David Greig caused a stir in the press when he was reported to have researched into the mass shooting by Anders Breivic in Norway and was going to exploit the survivors’ traumatic experiences to write a “musical” based on the tragedy.
The finished result was neither exploitative nor a musical, but an intense study in how communities and individuals find ways of moving forward after a catastrophic event.
Following a successful and award winning opening run last year the Actors Touring Company are now touring with the work, and it plays at the Everyman for one week.
For each performance the two handed cast of Amanda Drew and Clifford Samuel are joined by a different local choir and the first night honours went to Up For Arts Choir, directed from the piano by Magnus Gilljam.
Amanda Drew, who many will remember for her Blanche in the Playhouse 2012 Streetcar, plays Claire, a priest who runs a community choir in an unnamed location. We meet them rehearsing together in a representation of a village hall. With the arrival of Clifford Samuel “the Boy” we quickly learn that this is a community trying to recover from a tragedy in which their numbers were decimated in a seemingly senseless, random shooting.
Samuel’s schizophrenic and mesmerising performance represents a host of different characters, ranging from the perpetrator of the atrocity to Claire’s partner, and many more between. Through a series of encounters we see Claire grappling with the questions that are in her head and her heart, most particularly the least answerable of all – why?
Her search for answers becomes increasingly obsessive, leading Claire to challenge the very core of her belief system. The community around her, represented by the choir, have their own way of dealing with The Events and simply want to draw a line in the sand and move on, which ultimately leads to a crisis point in the drama.
By the time Claire resolves to seek retribution it becomes apparent that her need for a resolution is becoming self-destructive, and something has to give.
This is an intense 90 minutes of drama, played out without an interval, but the passages with the choir and moments of dark humour keep it buoyant enough to hold us throughout.
A fascinating and thought-provoking piece that explores the different ways that people deal with trauma, The Events speaks of an insatiable need to find answers where there are none to be had. It could equally well be applied to the present anger and despair of those waiting for news of flight MH370, who will possibly never find closure. Sometimes we may need to accept that there are not always answers to everything, and seek ways to move forward with unresolved grief.
Two riveting central performances are supported every night by a new choir, members of which have occasional passages of dialogue to interject. A directorial nightmare, one would think, but something that Ramin Gray seems to have overcome with aplomb.
The Events plays Liverpool Everyman until Saturday 12th April and then continues to Newcastle, Belfast and New Haven before closing at the Young Vic on 2nd August.
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