The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
The Chosen
Current generations may be more open to confronting the subject of death than those from previous centuries, but there is still a degree of awkwardness attached to talking about mortality.
This is especially pertinent when you are about to speak to someone who has experienced a recent bereavement.
This is a subject close to the heart of Kally Lloyd-Jones, Byre Theatre’s new joint-director and artistic director of Company Chordelia, with whom she created The Chosen, now on tour after a successful run at Dance Base during the Edinburgh Fringe.
As the show begins, six performers can be seen perched atop some mirrored cubes.
The sound of a pulsating heart echoes around the room, but is soon replaced by the noise of crashing waves, with the dancers moving towards the audience and back. Later, some friends smile together for the camera while one is selected by a spotlight and boxes are carried on shoulders like coffins.
“I had a very bad year in 2017, when I lost four people who were all close to me, including my best friend,” says Kally.
“I reeled from one loss to the next and lived in a grey fog for quite a while when I was busy getting on with things as best as I could.
“Slowly, I realised I was reappearing from the fog and that I wanted to speak about it.
“Although I wanted to make it for very personal reasons, I think the piece itself is not personal,” added Kally.
“I wanted it to be universal, I wanted it to feel like the six dancers are there because they represent a village.
“At various times, they are the chosen but they are also part of the village. They are all of us.
“So although it comes from a personal place, I think that it’s a representation of lots of people’s experiences.”
The title is taken from a passage in Igor Stravinsky’s the Rite Of Spring entitled The Glorification Of The Chosen One.
And as a means of tapping further into the audience’s emotions, there will be excerpts of music from Richard Strauss, Mozart, Tchaikovsky and Vivaldi.
“The idea is about knowing that you’ve been chosen for your time to be up, which is something that has arisen, in part, out of modern medicine,” adds Kally.
“That gives you the option of using that time the way you want to. So we’re trying to look at that idea of knowing that you’re going to die – or knowing that someone you love is going to die – and deciding how you choose to spend that time.”