String Around My Finger

Over a year ago, I read the script for Brenda Wither’s play, String Around My Finger, now in it’s final run at Portland Stage Company. As someone who has suffered infant loss, the comedic tone seemed too light then. The aftermath of such an event is devastating, confusing, and heavy. In the play, Emma’s had a miscarriage, and everyone else is ignoring her trauma, trying to keep up good cheer while navigating realities.

To tackle illustrating this, my initial ideas played with the literal visual of a string around a finger. The first was a baby hand that looms over small figures, the string swirling around a couple.

I tried a woman’s hand, with a hospital bracelet, and a group of small figures, the various characters who orbit around Emma.

The miscarriage, the medical bills, and other pressures begin to unravel the couple’s plans. I tried two figures pulling at the string of one large hand.

I tried a hospital bed, with an IV tube that would connect the title. Ugh.

Fortunately, this idea was chosen. Emma and Kip are holding on for dear life, with a wedding band and engagement ring floating around them, implying everything is up in the air.

I created each element separately on paper (the pastel background, the hand, the figures, the rings, the hand-lettered title), then scanned and merged them digitally in Photoshop. This is the final illustration.

As the 2015 winner of Portland Stage’s Clauder Competition, the script was further worked during last summer’s Little Festival of the Unexpected. Under the nimble direction of Sally Wood, the play has debuted with unexpected depth and poignancy.

When I attended last week, the sight of the hospital bed triggered my distant loss, and might for anyone who’s had to face medical realities.

Anita Stewart’s set design was brilliantly seamless, with stage crew dressed in scrubs striding in and out of gliding hospital walls as scenes changed.

Frank Sinatra music plays in the background. Here’s a drawing of Frank from an old sketchbook of mine.

You can hear his version of I’ve Got the World on a String HERE.

I’ve got the world on a string, sittin’ on a rainbow,
Got the string around my finger,
What a world, what a life, I’m in love!

Perfect lyrics that actually contrast with the ambivalent ending of the play. Go see for yourself, it’s the last weekend!