The Events

by David Greig

Screams echo through corridors. A forest echoes with the sound of gunfire. At Claires choir rehearsal, something terrible happens.

David Greigs daring new play asks how far forgiveness will stretch in the face of atrocity. Featuring local choirs and a soaring soundtrack, The Events tells of tragedy, obsession and our destructive desire to fathom the unfathomable.

Claire, a priest, is a left-leaning community worker dealing with immigrants and community integration. One of the things she does to promote this is run a choir that anyone can join. A boy comes to the choir but doesnt join in. She thinks nothing of it, everyone is welcome. When he comes back, he pulls out a gun and starts firing at people.

Shocked and bereft, Claire starts to seek out how someone could do such a terrible thing a quest for understanding that tears her own life apart. It is a play about community healing, the limits of empathy, and how to move on if you have been involved in something truly life changing.

The Events is a brand new play by renowned Scottish writer, David Greig. Commissioned by Actors Touring Company and directed by its artistic director Ramin Grey, this is a major new work exploring themes of community and its ability to adjust. Featuring a local community choir at every performance, this is a play with music rather than a musical itself.

The production will premiere at the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh during the 2013 Edinburgh Festival Fringe before touring around the UK.

Production Credits:

WriterDavid Greig

Director Ramin Gray

Composer John Browne

Designer Chloe Lamford

Lighting Charles Balfour

SoundAlex Caplen

Produced for Actors Touring Company by Nick Williams

The Events was commissioned by Actors Touring Company and Drammatikkenshus, Oslo.

Actors Touring Company

ATC presents the best in international contemporary theatre. We tell stories from different perspectives on the world through the theatre, finding and translating the best international drama from around the world, commissioning the most exciting writers, and collaborating with some of the finest artists in world theatre. Recent productions have included The Golden Dragon by Roland Schimmelpfennig (English language premiere, and UK and International tour playing for 110 performances on three continents), the first major revival of Sarah Kanes Crave, the UK premiere of Illusions by Ivan Viripaev and the world premiere production of the first stage adaptation of Jung Changs Wild Swans.

Future projects include a trio of Russian plays exploring the immigrant world of Brighton Beach in Brooklyn, commissioned and developed by the company; a dance/theatre hybrid made collaboratively with Hofesh Shechtar and Simon Stephens; a new play from Iranian writer Nassim Soleimanpour which will be our first ever digital production as well as productions of major works from the very best international writers.

Community Choir Programme

The production features a new community choir at each performance. They play the choir, the community, and a Greek Chorus questioning Claires actions and warning her about her destructive pathway. The Events is a daring and ambitious project. ATC, in partnership with their tour venues, will meet the challenge of finding a different choir for every night the play is performed.

Every choir taking part in the project will be unique and each will have their own individual style. Although the choirs we work with will be incredibly varied (in size, in gender split, in repertoire, in age range etc.) all will be united through their love for singing! Willing to be a part of something extraordinary, bringing with them that community spirit that is found within all choirs.

In total we expect to work with over eighty choirs, approximately two thousand singers at ten different locations around the UK and we want your choir to a part of this incredibly exciting project

What we are looking for

We are looking for committed, enthusiastic and dedicated choirs who will view this project as an exciting opportunity for all its members. The Events is a ground breaking piece of theatre and it asks much of the choir who is central to the performance.

We hope the choirs we work with will rise to this challenge and fully engage with the content of the play, the cast members and audience. We would like to work with choirs who will embark with us on this journey of exploration and help shape the unique theatrical event which will be The Events.

A few requirements

The choir size can range between 17 and 30 people. Larger choirs may wish to put forward a smaller group as a representative

Members of the choir must be over the age of 16

The choir will need to have been together for a minimum of three months

The choir will need to have a vocal leader who will champion and lead on learning of material

The choir will need to commit to the performance date at least two months prior to performance date

The choir will need to commit to at least 6-8 weeks of rehearsal time. This can of course be combined with the choirs weekly rehearsals for other performances. It is thought 20 minutes additional learning over 6-8 weeks will suffice

The choir will need to nominate a group contact leader (perhaps a Choir Secretary) who will liaise with ATC and the venue regarding any choir concerns and questions

Choir members will need to agree to being filmed and photographed

The Choir will be asked to take part in ATCs evaluation process

Preparation

The Music

There are six new songs written by Composer John Browne for which we have full scores for each. John has written the pieces with every standard and style of choir in mind and hopes to have presented work which will be representative of all the choirs we work with. Please also see Johns notes for choirs which provides you with more detailed thoughts on each piece.

Recordings

We have full recordings of each of the songs with full choir, broken down part by part and with just piano. We can send these to you as soundfiles or we can prepare CDs and sent them to you.

Choirs own song

We ask that the choir also prepare one song from their own repertoire which will feature at the start of the show. This song should be bright and bold, offering a strong sense of your choirs identity a real signature tune. It should be typical of the work you usually perform and a good way of introducing the choir to the audience at the start of the play. We ask that you send the Choirs Coordinator for The Events the sheet music for this (if accompanied) as soon as possible in order for the shows pianist to prepare.

If possible, we would like the Choirs own song to be able to be sung off book as it enables the audience to connect with the choir a little bit more. However, if the choir feels uncomfortable with this then we can simply slip your choirs sheet music into the choir folders (which we will provide).

We also ask that the MD chooses a choir member who will be happy to hum a solo lullaby on stage as one of the actors talks. This can be any song of your choice but we would like it to be plaintive and soft.

The rehearsal process

The rehearsal process for the music for The Events can be flexible to suit each choir and their timeframe. It can be learnt on a weekly basis as an addition to the choirs regular, in a week long workshop session with two hours a day or perhaps over an intensive workshop weekend. We have worked with choirs in each of these ways and they have each learnt the music effectively.

The choirs MD

The choirs MD will play a very integral role in the rehearsal process and on stage. We ask that the MD not only prepare the choir ready for performance but that they encourage debate about the play and its themes and that they reassure the choir as they always do. On stage we would like the choirs MD to conduct the first song and then to join the choir on stage to sing with the choir for the duration of the performance.

Preparation during Performance week

Super Mondays

Every Monday throughout Edinburgh and on tour ATC host a Super Monday where we invite all the choirs who are performing during the week to join us for a choir rehearsal. This will be a brilliant opportunity for you to meet other choirs who will be performing and the key Artistic Staff who will guide you through the week right up to when you walk on stage! This is a three hour rehearsal and you will work with one of our fantastic Vocal Animateurs who will go through all the songs in detail, our brilliant Assistant Director Polina who will guide you through the context of the play, introduce you to the running order and discuss some of the staging. You will also meet one of our incredible pianists who will be accompanying you on your performance night and they are on stage with you for the whole time as well guiding you through the plays. These rehearsals are when we really start to shape the music and really begin to learn more about each of the choirs we will be working with theyre really exciting and its very important that every choir member who will be onstage attends the rehearsal.

The evening of the performance

We will call the choir 90 minutes before the adverstised performance time. We appreciate many choir members are coming from work, busy family lives, studying etc and we want this to a fantastic experience for everyone involved but we do have a lot to cover so we must be prompt and start on time. We ask everyone is ready to start rehearsing at the call time so we suggest the choir is called as a group by their MD 15 minutes before to freshen up, catch up and grab a drink etc.

The Artistic team you met on the Super Monday will lead this pre-show rehearsal and run through the music in order and introduce you to the Choirs Order of Service. The Order of Service is a booklet which contains all of the choirs cues, scores and spoken moments which will you can refer to throughout the whole performance.

The Choir will then meet Jess Banks, our Company Stage Manager, and she will talk you through the set and all H&S measures, including the fire evacuation procedure for the theatre.

We will then have a quick 5 minute breakand then it is showtime!

Other Essential Information

The play is 90 minutes long (with no interval)

The choir have been designed a special rostra (please see photos at end of document) and they will be seated on this when not singing

Please dress for performance as you would normally dress for a choir rehearsal

Please wear flat, comfortable shoes and we advise shin/long skirts are preferable to short skirts due to the design of the rostra

Water can be taken on stage in a small bottle with a lid

Please note the music you will be reading from will be a ready made booklet and you will only be able to add in the music/words for your score. These booklets will be used again so we ask that you dont annotate them in anyway.

Notes on Choir Music by Composer John Browne

At the centre of this story is a priest with a strong community agenda called Claire. She leads a multi-cultural choir which is attacked by a lone gunman killing several members and these "Events" trigger a spiritual crisis for her, igniting an intense quest for meaning. One way Claire has for coming to terms with what happened is to lead a series of rehearsals with her choir of specially chosen music to aid the healing process. The songs in this play relate to those rehearsals and chart Claires journey towards understanding while referring to a whole range of spiritual music: traditional Christian hymns; contemporary spiritual minimalism; rave music (representing the spiritual experience that some people experience in the dance tent at Glastonbury); "Om"; improvised keening; monkey chanting (related to Hinduism); and, gospel music.

GENERAL NOTES ON PERFORMANCE

The first song your choir will sing will be outside the story and should be characteristic of what your choir typically sings but after that we're encouraging you to be more flexible stylistically.

Because this is a theatre piece and therefore dependent on shifts of pace and energy it's important to get tempi right and to adhere to the dynamic markings.

We anticipate that all choirs will perform most of the music without scores. The exceptions might be their own song, How Great Thou Art, and Were All Here.

Your choir may need to modify the music in order to fit your particular needs. Please feel free to do this and if you need help, advice, a key changed, or a bespoke arrangement, then please get in touch and well figure it out with you.

THE NORWEGIAN COFFEE SONG

We are entering a dark, complex story and so this is a bit of lightness and joy before all that. This is a playful warm-up song, an innocent folk song led by Claire.

Performance Notes:

The piano plays an introduction which is one full round of the tune (with the tune in the right hand and the full piano accompaniment played by the left hand).

The calls ("En kopp til") vary in mood and the responses ("Ya tak") should follow suit.

Focus on the dotted rhythms and pulse.

Claire will lead you in with "Ready and... "

The pianist will alternate stomps and claps to a quaver rhythm under the call and responses.

If possible, a volunteer from the choir should add a semiquaver thigh slapping rhythm over these stomps and claps.

The song gets faster each time. It should start at a tempo that's not too fast so there's somewhere to go. The last time should be so fast that its almost impossible to get the words out.

Notes on score: The structure of the piece is slightly different from the score. It will be performed four times. The second time the choir perform the calls and Claire responds. The third time will be one half of the choir calling and the other half responding.

SOUL

This underscores a scene in which Claire discusses a deep sense of spiritual loss.

Performance Notes:

This should be very still.

The crescendos should be subtle.

The sound should be magical/ethereal.

There should be no sense of pulse.

Notes on score: Cut the fermata on the second piano chord and move swiftly through to the next chord. NB the piano chord under the word soul is repeated, so we hear the D minor and A minor at the same time.

BONKERS

Claire is attempting to get inside the head of the perpetrator by having her choir perform his favourite song. Dizzee Rascals lyrics could equally apply to her.

Performance Notes:

Foot stomps are important to the life of this arrangement and should be with the heel only.

With the exception of the opening beat-boxing this arrangement should not be performed as a pop song but should be more high art. Think Arvo Part or even Bach.

It should be very emphatic indicating an intense yearning for meaning.

The "Ee's" should imitate Dizzee and have a witchy quality.

The left hand of the piano should be heavier than the right.

It will help to keep the off-beat ts steady if the singers indicate the rhythm using their hands (a karate style chop with right hand into left hand palm works best).

Notes on score:

The Boom should last 4 beats instead of 2.

HOW GREAT THOU ART

Claire seeks comfort in an old familiar hymn but has difficulty connecting with it so redirects the quality of the singing during the performance (as indicated in the score).

Performance Notes:

It begins in a rousing forte and gradually becomes more internal from public religiosity to private spirituality.

Notes on score:

The words should be I Hear the rolling thunder.

SOLO

Claire fantasises about the perpetrator never having been born in a speech that is both violent and tender.

Performance Notes:

This is a song of the choirs own choosing

It can sung by a male or a female

It should be plaintive, slow and tender.

GAVRILO PRINCIP

This is the voice/perspective of the perpetrator. Its a display of rampant ego and as such should be a big sound with big attitude.

Performance Notes:

The style here is gospel meets stadium rock.

On the repeat the choir should clap offbeat crotchets left arm across body, hands high with the clap being placed just behind the ear.

The pronunciation should match the style being careful with words like Religion and one.

Notes on score:

The repeat is an opportunity for choirs to do some arranging to suit them, adding harmonies, echoes, yelps etc.

WE'RE ALL HERE

A key theme of this drama is the internal conflict we humans have between being together and being separate. This song completes the story with a simple statement about togetherness but acknowledging/embracing the conflict with the Im not.

Performance Notes:

Claire will not teach the audience to sing but will still sing a section solo after her speech.

The "I'm not" should be said by around a quarter of the choir.

Agnessa should have the Russian pronunciation.

Notes on score:

The vamping chords under Claires speech should be as per the sequence below until Claire is ready to sing making sure to end the vamp on a bar of Cmin:

*Claire sings half a chorus solo and is then joined in unison by the choir for the second half. The choir then sing one final chorus but the piano drops out half way through.

Tour Schedule

Dates

Venue

Notes

Friday 26th July

Holt Festival

Special Performance

W/C 29th July

Traverse, Edinburgh

Edinburgh Fringe

W/C 5th August

Traverse, Edinburgh

Edinburgh Fringe

W/C 12th August

Traverse, Edinburgh

Edinburgh Fringe

W/C 19th August

Traverse, Edinburgh

Edinburgh Fringe

W/C 16th September

Tron, Glasgow

W/C 23rd September

North Wall, Oxford

W/C 30th September

Dublin Festival

W/C 7th October

Young Vic, London

W/C 14th October

Young Vic, London

W/C 21st October

Young Vic, London

W/C 28th October

Young Vic, London

W/C 4th November

Hull Truck, Hull

W/C 11th November

Bristol Old Vic, Bristol

W/C 18th November

Birmingham Rep, Birmingham

W/C 25th November

The Drum, Plymouth

Themes and areas for discussion

1. Im worried about watching graphic violence. How violent is the show?

The story starts with an act of violence but this is not represented realistically on stage. The play is not a piece of journalistic theatre, nor is it naturalistic in style. The majority of the play is about the healing process that the lead character goes through, having been involved in a terrible incident.

2. Does the play condone acts of violence against the community?

No, not at all. The play deals with the issues of why someone might attack their own community. It does present certain points of view from the perpetrators perspective. However, these are necessary to give the play a dramatic shape and to allow the audience to feel the confusion that the lead character feels. It does not support or condone acts of aggression against any community at all.

3. Why would David Greig want to write something about such a horrible event?

David is one of Scotlands leading writers. He is inquisitive about the world around him and moved to write about it. He was very interested in how a community reacts to and survives after an act of violence a theme we see regularly in our newspapers and media whether it is a high school shooting in the USA, a massacre of children in Norway, acts of civil war in the Middle East or a terrorist attack. The violent event is the catalyst for his exploration of how human beings respond and heal subsequently, rather than the act itself. Ultimately it is a story about people and their responses to something awful.

4. I dont like musicals. Is this a musical?

No. This is not a musical. Whilst there is live music and some singing, it is very much a play.

5. But doesnt it have a choir in it?

Yes, there is a new community choir at each performance. They fulfil the role of the Choir in the narrative, represent the community in which the play takes place, and act as Greek Chorus.

The Set (in rehearsal with The London Morris Folk Choir

Reference Points of Interest

Directors Note from Ramin Gray

Every act of theatre revolves around a transaction between two communities: the performers onstage and the improvised community that constitute what we call an audience. When Anders Breivik killed 77 people in Norway in July 2011, his actions set out to destroy one community whilst simultaneously and unintentionally galvanising other communities around the world. From simple outpourings of grief, through reams of testimony, heated debate, lengthy judicial process, psychiatric anaylsis and raw soul searching to the writing and performing of this play, it's clear that we need to churn over such events in an effort to understand. And, of course, the very best forum for those efforts remains the public, shared space of the theatre. But could it just be, as David Greig suggests, that some things remain beyond the realm of the comprehensible?

As an international touring company in a world where everyone seems to be on the move (something that Breivik clearly found deeply disturbing), this felt like an important subject for us to investigate. Sadly, since then both the Boston bombing and the events in Woolwich have kept the material resonating. In the play, David's fictional Boy crystallizes so many of the dissociated young men who seem to perpetrate these events while Claire's obsessive need for understanding seems to mirror us, the audience and our communal drive for closure.

Many plays, from the Chorus of Old Men in The Oresteia onwards, have found ways of embodying community on stage, underscoring the central role of theatre in civic life. The Actors Touring Company constantly arrives in different cities, performing for a few nights, then moving on. In conceiving this new play with David, I wanted to make sure we connect more deeply with audiences and find a way of representing them accurately. Hence our idea of inviting local choirs wherever we play to join us on stage each night to experience at first hand the struggle to digest but also to embody what is at stake. We are profoundly grateful to all the choirs who have developed and participated in the production of this play.

I also need to give thanks to our Norwegian collaborators and supporters - Kai Johnsen and Oda Radoor (then of Dramatikkenshus) who allowed us to gain first hand insight into a stunned community in the wake of July 22, 2011. Since then we are pleased to have found in Elsa Aanensen and Brageteatret a Norwegian touring company who share many of our goals. We are equally blessed with our Austrian partners at Schauspielhaus Wien (Andreas Beck and Brigitte Auer) and of course with David Lan and his team at the Young Vic.

Ramin GrayLondon, July 2013

Invitation to Choirs from Ramin Gray

April 2013

Hello,

Its Ramin Gray here, Im a theatre director and I have huge envy for what you do: singing. Its something I adore and which seems to express a fundamental human drive for the beautiful. And of course, when its done, as you do it, in a group, as a choir, then it expresses another fundamental human truth, which is a common desire to be together in harmony.

And it was this second aspect, the drive towards harmony and community that struck me and playwright David Greig most palpably as we sat in a school hall in Oslo one foggy autumn evening in 2011 attending a choir rehearsal. Id asked David to come to Norway with me to explore the aftermath of the terrible events of July 22 when Anders Behring Breivik killed 79, mostly young, people. It seemed that here, gathered together in a hall, was the clearest riposte to Breiviks act: a disparate group of people, bonding themselves into a community through the shared activity of song. And it was halfway through the rehearsal that David and I turned to each other and said: this is our play, isnt it? Its about the choice between working together to make something or ripping it apart, between creation and destruction, between harmony and discord.

And so, after much work, The Events, as our play is now called, is coming to fruition. David has written a text that explores that choice, the dynamic between someone who wants to leave their mark on the world in a terrible and unforgettable way and someone who wants to understand, to empathise and to heal.

And thats where you come in: by putting a choir onstage, we want to really focus minds on what is at stake, to see and hear! what that means. We will weave the play around you, often you will act as spectators but sometimes you will act like a Greek chorus and of course, at other times you will sing: songs dear to your hearts, songs that we will write for you. And we will even create opportunities, entirely voluntary, for members of your choir to participate more actively, as individuals drawn from the choir. This is all a work in progress and ideas will naturally develop over the coming months but we are really interested in your thoughts as we make this unusual piece of theatre together.

I look forward to welcoming you to The Events,

Ramin Gray

Artistic Director, Actors Touring Company

Reviews

**** Lyn Gardner in The Guardian calls it a a mighty play http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2013/aug/05/the-events-edinburgh-festival-review (4 stars)

***** Dominic Cavendish in The Telegraph calls it the finest, most important thing Greig has written http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/theatre/edinburgh-festival-reviews/10223230/Edinburgh-Festival-2013-The-Events-Traverse-Theatre.html (5 stars)

****Michael Coveney in WhatsOnStage.com calls it a fiendishly brilliant new play http://www.britishtheatreguide.info/reviews/the-events-traverse-1-9095 (4 stars)

**** The Times gives it 4 stars (see scan)

**** Younger Theatre gave us 4 stars, calling it a provocative piece of political theatre. http://www.ayoungertheatre.com/the-events-david-greig-traverse-actors-touring-company/

**** British Theatre Guide called it undoubtedly an important piece http://www.britishtheatreguide.info/reviews/the-events-traverse-1-9095

****Whats On Stage http://www.whatsonstage.com/edinburgh-theatre/reviews/08-2013/the-events-edinburgh-fringe_31517.html

Piece in Herald Scotland

Author David Greig and director Ramin Gray discuss a new play which deals with the aftermath of an atrocity

Tuesday 16 July 2013

http://www.heraldscotland.com/arts-ents/stage/author-david-greig-and-director-ramin-gray-discuss-a-new-play-which-deals-with-the-aftermath-of-an-atrocity.2161

When David Greig woke up to a newspaper interview he'd done about his latest play, what he read bore little resemblance to the work he was still in the process of writing.

DAVID GREIG: What I would like is for people in Norway to be able to reflect on it, and to bring their own experience to it in a creative and positive way.

The Events, according to the report, was to be a musical about the Norwegian killer Anders Brevik, who slaughtered 77 people in July 2011 when he bombed central Oslo before opening fire on an island youth camp. Brevik claimed the attacks were to prevent what he saw as the Islamisation of Norway, and is serving a 21-year prison sentence for terrorism and premeditated murder.

To suggest that such a serious writer as Greig would do anything so crass as pen a musical about such a horrific occurrence, then, was as misleading as it was inaccurate. The Events, which runs at the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh as part of its Edinburgh Festival Fringe programme, may or may not draw inspiration from massacres such as Brevik's, but it looks set to be a far subtler experience than previous reports suggest.

"My first reaction was anger," Greig admits. "To suggest that I was writing a musical about Anders Brevik was so far away from what we were doing. Then my second reaction was that the subject was so controversial, that maybe some things are too dark to talk about."

The Events focuses on a liberal-minded woman and how she reacts when the choir that she leads are attacked, with tragic results. "She's a typical liberal," says Greig. "She's vegetarian, a little bit hippyish, she works with depressed people, and she runs this choir. She thinks she can find empathy with the attackers, but she's also the victim."

The Events began over a conversation with Ramin Gray, pictured, below, artistic director of Actors Touring Company (ATC), who are lead producers of the show, in the Traverse bar.

"We realised there were similarities between the Islamic terrorists who were involved in 9/11 and 7/7, and Brevick, who had not long before been responsible for this great tragedy in Norway," Greig continues. "As we've also seen more recently with events in Woolwich, which again isn't dissimilar to Brevick or 7/7, these things were all committed by strange, vacant-eyed boys. They're sort of bogeymen, but they're weak, inadequate bogeymen."

"All of the things mentioned have a political context," Gray observes. "They're not like what happened with the equally terrible events in Dunblane or Columbine. They have a political purpose, however warped they might be. Maybe the people behind them were abandoned or abused, we don't know. When these things happen, all of us, whether they affect us directly or not, spend days and weeks trying to work out what happened and why it happened. We also try to work out what should happen to the perpetrators. I think part of the reason these people obsess us is that there's no clear answer ever."

The Events is a co-production between ATC, the Young Vic, Brageteatret in Norway and the Schauspielhaus in Vienna. After its Edinburgh run, the production will play in London, Dublin and Birmingham. The pair's research which involved speaking to psychiatrists, hypnotherapists, priests and many others took them to Norway, where they spoke to a boy who was on the island when Brevik opened fire.

"I haven't spoken to any perpetrators," says Greig. "That's probably a mistake."

This may be so, though both Greig and Gray are at pains to stress that The Events is very much a work of fiction. "Our project is to investigate and probe," Gray explains. "To understand is maybe to condone, and maybe that's not possible."

Greig wonders whether "understanding would give the perpetrators some kind of victory. The play ends in an act of retribution, but it's all a bit ambiguous at the moment, and we were just discussing whether any of us would kill the perpetrators of such a crime. Some would, some definitely wouldn't, but what I think the play does look at is that this idea of understanding is kind of a shroud that's put in front of you to avoid the darkness, when actually you need to face the darkness."

Greig wrote The Events while his stage version of Roald Dahl's Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, playing in London's West End, was being rehearsed. The image he presents of him sitting at the back of the Theatre Royal in Drury Lane writing something so recognisably serious as The Events while something so fantastical as Dahl's story was being knocked into shape is a glorious counterpoint to the material.

One crucial element of The Events will be the onstage appearance of a real choir, which will be made up of local singers from each town or district the play tours to. "The choir came first, in a way," says Greig. "We saw a choir when we were in Norway, and it seemed like such a perfect image of the best in being human. In the play, what happens to them becomes the motor for the story. A choir is a group that can include or exclude you."

Gray points out that "The play looks at the effect of these events on the community and communities in general. Every community is bound to every part of humanity, and a community choir really taps into that. It's a simple way of making the play sing."

As the play is presented in different places, particularly in towns or cities still raw from real-life tragedies, one can't help but wonder how audiences will react. Norwegian audiences in particular may perhaps recognise some aspects of themselves onstage. "What I would very much like," says Greig, "is for people in Norway to be able to reflect on it, and to bring their own experience to it in a creative and positive way."

Gray concurs. "What I would like to do," he adds, "is to provide a space for a community to come together and share a moment."

"What I'm not interested in," insists Greig, "is going out to shock or provoke. That would be horrible."

The Events, Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, July 31-August 25

www.traverse.co.uk

Links

John Browne and Ramin in conversation during rehearsal

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGkCBliX1wQ

Rudi interview during rehearsal

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PsBCR1d_OmU

The Events Trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bae1BGWlIRk

A snapshot of Dizzie Rascal

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIZ8uCKTu5Q

Audience Reaction #1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XSECMpLJ9SA

Audience reaction #2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JSyYEm0jQw&feature=c4-overview-vl&list=PL-ieBTWRUfslRH6li_jfxD0cCIgRzJm_k

John firing up the choir!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1KgQG5jPR8&feature=c4-overview-vl&list=PL-ieBTWRUfslRH6li_jfxD0cCIgRzJm_k

Inspiration for Shamanistic Ritual, a Balinese Monkey Chant

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RkxuPxdsZ58

Cast biographies

Rudi Dharmalingam The Boy

Training: Salford University and National Youth Theatre.

Theatre includes:The Seagull(Headlong/UK Tour);Much Ado About Nothing(RSC/West End);Playing with Fire(National/UK Tour);Rafta Rafta(National/UK Tour);The English Game(Headlong/UK Tour);England People Very Nice(National);The History Boys(National/Broadhurst Theatre, New York); the title role inToms Midnight Garden(Unicorn Theatre);Anorak of Fire(Adelphi Studio);You Can Still Make a KillingandTiger at the Gates(National Theatre Studio).

Television & Film includes:Cutting It,Casualty,New Tricks,Doctor Who,The Bill,Coronation Street,BritzandHollyoaks.

Neve McIntosh - Claire

Theatre includes: Betrayal and Don Juan (Citizens Theatre, Glasgow), King Lear (West Yorkshire Playhouse), The Lady from the Sea (Royal Exchange Theatre), Proof, Run for your wife and When we Were Women (Perth Theatre), The Merchant of Venice (Edinburgh Lyceum), Great Expectations and Victoria (RSC), Don Juan (Sheffield Crucible), Outside on the street (The Gate), The Trick is to Keep Breathing (The Tron Theatre), The Barber of Seville (Arches Theatre)

Televison and Film include: Doctor Who (BBC), Ripper Street (Tiger Aspect), Dracula (Carnival Productions), New Tricks (Wall to Wall Productions), Lip Service (Kudos), Case Histories (Ruby Films), The Accused (BBC), Single Father (Red Productions), Inspector George Gently (Company Television), Law & Order (Kudos), Casualty (BBC), Sea of Souls (Carnival Television), Low Winter Sun (Tiger Aspect), Ghost Squad (Company Television), Murder City (Granada TV), Miss Marple (LWT/ITV), Bodies (Hat Trick), Inspector Lynley Mysteries (BBC), Trial and Retribution (La Plante Productions), The Hound of the Baskervilles (BBC), Doc Martin (Sky), The Fear (Noel Gay Television), Lady Audleys Secret (Warner Sisters), Gormenghast (BBC), Psychos (Kudos), Taggart (STV), The be all and end all, Rare Books & Manuscripts (Whatever Pictures), Salvage (Hoax Films), Spring 1941 (Praxis Films), One Last Chance (Hero Films), Gypsy Woman (Starfield Productions), The Trouble with Men and Women (Romeo Error Ltd)

Production Biographies

David Greig Writer

David Greigs plays have been performed extensively in the UK and around the world. He has had worked produced by the Traverse Theatre, Tricycle Theatre, Royal Shakespeare Company, National Theatre of Scotland, Soho Theatre, Tron Theatre, Donmar Warehouse, Edinburgh International Festival, the Royal Court Theatre, and Hampstead Theatre.

His award winning work includes The Letter of Last Resort; Fragile; The Strange Undoing of Prudencia Hart; Midsummer; Dunsinane; Damascus and Miniskirts of Kabul; Brewers Fayre, Outlying Island; The American Pilot; Pyrenees; The Cosmonauts Last Message to the Woman He Once Loved in the Former Soviet Union; The Architect and Europe. Adaptations include Creditors, The Bacchae; Tintin in Tibet; When the Bulbul Stops Singing; Caligula and Peter Pan.

Davids work for children and young people includes The Monster in the Hall; Yellow Moon; Gobbo and Dr Korczaks Example. He has also written extensively for radio.

David is currently under commission to the Almeida Theatre and the National Theatre of Scotland. He is also writing the book of the stage musical Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and an adaptation for the Broadway producer, John Hart.

He is working with Film Four on a screen adaptation of his stage play Midsummer. Other films include: Vinyan and A Complicated Kindness.

Ramin Gray Director

Ramin is currently Artistic Director of Actors Touring Company. ATC co-produced Wild Swans with the Young Vic and ART in Boston in 2012. ATC has three new Russian playwrights under commission in partnership with the Public Theatre, NY and Genesis Foundation as well as a major new Simon Stephens/ Hofesh Shechter collaboration planned for 2015. Ramin has also directed all of ATCs productions since 2011 The Golden Dragon by Roland Schimmelpfennig, the first major revival of Crave by Sarah Kane and a new Russian play, Illusions by Ivan Viripaev. From 2000-09 Ramin was at the Royal Court, first as International Associate, then as Associate Director where he directed over fifteen world or British premieres. In the Theatre Upstairs these included: Push Up by Roland Schimmelpfennig, Terrorism by the Presnyakov Brothers, Ladybird by Vassily Sigarev, Way to Heaven by Juan Mayorga, Woman and Scarecrow by Marina Carr, Just a Bloke by David Watson and Scenes from the Back of Beyond by Meredith Oakes. In the Theatre Downstairs he directed Simon Stephens Motortown (also Wiener Festwochen, Falter critics prize), Max Frischs The Arsonists, Martin Crimps Advice to Iraqi Women, two plays by Marius von Mayenburg, The Ugly One and The Stone, and Over There by Mark Ravenhill (also Schaubhne, Berlin). Ramin also did play development work for the Royal Court on almost every continent. Ramins freelance theatre work in the UK includes two plays for the Royal Shakespeare Company, David Greigs The American Pilot and Leo Butlers Ill Be The Devil, and Alistair Beatons Kind of Hearts which he co-directed with Max Stafford-Clark for Hampstead Theatre and Out of Joint. Internationally, Ramin has directed two plays by Simon Stephens, the German language premiere of Herper Reagan at the Salzburg Festival and On The Shore of the Wild World at Volkstheater Wien (Karl-Skraup Prize). His 2010 Viennese production of Dennis Kellys Orphans was nominated for the Nestroy Prize. His Russian production of The Ugly One won Best Director at the Textura Festival, Perm in 2010. In 2009 Ramin directed Benjamin Brittens Death in Venice at the Hamburgische Staatsoper, conducted by Simone Young. In 2010 he directed the European premiere of Brett Deans Bliss at Hamburgische Staatsoper. He is about to direct the UK premiere of Gerald Barrys The Importance of Being Ernest for the Royal Opera.

John Browne Composer

John Browne is an Irish composer living in London with works performed at the Royal Opera House (Babettes Feast, Demon Juice), English National Opera (Early Earth Operas, Midnights Children), Southbank Centre (A Nightingale Sang) and Westminster Abbey (Small Selves, Out of Suffering). In the last few years he has been composer-in-residence at FNSNM, Kings College London, created choral arrangements for the band Elbow, composed the score for The Itch of the Golden Nit, a BAFTA award-winning film by Aardman, been an adjudicator for BBC Young Musician of the Year 2012, created a music-theatre piece in Rwanda and run workshops for the British Council in China and India.He studied composition at University College Cork with Gerald Barry and Samas de Barra and at the Manhattan School of Music in New York on a Fulbright Award. His music has been chosen to represent Ireland at the International Rostrum of Composers in Paris and has been performed at the Dublin Festival of Twentieth Century Music.

Chloe Lamford Designer

Chloes current work : Cannibals (Royal Exchange, Manchester), Praxis Makes Perfect (National Theatre Wales), History Boys (Sheffield Theatres), Circle Mirror Transformation (Royal Court at Hackney Library Archive), 1984 (Headlong Theatre), Salt, Root and Roe (by Tim Price, Trafalgar 2); Appointment with the Wicker Man, (NTS); The Radicalisation of Bradley Manning (by Tim Price, National Theatre of Wales); Lets Make an Opera, including The Little Sweep, (Malmo, Sweden).

She previously designed Disco Pigs and Sus, Young Vic; On the Record, Ice and fire; Rhetoric, Greyscales, Almeida; Brittanicus, (Wiltons); Desire Lines by Ian Rowlands, (Sherman); Knives and Hens, (NTS); Orpheus in the Underworld, (RCM); War and Peace, (RSAMD and Scottish Opera); The Magic Flute, (ETO); This Wide Night (Soho); The Cunning Little Vixen (RCM); Kreutzer Sonata (Revival 2012 Gate Theatre and Mama Theatre, New York), Joseph K (The Gate); Daisy Pulls it Off, Blithe Spirit (Watermill Theatre); My Romantic History (Traverse, Edinburgh Festival, Bush Theatre, Sheffield Theatres, and Birmingham Rep); It Felt Empty when the Heart Went At First, This Wide Night (Clean Break, Soho Theatre); On the Record (Ice and Fire). Chloe was the winner of the 2007 Theatre Design Award from the TMA for Small Miracle (Mercury Theatre, Colchester).

Charles Balfour Lighting Designer

For ATC: Crave (by Sarah Kane), Illusions (by Ivan Viripaev)

Marilyn (Citizens Th) Whos Afraid of Virginia Woolf (Sheffield Crucible, Northern Stage) Beauty Queen of Leenane (Young Vic) Now or Later, The Girlfriend Experience, The Ugly One (Royal Court); Ill Be the Devil (RSC); : Loot (Tricycle), Christmas Carol (Kingston Swan) The Weir (Octagon, Bolton) Angels in America, The English Game (Headlong); The Duchess of Malfi, Hedda Gabler, Don Quixote (West Yorkshire Playhouse); A Dolls House, Christmas Carol, Son of Man (Northern Stage); The Flint Street Nativity, The Tempest, (Liverpool Playhouse); Cleansed (Oxford Stage Co); Hair, Woyzeck, Witness (The Gate, Notting Hill); Amadeus, Masterclass (Derby Playhouse); Baby Doll, Therese Raquin, Bash (Citizens Glasgow); Through the Leaves (Southwark Playhouse / Duchess West End).

Dance includes:

26 works for Richard Alston Dance Company (Sadlers Wells & worldwide); ), Red Balloon (Royal Opera House for Aletta Collins), Dance Cross (Beijing Dance Academy) Lap Dancer, Bloom (Aletta Collins/Rambert Dance Company); Eden/Eden (Wayne McGregor/San Francisco Ballet/Stuttgart Ballet); Four Seasons (Oliver Hindle/Birmingham Royal Ballet); White, Women in Memory (Rosemary Butcher/Tate Modern Turbine Hall & across Europe) and many others.

Music includes: Opera Shots by Orlando Gough, Nitin Sawhney & Jocelyn Pool (ROH)Carmen, Werther (Opera North)Confucious Says HMDT( Hackney Empire) (winner of the Royal Philharmonic Prize for new work) Saul (Opera North); The Birds (The Opera Group); Jordan Town (Errollyn Wallen ROH); Writing to Vermeer (London Sinfonietta, QEH); Thimble Rigging (Scott Walker /Meltdown Royal Festival Hall). Zbigniew Preisners Silence, Night and Dreams (Acropolis, Athens)

Alex Caplen Sound Designer

For ATC: Crave, Illusions, The Golden Dragon

Theatre sound design credits include: Carpe Diem (National Theatre New Views); A Time to Reap, Ding Dong the Wicked, Goodbye to All That, Wanderlust (Royal Court); Over There (Royal Court & Schaubhne Berlin); Constellations (Associate - Duke of York's); Ogres (Tristan Bates); It's About Time (Nabokov); Mine, Ten Tiny Toes, War and Peace (Shared Experience); Stephen and the Sexy Partridge (Old Red Lion/Trafalgar Studios) Peter Pan, Holes, Duck Variations (UK Tour); The Wizard of Oz, The Entertainer (Nuffield Theatre); Imogen (Oval House/Tour).

Opera includes: The Love for Three Oranges, Tosca (Grange Park Opera).

As Sound Operator/Engineer: Edinburgh Military Tattoo 2009 - 2012; Bronte, Kindertransport (Shared Experience); Blood Brothers (UK Tour); Ballroom (UK tour). Other work includes large-scale international music touring as a Front of House mix engineer.

Alex is a Senior Sound Technician at The National Theatre and an Associate Artist (Sound) for ATC.

Choir Questionnaire

Thank you for taking part in The Events. As a small arts organisation, it is vital for us to know that we have been as open and as inclusive as possible in delivering this project. As a result, if you could please provide the details asked below, that would be incredibly helpful. We will use this data to improve the way we work with communities and groups in future.

NameChoir Name

ATC would like to credit all choir participants. If you do not want to receive public credit, please tick here.

Postcode Occupation

Email Address

ATC would like to send you an online survey following your performance to gain your feedback on working with ATC and your experience as a whole. If you do not want to participate, please tick here.

If you do not have access to emails, please leave your address on the back of this sheet so that we can post a survey out to you.

Age: Under 18 56-65

18-25 66-75

26-35 75+

36-45

46-55

Ethnicity: Asian Bangladeshi

Asian Indian

Asian Pakistani

Any other Asian background , please specify.

Black African

Black Caribbean

Any other Black background , please specify.

White British

White Irish

Any other White background , please specify.

Chinese

Mixed Background , please specify

Any other background , please specify

In terms of the definition below, do you consider yourself to have a disability?

The Disability Discrimination Act defines a disabled person as someone who has a physical or mental impairment that has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on his or her ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities.

Yes No

18