It is a rare beast of a play that asks a community to play itself. When David Greig’s The Events first premiered in 2013, the shadow of Anders Breivik and the Utøya massacre lay long and cold across its script. It was a play that attempted to weigh the soul of a community shattered by a mass shooting, asking a question that felt impossible to answer: how do we live together when the worst has happened?
To answer this, the production relies on a mechanism that might surprise you. Generally speaking, “participatory theatre” isn’t a first call for provocative theatre making, but Director Jack Nurse is making it the very engine of the drama. Staged in association with Cumbernauld Theatre, this new touring production places a different local choir on stage every night.
They are the Greek Chorus to Claire Lamont’s grieving priest and Sam Stopford’s enigmatic “Boy.” They are witnesses, participants, and, crucially, the only element of the production the director cannot fully control.
As the company prepares to move this shapeshifting beast from Cumbernauld to the cultural hubs of the Tron, Dundee Rep, and the Traverse this month, I caught up with the team to discuss the terrifying, electrifying prospect of a play that is changing its DNA in every city.
A Tour of Many Accents
“The play’s spine stays the same, but its accent changes,” Nurse explains, reflecting on the shift from Cumbernauld to the upcoming dates in Glasgow and Edinburgh.
This isn’t merely a metaphor. The director has noted a tangible shift in “personality” with each geographical hop. “The Glasgow choir is bringing a particular confidence and vocal directness; there’s a real sense of collective energy,” he notes. By contrast, the Dundee choir “might carry something quieter, more reflective, but no less powerful – the feeling in their rehearsals is extraordinary.”
And Edinburgh? “There’s such a vibrant and joyous mix of personalities that carries through the songs.”
It suggests that Greig’s text is acting as a kind of cultural barometer. Nurse observes that the original Cumbernauld cohort were “bound by the different feeling of returning to something and already connected by a shared history.” It keeps reminding him, he says, that “‘community’ isn’t a fixed idea – it’s shaped by place, history, and people. I’ve been genuinely amazed at how different the choirs each feel, which underlines the fact that each performance is going to be completely unique.”
However, don’t get the wrong idea: this rotating mechanism is a calculated risk. Wonder Fools have built a reputation on socially engaged work, but The Events is a delicate, traumatic text. How do you safeguard the tonal balance when the choir is rebuilt each week amidst the plastic chairs and tea urns of the set?
I’ve been genuinely amazed at how different the choirs each feel, which underlines the fact that each performance is going to be completely unique.”
Jack Nurse
“There’s definitely a thrill,” Nurse admits. “What you can do is create a strong, clear framework – one that holds the trauma honestly while leaving space for warmth and hope to surface organically. The choir brings its own emotional intelligence to that balance. There’s been some really interesting, knotty conversations about the piece. And an openness.”
For the creative team, this lack of rigid authority is not a bug, but a feature. “As a director, particularly with the work Wonder Fools makes, you have to let go of perfection and trust the people you are working with,” Nurse says. “That lack of total control is terrifying, but it’s also where the play feels most alive. And it’s reflected in the central journey through the piece of Claire and her quest for meaning. So it all ties together.”
The Constants in the Chaos
If Nurse is the architect of this chaos, actors Claire Lamont and Sam Stopford are the ones living inside it. They are the constants in a production that refuses to settle. Stopford, playing “The Boy”—a character who is at once the perpetrator and a projection of the priest’s desperate need to understand—finds the ever-changing cast keeps the darkness of the role from becoming stale.
“One of the best things about getting to do this play again is about exploring it with lots of different choirs,” Stopford says. “We’ve had the chance early on in rehearsals to meet the different choirs, and each one has its own unique and brilliant energy.”
He admits that the process serves to “keep Claire and me on our toes,” but there is a deeper artistic discovery at play. “Being surrounded by different people in each show will definitely highlight different qualities and moments in the play,” he notes. “Finding out what feels different and what feels universal in each place we perform is what I’m most excited to discover.”
The dynamic between Lamont and Stopford is a suffocating web of trauma, a high-wire act that requires immense trust. Yet, despite the subject matter, the rehearsal room is not a place of gloom.
“Jack has done an amazing job of creating a supportive rehearsal room where it feels safe to tackle the intense nature of this play,” Stopford explains. “The script explores the worst that we’re capable of, but also the best. There’s a lot of hope and singing and community in this play – so remembering that helps you not to fixate on the darkness of it all.”
He adds, with a welcome touch of absurdity: “We play keepy-uppy too, which is a nice palette cleanser.”
It is a necessary release valve. “One of the strengths of theatre is that it’s live – anything can happen,” Stopford says. “It’s in the moments when something unexpected or different happens that you make discoveries. So I think the best preparation is not being prepared, trusting the team around you and going with whatever you get – that always leads to the most exciting work. So I hope there’s lots of moments that take me by surprise.”
The View from the Risers
Professionals have the armour of technique, of course. For the choir members, this is a raw, visceral exposure to the mechanics of tragedy. They are not projecting outwards from a concert platform; they are embedded in the action, inches from the screaming.
Mari Itoh, a member of the choir who performed in last year’s run and returns for this tour, describes the experience with disarming candour. “I was in the drama club during my grammar school. So, I am used to the process of creating a play,” she says. “Even so, the story is very dark and deep, and we have such fantastic actors, you can not help but be emotionally involved. I was in the last year’s production. The first time we run the whole play through, my heart was pounding with emotion. I am still feeling the same.”
Itoh’s perspective is a sharp corrective to the cynicism that often greets “participatory arts.” For her, the choir is not an artistic device, but a lifeline.
“My choir is very much a fun choir. I went through a few tough times in my life. Being in a choir was always a saviour for me,” she reflects. “Singing together with friends lift my spirit. Singing itself is very good for you physically and mentally… The choir members has different backgrounds and may have some problems in their lives. But singing together bring the group closer without judgement. It’s a safe haven.”
Her philosophy is simple, yet it strikes at the very heart of what Greig’s play is trying to articulate amidst the carnage: “I believe everyone is a human living and sharing this earth. Everyone needs some friends to laugh and sing with.”
“The first time we run the whole play through, my heart was pounding with emotion. I am still feeling the same.”
Marie Itoh – returning chorister
Regarding the clash between the professional and the amateur, Itoh is remarkably pragmatic. “Because of my drama club background, I guess, I understand that the director has his/her vision of how the scene has to be seen from the audience,” she says. “So far, I haven’t found any instruction strange.”
The Final Bow
In the end, The Events is a production that demands we look at who is standing next to us. It suggests that community is not a noun, but a verb—an active, messy, terrifying process of being together.
For Nurse, the transient nature of the tour is poignant. “I’m going to give the diplomatic answer, which also happens to be true,” he says when asked if he has favourites among the rotating casts. “I don’t have favourites, but I do have moments that stay with me.”
“It was so invigorating to be back working with the Cumbernald choir which really, as cliched as it might sound, feels like a family now,” he concludes. “The play is serious and dark and urgent. But the process is fun, joyous and uplifting. Each group gives something different, and you fall a little bit in love with every choir – then we will have to let them go and start again. That’s part of the beauty of it.”
It is a beauty that will be visiting Glasgow, Dundee, and Edinburgh in the coming weeks. Catch it before the song ends.
All images: Wonder Fools on Facebook
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