The Events by David Greig
Directed by Clare Watson. A State
Theatre of South Australia, Belvoir Street Theatre and The Malthouse Theatre
co-production. Her Majesty’s Theatre. Adelaide Festival of Arts 2016. February 25 - March 5
Reviewed by Peter Wilkins
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| Catherine McClements as Claire in The Events. Photo by Shane Reid |
In 2011, Norwegian Anders Breivik planted a
bomb outside the Norwegian parliament, and then, dressed as a police officer,
took a ferry to the idyllic island of Otoya where he cold-bloodedly shot dead
69 young people in an anti-immigration act of extreme terrorism. Playwright David Greig has drawn on this
event and other mass shootings to inspire his play The Events. Claire (Catherine McClements) is the survivor of a mass
shooting at her community church where she conducts the church choir. The
perpetrator and antagonist of the drama is a young boy, played by Johnny Carr.
Carr also takes on the other roles including the psychologist, the leader of a white
supremacist party, the policeman, the journalist, whose book has inspired the
boy to pursue Sharman ritual and Claire’s partner, Katrina.
Claire’s desperate quest is a
need to fathom the unfathomable; to make sense out of a senseless act and to
discover why the boy would perpetrate such a terrible crime. Greig offers no
single answer. Motive is a complex web of circumstance and opportunity and any
attempt to define categorically the cause of such atrocity is shrouded in
indefinable probability. When she confronts the boy at the close of the play,
and asks “Why?” the boys responds “Honestly?”. Is it his relationship with his
mother or his father? Is it the bullying suffered at school? Is it his need to
protect white women from foreigners? Is it his mission to preserve the purity
of his tribe? Or is it his obsession with a violent Viking myth? What choice
did he have but to acquire a gun and exact this terrible event? “Why?”
Catherine persists. “Because I was angry.” Angry? At what? At whom? The
definable motive remains elusive, leaving an audience to consider, to judge and
possibly to draw their own conclusions.
Director Claire Watson and actors
McClements and Carr bear a weighty burden of responsibility. Greig’s play
presents a series of short scenes with little scope for character development,
especially in the case of Carr, who must swiftly capture the essence of an
array of characters. His characters become a vehicle for judgement and it is to
Carr’s credit that he swiftly and effectively imbues his characters with the
essence of his text. He presents the essential nature of Katrina and we
instantly believe her existence upon the stage. As the protagonist, Claire,
McClements’ journey is more fleshed out. We sense her confusion, her guilt, and
her need for a rational and believable explanation. “Events test us” her friend
tells her, and the audience shares Claire’s test of faith, love and
forgiveness. Her performance is natural, truthful and believable, distanced in
time from the horrific experience of the shooting and able to reflect on events
and consider their consequence.
The Events bears the mark of Bertolt Brecht’s Epic Theatre. The fourth wall is consciously broken by
Claire from the very beginning when she invites people to join her choir and we
are presented with opposing notions. As his rampage comes to an end, the boy
offers the cowering Claire and Mrs. Singh, a member of her choir, a choice. He has
only one bullet remaining in his gun, “Who is offering to die?” At the end of
the play, Claire has the same choice, to poison the boy’s tea or let him live. If we were in that situation, what choice
would we make, and why?
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| Catherine McClements as Claire and The Choir. Photo by Shane Reid |
Pivotal to the play is the
existence of a choir. Each night a different Adelaide choir joins the
production to sing songs, composed by John Browne and under the musical
direction of Carol Young. Seated on raked seating at the rear of the stage, as
if in an amphitheatre, the choir acts as a chorus, performing the role of
commentators in song on the action. At times they ask questions in a Frequently
Asked segment of a television show or inform Claire that they need to move on
from the events of the past.
As they sing the final song, We’re All in Here, Claire and the
audience come to the realization that we all share in the boy’s act as a part
of a society that has created the events that tear apart the lives of the
innocent and the guilty alike. At the beginning of his play, Greig quotes “This
darkness I acknowledge”. His play raises a complex question that Claire must
grapple with at the end of the play, “Do I have the right to exercise the
darkness within and exact revenge? The choir responds with We’re all in here.
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| Catherine McClements as Claire. Johnny Carr as Katrina and The Choir. Photo by Shane reid |
The Events is intentionally thought-provoking. The performance is
followed by a Q and A, intended to expand on the complex issues raised in the
production. Still the questions remain. Will Claire ever be free of the horror
that haunts her days? What is the collective responsibility of society, or the
individual’s power to act.? Are gun laws the answer to these horrible crimes?
One audience member was moved to tears. I was provoked to thought. That is the
power of Greig’s play, the success of this production and the frustration that
ultimately remains.
