mental health > MAKING cracked > SYNOPSIS

MAKING cracked

Synopsis

Toni is a bright and gregarious teenager whose descent into depression is triggered by the pressures of family and school. She develops an obsession with troubled rock star Mickey Mitch and turns to self-harm for release of feelings that she cannot understand. Toni's condition goes unrecognized by family and friends. Distraught, she eventually runs away from home and is found sleeping rough and contemplating suicide.

Fortunately, Toni has the support of a close friend, Joe, and a sympathetic doctor, Mary, who struggles to convince her that her inner turmoil is part of a depressive illness.

Cracked captures the apparent helplessness of Toni's plight and then explores the range of available therapies and treatments that will allow her to get back on her feet.

Cracked aims to develop an awareness of depression as a treatable mental illness and to reduce the associated stigma experienced by sufferers.

Scene 1

TONI CAISTER (17) and JOE PARRIS (17) are on the hill behind their school. They have just broken up at the end of summer term. They are exhilarated and joking about. Suddenly TONI stops laughing:

"I feel like my laugh is loose"

And JOE responds jokily:

"You're mad Toni..."

Scene 2

Toni is in her bedroom listening to the Bedlam Runners and going through scrapbooks about the group. Toni lives with her mum SARAH, and stepfather, MARK. She doesn't get on with them. She feels her only ally is MICKEY MITCH (22) - the Runner's nihilistic lead singer, whose songs are " the soundtrack of my life". Toni's mum is concerned about the changes in her behaviour - staying out all night, missing school, not eating or sleeping properly.

"SARAH: Seems like only yesterday we were all off to Margate and I'd only say 'Do you want a ninety nine? and your eyes'd go wide with delight. Now you slip in and out of this house like the Grim Reaper. I never know where you are half the time, or who you're with..."

Toni and Sarah argue. Toni thinks her mum doesn't really care how she's feeling - only about how Toni behaves towards her stepfather.

"TONI: Oh I get it! I thought we were having a mother and daughter heart to heart...But oh no, this is another of those be nicer to your stepfather talks..."

Scene 3

ROSS MACMANUS, Mancunian rock journalist, interviews Mickey Mitch, who has recently come out of a rehab clinic. Ross challenges Mickey to explain why - with all his success and adoration - his songs and his life still promote such a pessimistic world view of madness, despair and suicide:

MICKEY: "You say I've cracked it. All that's cracked is my protective shell. And the thousands of letters I get make me aware that the tribe of the lonely and forgotten is the biggest tribe on earth..."

When Ross confronts him, telling him he thinks that it is all a pose, Mickey lifts his T-shirt revealing self-inflicted gashes on his chest. The journalist is horrified - torn between calling a doctor and a photographer.

Scene 4

Toni's best friend JOE (17) finds Toni in the library. He wants to know that she's brought her English assignment in because he told Mrs Annis - their teacher - that she had done it. Joe can't understand why Toni - who used to be so lively - is moping around. His parents are divorced too, and he never sees his Dad - but he "doesn't let it get to me". He also works part-time to contribute to his mum's income. It's important to him to do well at school so he can go to college and get a good job, so he feels angry that constantly having to cover up for Toni is getting him into trouble. He thinks that because she finds schoolwork easier than him, she has the luxury of messing about.

All Toni wants to talk about is Mickey Mitch cutting himself up in an interview. Joe is a big Bedlam Runners fan too, but this time he thinks Mickey has gone too far...

"JOE: Toni listen to yourself will you? I like the Bedlam Runners as much as anyone... But if he thinks - when he's got all these fans and journalists and the whole world hanging on his every word -that the only way he can make an honest statement is to hurt himself then the dickhead is well and truly off his trolley..."

"TONI: Yeah well maybe that's what I am too."

Scene 5

Toni presents her English assignment to the class. It is supposed to be about the Environment but is a shambolic, unprepared stream-of-consciousness about herself and her life. Mrs Annis walks out without a word.

At the end of the class, Toni is distressed and appeals to Joe. But Joe thinks it's one bad joke too many from Toni and walks out on her too.

"TONI: Joe - I'm scared. I don't know what's happening to me!"

Scene 6

The Bedlam Runners are about to go on stage. Mickey decides he can't go on:

"MICKEY: This is hell on earth."

He disappears and JAMIE (lead guitarist) is left to explain his disappearance to the waiting crowd.

Scene 7

Toni is listening to the Bedlam Runners in her room, when her mum comes in with some news. Toni's headmaster has phoned. He wants her parents to come for a "talk". As Toni's parents are not on speaking terms, Toni must break the news to her dad when she visits him later.

Sarah also tells Toni that it's just been on the TV news that Mickey Mitch has walked offstage from a Bedlam Runners concert and vanished. More depressed than ever, Toni barely reacts to any of what her mother has to say.

Scene 8

Toni visits her dad. He has also heard about Mickey Mitch's disappearance and is dismissive about it - "they think they're so special these people." Toni tries to talk to her dad about how she's feeling - and wonders if she's inherited it somehow from him. She remembers his own depression a few years ago, which contributed to the break up of his marriage to Toni's mum. But her dad refuses to discuss this unhappy period in his life. He warns her not to tell anyone how she's feeling because if she gets medical treatment for a mental illness it will count against her later. He tells her to forget it. He asks her not to mention any of this to Moira, his girlfriend, for fear of upsetting her.

Scene 9

Toni on the couch at her dad's. She visualizes what will happen if her parents both turn up to discuss her at school. She pictures the argument they will have, using her to get at each other.

"TONI: There must be something horribly wrong with me -how can a person be cared about so much by all these caring adults and still feel so...numb?"


Scene 10

Joe has decided to do his coursework assignment on the life and work of Mickey Mitch. He calls round at Toni's house to try and get her involved. He hopes this will be a way of making up between them. But Sarah tells him Toni has gone off somewhere. Sarah isn't worried. She believes Toni will be back soon. Joe and Sarah argue about Toni. She is furious with her daughter. She thinks Toni is selfish - out to make as much trouble as possible for the family. She is also convinced that her daughter is taking drugs. She can't think of any other explanation for her moody behaviour.

Finally, Sarah gives Joe a parcel that Toni has left him. It contains her precious Bedlam Runners scrapbooks. Joe is alarmed. There's no way she'd have left those unless she wasn't planning on coming back...

Scene 11

Ross is running a radio phone-in programme on the question of Mickey Mitch's disappearance.

Toni is on the streets and bedding down in a doorway for the night. She is scared when a young man, Tom, comes and lies next to her. He sees that she has been cutting her arms and tells her to go to the drop-in clinic and see 'Mary' who will help her. But when she shouts at him to leave her alone, it is Tom who panics.

Suddenly Toni thinks she recognizes him - Tom is the spitting image of the missing star, Mickey Mitch. As Toni tries to get Tom to admit he is actually Mickey, he becomes distressed and confused and runs off. Toni feels more alone than ever.

Scene 12

Toni visits the drop-in clinic and is seen by MARY DOUGLAS (32) a therapist. Toni is withdrawn and unresponsive. Mary sees that Toni needs help, and starts to treat the cuts on her arm.

Toni runs off when Mary goes to fetch her some food.

Scene 13

At the drop-in centre. Joe comes looking for Toni. He talks to Mary who informs him that Toni needs urgent help. She tells Joe that she is a doctor and specializes in mental health:

"JOE: Toni's not mental...she's just pissed off at the world.."

Scene 14

Joe catches sight of Toni in the street. He finds her sheltering in an old, burnt-out caravan. Joe is upset and alarmed by Toni's condition. She is confused and deeply depressed and has not been taking proper care of herself. She tells him that she saw Mickey Mitch. Joe tells her that he is dead. He tries to make Toni leave with him but she won't. They get increasingly angry with each other and Joe accuses her of not caring about anyone but herself:

"JOE.... all you care about is your music - your Mickey Mitch - is that what you're waiting for then eh? Sleeping Beauty? .. Sit here and shrivel yourself into a filthy heap until Mickey Mitch or someone like him comes along to wake you with a kiss?? Eh?"

Scene 15

The radio phone-in continues. As it goes on we see Joe and Toni, Joe pacing the streets and Toni making a phone call to Ross and returning to the caravan with pills. Toni tries to give a message to Mickey via the radio phone-in:

"TONI: I don't know if anyone has ever felt like this before -but I guess this is how you are feeling when you are too tired to cut it out but the 'it' is me. Everything rotten and falling apart. The skull behind the smile..."

Toni takes a handful of pills. Joe finds her and wrestles the pills from her. He walks her round the caravan telling her how guilty he feels and how he should have listened to her earlier. Ross continues the radio phone-in on Mickey's disappearance.

Scene 16

Mary is at the hospital when Joe brings Toni in. Toni's stomach is pumped for paracetamol and then Toni is sectioned - detained at the hospital for emergency treatment. Mary explains to Joe that Toni needs to be protected from herself until the crisis is over and she can begin to get better. Joe is appalled that Toni wanted to hurt herself like that. Mary asks him how he's coping and he tells her to back off- he's fine.

Scene 17

A day room in an adolescent psychiatric unit. Mary interviews Toni, running through a list of 'symptoms' that will enable Mary to make the correct diagnoses. Toni is unresponsive but tells Mary that she is unable to sleep at night and that she feels like killing herself all the time.

"TONI: Nothing is important to me."

Ross Macmanus gives a news flash - Mickey Mitch has been found dead in a West London flat - suicide from a drugs overdose.

Scene 18

Toni's mum visits her in the adolescent unit of the psychiatric hospital. Toni is drugged up and unresponsive.

It is a stilted and awkward visit.

SCENE 19

In the day room of the adolescent unit. It is the end of Toni's four week assessment period. Mary tells Toni that she is suffering from depression. Toni is angry, telling Mary that she had told Toni that she was ill:

"MARY: Depression is an illness."

Mary tells Toni who will be looking after her. Toni assures her that it is all a waste of time.

Scene 20

Mary's office. Joe is waiting for her and asks her what is wrong with Toni. Mary tries to explain the role of the brain in depression and mental illness:

"MARY: The brain is a living organ, like all organs it responds to chemicals produced in our body. Sometimes these go wrong - from illness, maybe genetic factors or as a response to stress."

Joe eventually understands. Mary suggests he takes copies of the PET scans she has shown him and shows them to Toni. Joe refuses.

Scene 21

In the day room. Toni begins cognitive therapy with Mary, using role-play and other techniques to try and alter the way Toni thinks about herself, her past, present and future. At first it is hard, with Toni attacking Mary for her professional 'niceness' - "What kind of a person are you? Don't you have any cracks?" Toni is extremely troubled by negative thoughts. When Mary informs Toni that Joe has been to the hospital and left her a parcel, Toni thinks that Joe doesn't want anything to do with her now.

"TONI: He won't want to hear from me.

MARY: On the contrary, I think your friend Joe cares about you a lot.

TONI: He feels responsible for me. It's not the same. I'm the poor crazy girl in the mad hospital. I'm just trouble."

When Mary leaves, Toni opens the parcel. It contains her Bedlam Runners scrapbooks, which Joe has been adding to during her illness.


Scene 22

Toni reads the scrapbook - about the Bedlam Runners' decision to carry on the group without Mickey. She thinks about her own situation. Mickey's dead, but she's alive. She thinks of Joe and his role in helping her.

Toni is approached by Tom - the homeless boy from the streets. This time it is Toni who is confused and panicky, until she realises that Tom is in fact not Mickey Mitch at all. Tom is visiting the day clinic, and he tells her that he is schizophrenic. When they met on the streets he was ill, but now he's on new drugs and feels better.. .and would Toni like to go out some time? When she hesitates, Tom assumes it is because she is put off by his condition, his schizophrenic 'label'.

"TOM: Yeah - you're better now right? Don't want to hang around crazy people any more...get back to your normal friends. You're cured. I'm mad. I understand."

They befriend each other and Tom reads out some of his medical notes explaining what happens when he refuses to take his medication. When he feels better he stops taking the pills, then he becomes ill again, resumes medication, and so on.

Scene 23

"JAMIE: I used to stand next to him on stage, and we'd always had a little thing going up there. I turned to look for him and he wasn't there. We finished the gig, and that's when I started grieving."

Jamie explains how it's been without Mickey.


Scene 24

Mary tries to get Toni to do some art therapy. Toni still seems like she doesn't want to recover. Her time in hospital will soon be over and Mary feels that Toni is reluctant to explore her feelings about going home. Treating it as a joke, Toni draws a slap-dash sketch, scrunches it up and throws it in the bin. "Let me see what it is you're so keen to throw away?" asks Mary.

As she unfolds the picture, Toni begins to cry. it is a child's drawing of herself. Toni breaks down. For the first time Toni talks about her hurt at her parent's divorce. She tells Mary she really wants to get well, but doesn't believe she can. Mary suggests that Toni is ready for family therapy to try and express some of these feelings to her parents.

Scene 25

Toni has a session of therapy with her mum and dad. It is the first time they have been together without her parents' new partners. It is also the first time that Toni is able to tell them how she feels about their separation and on-going conflict. The session is emotional and intense.

"TONI: Do you know what it's like living in two families at once? Either of you? Yanked between two sets of rules - light left on in the hall, lights off? No swearing or anything goes? Do your homework before tea or chuck it on the fire and rent a video? Two bedrooms, two wardrobes and nowhere to call your own?"

Toni realizes that she still has fantasies about her parents getting back together. From the session she begins to accept that they won't and starts to think more in terms of her own emotional needs and demands from them.

Scene 26

Toni says goodbye to Mary. Although she doesn't feel 'cured', this stage of her treatment is over and she is ready to return to her life. In particular she is adapting back into her social circle of school and friends. She is still in time to apply for college this year and Mrs Annis has said she can re-take her coursework assignment and defer a year. Toni tells Mary that she is going to help Joe in his assignment on Mickey Mitch and mental illness.

Scene 27

In Class. Toni arrives back at school just for Joe's presentation about the life and work of Mickey Mitch. He invites Toni to join in. At first Toni is nervous, but her confidence and enthusiasm return as she talks, and sees that Joe and the others care about what she has to say. She talks about Mickey's mental illness in the light of her own experiences and the understanding that has given her.

"TONI: I used to think I was the Bedlam Runners' biggest fan. I followed Mickey right from the start. ..I nearly followed him right to the end."

Scene 28

We return to the hill behind the school from Scene I. Toni and Joe talk and Joe admits the strength of his feelings for Toni and tells her why he stuck by her. Toni tells him that she thinks it was a way of dealing with the traumas that he went through when his own mum and dad split up:

"TONI: I don't think it was a coincidence Joe.. .1 think you needed me to express your pain. Because you couldn't.. .you were always looking for other broken things you could patch up..."

Joe blames himself for the fact that Toni fell over the edge and he couldn't help her. Toni explains that there was nothing that he could have done.