by Wendy Harmer
Binging with Sancia
Working individually, students read through the scene without interruption. Students read the scene for a second time and mark down any visual references and other clues that they may be able to identify from the play. Using these notes, students choose one of the elements of production (costume, set, props, lighting) and create a design concept and a series of sketches for their chosen element of production. Students share their concepts and sketches with each other.
After the binge
Working in small groups, conduct a moved reading of the script and identify how the elements of drama are working in the script.
Working individually, create a short monologue from the point of view of another character in Sancia’s life that uses an element of Sancia’s resolution in the text. For example her mum when she finds Sancia on the bathroom floor, or one of Sancia’s friends who is trying to advise and support her. In pairs, perform the monologue for each other and provide feedback using the elements of drama as a framework. After refining the monologue, students take it in turns to perform for the class.
Bibliography/References
A) BOOKS/JOURNALS
BALL, J., & BALL, R., Eating Disorders: A Survival Guide for Families, Doubleday, Sydney, 1995.
BALL, J., BUTLOW, & PLACE, F., When Eating is Everything, Doubleday, Sydney, 1995.
BRUNCH, H.: Eating Disorders, Obesity, Anorexia, and the Person Within, Basic Books, New York, 1973.
FREEDMAN, R., Beauty Bound, Columbus, London, 1986.
JONES, A., & CRAWFORD, A., Shadow of a Girl, Penguin, Melbourne, 1995.
ORBACH, S., Fat is a Feminist Issue, Basic Books, New York, 1982.
SLADE, R., The Anorexia Nervosa Reference Book, Harper & Row, London, 1988.
TOUYZ, S.W., & BEUMONT, P.J.V. (eds.), Eating Disorders: Prevalence and Treatment, Williams & Wilkins, Sydney, 1985.
WOLF, N., The Beauty Myth: How Images are Used Against Women,
Vintage, London, 1991.
Issues for the Nineties, Vol. 24, ISBN 1 875682 26 0, On eating disorders (bulimia, anorexia nervosa), bodybuilding and steroid use. Spinney Press, Balmain, NSW 2041. Tel: 02 555 9319
B) VIDEO
The Famine Within
Directed, written and produced by Katherine Gilday.
Running time 89 min.
Released by Ronin Films, PO Box 1005, Civic Square ACT 2608.
Tel: 02 6248 0851
C) SUPPORT
If you need support either for your self or a family member or friend this can come from:
· Your family doctor or GP
· Another medical or mental health specialist
· A community-based organisation or centre
· A state or national organisation
Community-based organisations and respite centres are equipped with trained professionals who often possess a substantial amount of knowledge about eating disorders and about how to care for someone with an eating disorder. Here are some of them:
Butterfly National Support Line and Web Counselling Service:
Phone: 1800 ED HOPE / 1800 33 4673
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.thebutterflyfoundation.org.au/web-counselling
Emergency help:
If you are in a crisis situation, need immediate medical assistance or are at risk of harming yourself please contact:
Emergency Services: 000
Lifeline Australia: 13 11 14
Kids Helpline: 1800 55 1800
Support organisations:
The following eating disorders support organisations in each state are not crisis assistance but will be able to provide support specific to eating disorders and advice on where to seek help in your local area.
NSW: The Butterfly Foundation: www.thebutterflyfoundation.org.au; Centre for Eating and Dieting Disorders (CEDD): www.cedd.org.au
VIC: Eating Disorders Victoria (EDV): www.eatingdisorders.org.au
QLD: Eating Disorders Association Inc Queensland: www.eda.org.au; Isis The Eating Issues Centre: www.isis.org.au
WA: Women’s Health Works: www.womenshealthworks.org.au
SA: Centacare: (PACE) www.centacare.org.au/OurServices/HealthWellbeing/PACE.aspx#; Eating Disorders Association of South Australia (EDASA): www.edasa.org.au
TAS: www.arafmitas.org.au
NT: Top End Mental Health Services (TEMHS): www.health.nt.gov.au
This information is from the National Eating Disorders Collaboration (NEDC) website: www.nedc.com.au
Reviews
The Scotsman, Edinburgh UK - 5 stars out of 5.
If you have never thrown up in a toilet you may not recognise Sancia Robinson’s trembling arms as she mimes chucking up the contents of her fridge as a sign she has been here before. As indeed she has. What is the Matter with Mary Jane? is the story of her own 12 year battle with anorexia and bulimia nervosa and even though it is grim stuff, it is never unbearable. The frank humour that has allowed Robinson to perform this at all keeps us laughing at sketches, including one called ‘Binging with Sance’ and ‘A Day in the Life of a Super Model.’
The laughing of course is when we’re not in despair that adolescent girls, encouraged by their envious friends will devote all their energies to controlling a body they loathe so much they want it to disappear. ‘There’s nobody here! There’s nobody here!’ shrieks Robinson, hiding amid the debris of her latest binge as her mother walks in. Shows like this, written with teenagers in mind, may well stop those words coming true.
Kill to get a ticket.
The Sydney Morning Herald
The central motif of the show is control. A pimply confused adolescent, lacking in self-esteem and confidence possesses one arena over which she has absolute control, her body. It’s a searingly honest piece and if this piece can help spare others the hell Robinson and Harmer entertainingly show us, then it’s a very worthwhile exercise.
The Guardian, UK
In this one-woman show Australian actress Sancia Robinson tells the true story of her descent from a healthy eight and a half stone 16 year old to a hospitalised five stone anorexic. Depressing though it is, it is lifted way above that average self-revelatory monologue by an engaging and powerful performance and the much-needed wit and panache of writer-director Wendy Harmer.
Like many little girls Sancia wanted to grow up to be a princess, and she saw being thin as the key to this glamorous lifestyle. ‘How was I to know they were all a bunch of co-dependant neurotics with poor self esteem and eating disorders?’ She soon finds herself full of laxatives, on the loo, reading Supermodel. And so begin the lies, excuses, and self-justifications of an anorexic in denial.
This show is certainly not for the squeamish, but it’s a frank and valuable analysis of the psychology of an anorexic and thankfully, as Sancia’s impressively detached performance testifies, there is a tentatively happy ending, though she’s still taking it a meal at a time. The mostly female audience clapped for an encore, but she declined.
Sydney Sun Herald
Here is a production that has a powerful and urgent message for teenagers. This is one story that must be told. Robinson and Harmer are the women to tell it. With intelligence, veracity and to boot, all the excitement of the theatre.
HIT LIST pick of the week—from The Edinburgh List
What is the Matter with Mary Jane? Self doubt, self-loathing and self-abuse answers that one. This is a powerful tale of one woman’s battle against the 20th century scourges of anorexia and bulimia. Challenging and informative without being worthy
Playwrights’ Biographies
WENDY HARMER is one of Australia’s best known comedians. She is a veteran of the Edinburgh, Montreal and Glasgow festivals and has worked extensively in London, America and Ireland. She is the author of two books, It’s A Joke, Joyce and Love Gone Wrong, and the play Backstage Pass. Wendy was host of the ABC TV series The Big Gig and in 1990 she had her own chat show In Harmer’s Way. In 1993 sh
e joined Sydney’s 2-Day FM radio station to lead the Morning Crew. She has also written for a number of Australian magazines and currently writes a weekly column for the Good Weekend.
SANCIA ROBINSON graduated from NIDA in 1988. Her theatre credits include The Tempest (MTC), Ring Around the Moon (STCSA), Abingdon Square (Belvoir St), The Diver (Toe Truck), The Glass Menagerie (New England Theatre Co.), Prin, I Hate Hamlet (Marian St) and Shakespeare’s Magic (Bell Shakespeare Co.). She has appeared on television in Blue Heelers, Janus, A Country Practice, English at Work and Language Arts and her film credits include A Symphony of Sorts and Voices.
Copyright Details
CURRENCY PLAYS
First published in 1996 by
Currency Press Pty Ltd,
PO Box 2287, Strawberry Hills, NSW, 2012, Australia
[email protected]; www.currency.com.au
Reprinted 2000, 2002, 2003, 2006, 2009
Revised edition published 2014.
Digital (revised) edition published in 2014 by Currency Press Pty Ltd.
Copyright © Wendy Harmer and Sancia Robinson 1996; What is the Matter with Mary Jane? copyright © Wendy Harmer and Sancia Robinson, 2014; Study Guide copyright © Rachel Ford, 2014.
Copying for Educational Purposes
The Australian Copyright Act 1968 (Act) allows a maximum of one chapter or 10% of this book, whichever is the greater, to be copied by any educational institution for its educational purposes provided that that educational institution (or the body that administers it) has given a remuneration notice to Copyright Agency Limited (CAL) under the Act. For details of the CAL licence for educational institutions contact CAL, Level 15, 233 Castlereagh Street, Sydney, NSW, 2000; tel: within Australia 1800 066 844 toll free; outside Australia +61 2 9394 7600; fax: +61 2 9394 7601; email: [email protected]
Copying for Other Purposes
Except as permitted under the Act, for example a fair dealing for the purposes of study, research, criticism or review, no part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior written permission. All enquiries should be made to the publisher at the address above.
Performance Rights
Any performance or public reading of What is the Matter with Mary Jane? is forbidden unless a licence has been received from the author or the author’s agent. The purchase of this book in no way gives the purchaser the right to perform the play in public, whether by means of a staged production or a reading. All applications for public performance should be addressed to HLA Management, PO Box 1536, Strawberry Hills NSW 2016 Australia; tel: +61 2 9549 3000; email: [email protected]
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