'Hard to Swallow'
by Mark Wheeller
Hard to Swallow
is a set text for the new 9-1 Eduqas GCSE Drama specification. The play is based on Maureen Dunbar’s award winning novel and subsequent film “Catherine: the story of a young girl who died of Anorexia Nervosa”.
Catherine Dunbar died in 1984, at the age of 22, after a seven year battle against anorexia. In the novel, Maureen Dunbar has written an extraordinarily frank and courageous account of her daughter’s illness. She not only deals with the ways in which
Catherine’s illness affected her but also the affect it had on her family. Extracts from Catherine’s
diary, over the course of her illness, give us a further insight into the psychological trauma of anorexia.
Hard to Swallow uses the words of those most closely involved and affected. Tie It Up has chosen this text from the curriculum as our first performance and workshop offer to schools, based on research with teachers and the play's popularity with them and their students.
Mark Wheeller is supporting TiU's tour of Hard to Swallow and has this to say about his successful piece:
"I am utterly delighted to see that Tie it Up Theatre are touring this production. Hard to Swallow was inspired by an Epping Youth Theatre member who neither I nor the local medical community seemed able to help when she showed signs of having anorexia and asked for help. I discovered that people were uncomfortable talking about this condition. I was determined that by writing a play, I could perhaps start to open doors to more awareness of something I believed to be a condition that wasn't just going to disappear. Hard to Swallow was originally performed by my Oaklands Youth Theatre group and what our commitment in developing this play is described in detail in my recent book Hard to Swallow - Easy to Digest. This was written to support students now studying this play. I am particularly proud that mine are the only set texts at GCSE that derive from the humble beginnings of an unsubsidised Youth Theatre group. This tour offer students the opportunity to see the play come alive. This will, in turn model to them the imagination that needs to be brought to physicalise what seems like a very wordy play when you pick it up and look at it."
