Choirs represent the best in new play
Christchurch community choirs will play a powerful role in a new play at The Court Theatre about the impact of a mass shooting.
A new production of celebrated 2013 play The Events by The Forge theatre company will feature a different Christchurch community choir on each night of the show’s 13-date run.
The play, which premiered to critical acclaim at the 2013 Edinburgh Fringe and has since been performed off-Broadway in New York and toured the United Kingdom, is about the aftermath of a mass shooting at a local choir rehearsal.
Each night, a different choir will be seated on stage, providing songs as part of the performance, but also watching the play, as unprepared as the audience for what will unfold.
Director Dan Pengelly said the play’s Scottish author, David Greig, chose to base The Events around a local choir because they represent the best of a community.
‘‘When he was first writing the play, it wasn’t based around choirs. He was with a friend that was picking his mum up from choir rehearsal.
‘‘He went in and saw some of it and had a moment where he saw the choir and thought it represents all that is good in a community,’’ said Pengelly.
‘‘It is a group of strangers coming together in a hall and bringing food and creating together. They come together to be creative and give themselves over to the creation and the bonds that form through that. You have choirs that sing together for years. That makes my heart warm. There is a connection that happens through singing together that is almost tribal.’’
The choir provides a contrast to the mass shooter character in the play, known only as The Boy.
‘‘This play is about disconnect. The boy gets to a point where he is so disconnected, broken and unloved that he felt he had to grab a gun and shoot a group of people.’’
He said the choir’s spontaneous reactions on stage are part of the play.
‘‘If you had the same choir every night they would start learning it and feel that pressure to start performing. There is something glorious about a choir joining us on the night and just reacting like the audience.
‘‘I saw this in Auckland a year ago and there were moments where you are watching the choir watch the show.’’
Global Voices is one of the 13 Christchurch choirs that will take part in the play. The choir has been performing for 20 years.
Choir director Kate Coghlan said she was keen to be involved in the play.
‘‘We perform on stage all the time, but to perform somewhere like the Court Theatre is a very different environment for us. It will be a good challenge.
‘‘We are there to be ourselves and do what we do every single week. The choir represents a cross section of community.’’
❚ The Events opens at The Forge on Saturday, October 29 and runs until November 12.