Manic Street Creature Essay

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Introduction Manic Street Creature (MSC) is a concept album musical with a cast of three actor-musicians which premiered at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2022 winning the Mental Health Fringe Award. The musical depicts the little-discussed topic of secondary traumatic stress through a love story which follows the ‘euphoria and distress of two people dealing with their own and each other’s mental health’ (Southwark Playhouse, 2023). It is set during a recording session, with each track transporting us back to a memory of the character of song-writer Ria’s life. Watching MSC at Southwark Playhouse in 2023 was my inspiration as I was moved by it’s realistic portrayal and striking likeness to my life experiences and valued the representation …show more content…

It was one of the first contemporary portrayals of mental illness in a musical and has indirectly influenced MSC. Following the table below which looks at the ways in which musicals represent mental illness, MSC uses solely the textual model of depiction through the song lyrics and Ria’s narration of her life events. As a performer, it was a big responsibility to truthfully get this narrative across through my delivery to ensure the audience cared for both Ria and Daniel and resonated with their experiences. This show is unique in subject matter as it addresses the reality of both sides of Secondary Traumatic Stress, which is rarely depicted onstage. As well as techniques by Meisner laid out above, I was inspired by several Musical Theatre actresses: Donna Murphy’s portrayal of Fosca in Passion (figure 9) and Caissie Levy’s depiction of Diana in Next To Normal (figure 10). Looking at these two images you can see the emotion and rawness in their eyes and the pained physicality that I wanted to capture for Ria. MSC was described as ‘brutally realistic’ (Gale, D 2023) in an interview, and this is what I aspired to be. Looking at actresses that have successfully done this, aided my process, I particularly tried to allow my inner life to radiate through my eyes without overplaying the emotions of the show. When asked how Levy coped with portraying a suffering character like Diana she remarked ‘it is tough, but there is a lot of lightness in there too’ (Levy, C 2023). This quote stuck with me throughout the rehearsal process as I realised I was starting the top of our piece in a place where I hinted that there was struggle to come, whereas Ria is in an euphoric mood at the start and spirals downhill without knowing what’s coming. I played with the gear shifts and created more of a contrast and surprise for the audience members by allowing myself

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