students to develop and enhance their understanding of Brechtian theatre techniques, which in turn will allow them more fully to understand how a director, designer and actors might approach a staging of Find Me.

Grotowski is also a relevant area of study, given the minimalist staging the playwright intended. Students may particularly enjoy exploring the emphasis this style of theatre places on the actors.

Summary

A fascinating and hard-hitting play which places a demand on the performers to be hugely skilled and versatile, and which offers students the chance to connect with the approaches of two of the most important theatre practitioners of the twentieth century.

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