Our concert on Saturday 23rd September
took us to a fantastically unique performance venue the Thames Tunnel Shaft, Brunel Museum, Rotherhithe
- a 42ft-high chamber at the top of the 50ft diameter shaft, it is an atmospheric and acoustically advantageous performance venue.
Our programme was an exploration exile, and the atmosphere of the space really reflected the programmatic elements of the performance. With the help of our movement director, Rebecca Meltzer, we incorporated fluid choreography which worked flawlessly with the programme and space. The tunnel shaft provided the perfect backdrop for the theme, literally separating the the audience from the world outside. The music itself depicted aspects of exile such as religious persecution, banishment and displacement; Rebecca focussed on spatial formations reflecting the emotions as they occurred within the concert's narrative.
Rebecca herself reflected:
"Having been a choral singer for many years, I have always been interested in how one might develop the genre to adopt a more physically dynamic performance stance. I was thrilled to be offered the opportunity to work with
echo in September to explore the movement potential for their concert programme: ‘Exile’. With rigid, codified physical structures so engrained within the choral tradition, I was ready to take on the challenge of enabling the singers to discover a more dramatic and expressive portrayal of the music and its context. After familiarising myself with the programme and the background of the pieces, I began by getting a sense of the physical possibilities of the space at the Brunel Museum. As the space was small and our rehearsal time limited, I chose to a simple approach, focussing on spatial formations, and a shared physical language between members of the choir. The group brought a fresh yet focused approach to the physical work and together we played with material to develop a dramatic journey through the pieces. On reflection, two moments imprinted upon my memory. Firstly, whilst performing the
traditional Scottish Sky Boat Song, the audience were immersed in the motion of the sea as the choir adopted the rocking of a ship with their body one by one. For the final item, the choir performed the UK Premier of Sheena Phillip’s Song of Sorrow, reflecting upon the Syrian refugee crisis. In order to demonstrate the sensation of displacement, I asked the choir to take the audience by the hand, one by one, and lead them into the central performance space. The choir then stood in the empty chairs and sung Song of Sorrow to an unsettled and disconcerted audience. As the final notes died out, not one person wanted to break the eerie silence ringing through the tunnel shaft".
This performance of Sheena Phillip's 'Song of Sorrow' was the moment I found most poignant in the concert. As Rebecca stated, our performance marked the UK Premier of the piece which reflects on the Syrian refugee crisis; one of the worst humanitarian crises of our time. Taking the hands of the audience and making them vulnerable in that way, as they stood in the middle of the ‘stage’, was so simple, and yet a powerful performative statement. The haunting texture and ‘sobbing’-like melodic fragments made for a lamenting soundworld, combined with this choreographic technique of Rebecca's made for an especially harrowing performance.
Written by Marnie Blair
