The healing power of singing at the Everyman Theatre

After working with the group Elbow, Cork composer John Browne has now switched his attentions to a play set in the aftermath of a massacre, writes Jo Kerrigan

THE play The Events, which opens at Everyman, in Cork, on Wednesday, is remarkable: it has a score and script that require a different local choir to perform each night. But composer John Browne enjoys the challenge.

A Cork native, Browne trained at the city’s School of Music, and later University College Cork. He now lives in London and his commissions have included choral works for Westminster Abbey, a community cantata at the Southbank Centre, hip-hop opera for the Royal Opera House, a film score for Aardman, a Write-An-Opera course, and choral arrangements for the rock band, Elbow.

With Elbow, how did a young classical composer get involved with alternative, chart-topping rockers? John says: “It was in 2008. Massive Attack were curating the annual Meltdown festival at the Southbank Centre in London, and invited Elbow to perform their absolute dream gig. For this, the band decided they wanted a rather special male voice choir and I was asked to make the arrangements.”

The band were very trusting, he says, and let John set it up, but he did have a lot of discussion with Guy Garvey about the lyrics. It led to what Browne describes as “a magical few days, and very late nights with the band”.

But back to The Events, which is written by David Greig and directed by Ramin Grey. The play was prompted by the slaughter of 69 young people on a Norwegian island by lone gunman Anders Breivik in 2011. The theme is the gathering of a community in song towards healing.

“I was in with this project from the get-go and there were many challenges along the way for me,” says Browne. The first was to work out how the choral would be integrated. Various options were explored (including the audience as choir), but they decided on a different community choir for each night, despite the logistical nightmare [there have been 70 choirs so far on this tour].

“The real challenge, for me, though, was to compose music that choirs from a very wide range of styles, expertise and traditions would be able to sing — from the professional to the homeless and from the all-male to the all-black (and we’ve had all of these), then composing music that, despite being simple, could be richly atmospheric and deliver the appropriate emotional hit.”

Having a different local choir each night, Browne says, is key to the performance. “They know the music beforehand, but not the script. Their genuine reactions to the piece, as it unfolds, are part of the play itself. The actors are used to working with a new choir every time, so as long as the music has been learned, the actors and director can guide each new group through the performance, without giving too much away beforehand.” Naomi Daly, line producer at Everyman, was charged with making all the advance arrangements for Cork. “Ideally, you need mixed choirs with about 20–30 members. One of the main difficulties has been finding choirs who are available at this time of year. Most groups take the summer off and come back in September. This would not leave enough time to learn the new music,” says Browne.

After a lot of work, the local groups chosen were Voices of Cork, the Wilcollane Singers, and Choral ConFusion. “Once they started rehearsing, they became really excited about the project, too.”

Even if they won’t know what’s really going on until they appear onstage.

- The Events, Everyman Cork, Wednesday to Saturday