However, by 73 inflation in the UK was accelerating fast to over 20% there were mass strikes by miners and trade unionists and a total of 9million working days were lost to strike action. At the height of the strikes Britain was forced into a 3day working week in a bid to conserve energy. By 1974 Britain was hit hard with a recession. Later in the decade inflation continued to be a problem with a combination of rising oil prices and rising nominal wages, with the decade culminating in the winter of discontent.

WHAT ALL THIS MAY HAVE MEANT IN RELATION TO THE CHARCATERS WITHIN THE PLAY

·       Although the decade is cast in such a negative light it was actually a period of rising living standards and for John and Carol most likely a young couple, this era would have benefited them greatly from the growth in credit and would have enabled them to buy a house with greater ease and then also seen the rise in their property price which would later explain why the house is kept on in later generations.

·       Unemployment was certainly on the rise and perhaps this is why when the play starts Carol is without a job, although John does propose the idea of changing jobs at the beginning of the play this would have most likely have been quite difficult at the time. 

The 1980s saw the Thatcher revolution which saw a break away from post war consensus and reforms came in such as privatisation, reducing the power of the trade unions, deregulation, and lower income tax rates. The government tried to tackle inflation aggressively, but unemployment was still a prevalent issue with a rise of up to 3 million which was the highest levels of unemployment since the great depression and precipitated riots during the summer of 1981. Following the recovery of the 1981 recession the UK experienced a long period of economic expansion and the growth rate reached record post war levels. House prices almost tripled and there was a strong growth in consumer spending and growth in imports. The decline in savings ratio and unbalanced economy led towards greater consumer spending.

WHAT ALL THIS MAY HAVE MEANT IN RELATION TO THE CHARCATERS WITHIN THE PLAY

·       The characters would most likely have been witness to the riots of 1981 and even of had them in the city where they were living.

·       Lower income tax would have meant John and Carol would have had more disposable income to spend on luxury items and therefore they would have experienced a rise in their standard of living, possibly spending more on renovations of their house which again would have greatly increased in value.

Following the successful years preceding the 1990s, the 90s bore witness to the decline in house prices which continued to fall even into 1995. During this decade, the primary economic objective was set towards avoiding future booms and busts and so by 1997 the Bank of England was made independent, giving them full control of interest rates. As a result, inflation remained low and people grew more optimistic as there were certainly not such wild inflation problems as the public had seen in the 70s and 80s. There was now greater economic stability. By the end of the decade unemployment was falling rapidly and the government even recorded a budget surplus.

WHAT ALL THIS MAY HAVE MEANT IN RELATION TO THE CHARCATERS WITHIN THE PLAY

·       With greater economic stability it would have meant our characters would have felt more stability within their jobs.

The 1990s saw the return to minimalist fashion. There was a prominent shift towards tattoos, body piercings and also forms of body modification. The decade was dominated by supermodels in the fashion industry.  In 1992 grunge fashion broke into mainstream for both genders consisting of flannel shirts, ripped jeans, mom jeans, doc martens, combat boots band t-shirts oversized knit sweaters ripped tights and eco-friendly clothing made from recycled textiles and fair-trade organic cotton. But by 1994 grunge rapidly declined with fashion becoming more feminine and form fitting. Women wore tailored skirts and trouser suits, shorts skirts and dresses. They wore hot pants, slim pants baby doll dresses, animal prints, high shine fabrics such as satin metallics vinyl silk and sequins. A common look worn was a black slip dress worn over a tight white t-shirt. Between 1994-5 the sexy school girl look was trending. By the end of the decade the unisex casual chic look gained popularity with dark stonewashed jeans spaghetti strap crop tops and tracksuit bottoms. For men around the middle of the decade long hair, brown leather jackets, pullover baseball jerseys and graphic tees were standard. Pastel colours and bold patterns replaced black. Desirable accessories of the period included loafers, Chelsea boots, boat shoes, chunky digital watched shoulder bags, black/neon coloured high top sneakers and gold jewellery.

- Intention behind Anatomy of a Suicide was wether trauma could be passed on through DNA ("Once the suicide taboo has been broken in a family, does it becomes easier to repeat later? And how does one break out of that pattern so the cycle doesn’t become inevitable?" - Carol got it from her uncle?)
- Anatomy of a suicide was first play she wrote herself 

- “Well behaved women seldom make history” angered her and made her question a lot and research a lot about feminism, patriarchy & capitalism, which is why she likes to write for female performers (oppression of women is also a main theme of Anatomy of a suicide)

- She is very academically strong and smart (did very well in school and uni) and she’s a perfectionist which slows her down while writing as she wants it to be perfect (The subtext of Anatomy of a Suicide is very strong and every word is well thought through so its important to look at it in detail as there is a clear intention behind every action)
- With a family background in psychoanalysis, she draws on methods to understand people who will become her characters. “I work until I know that I could put them into any situation and know their responses as well as I know my own”  

Some of the iconic food of the 80s was the wispa bar, wine coolers, sun dried tomatoes which were added to many pastas and salads, squeeze its, space raiders, sex on the beach cocktails, the Seattle hotdog which consisted of a polish sausage topped with jalapenos or grilled onions in a toasted bun filled with cream cheese. Reeces pieces also gained huge popularity following their feature in the film ET which came out in 1982. Red bull, potato waffles, portobello mushrooms, pesto, pasta salads, muller corners, hubba bubba, hot pockets fruit roll ups, diet coke and unforgettably the happy meal and chicken nuggets.

90s food and snacks consisted of dairylea lunchables push pops, KP choc dips, Mr freeze ice pops, slush puppies, edible necklaces, poppets, cartoonies, party rings, cadburys animal biscuits mini milk lollies, candy sticks, iced gems, funny feet lollies. Classic desserts would be bannanas and custard or jam sponge and custard. A children’s meal may be chicken dippers, turkey dinosaurs, and potato smileys, spaghetti hoops on toast, haiwaiin pizza, bologna and white bread sandwich.

·       This would suggest that Carol and Emma, women of a more liberal era may not have been tied to any religion if they believed in more liberal ways for women and Christianity the main religion within Britain was declining.

·       Also, for thousands of years suicide was a sin in Christianity, and it was not until the 1980s that the church lifted the prohibition on funerals for suicide victims and so it is unlikely that Carol would have had strong Christian beliefs if she was prepared to act against God by taking her own life. It was only in the 1990s that the pope acknowledged that mental illness may play in suicide.