The Events / tackles the most difficult question to answer in the aftermath of a massacre: why? When a gun-toting teenager, consumed by thoughts of cultural purity, targets a vicar’s choir, she becomes obsessed with trying to understand him and his actions. Could he have been stopped?
Two actors examine the vicar’s compulsion to understand mass murder, while an onstage choir gives voice to her outrage as she demands answers from friends, her lover and the boy-killer himself.
The Events, which premiered at Edinburgh Festival in 2 is playwright David Greig’s response to the violence unleashed by a Norwegian white supremacist in 2011. This Australian production, starring Catherine McClements, features a different Melbourne choir each night, as it questions whether there are limits to our capacity for understanding and seeks to explain why events / that are unthinkable, are the hardest to put behind us.
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The Events was written as a response to the 2011 massacre in Norway. Devastatingly, this story is still as relevant today as it was five years ago. Our thoughts are with the friends and family of the victims of the recent 2016 attack in Orlando, USA.
"[THE] COMMUNITY CHORUS—THE 'ONE BIG CRAZY TRIBE'—LIFTED THE SHOW OUT OF RELENTLESS DARKNESS, FINDING A BEAUTIFUL HARMONY WE SO DESPERATELY NEED"
"A SUPERB AND UNIQUE EXAMINATION OF ONE VICTIM’S SELF-DESTRUCTIVE DESIRE TO UNDERSTAND THE ESSENCE OF VIOLENCE"
"GREIG MANAGES TO INSERT A PROFOUND THOUGHT INTO JUST ABOUT EVERY ONE OF THE 80 MINUTES THE PIECE RUNS"
PRODUCTION PARTNERS AND SUPPORTERS
A co-production with Belvoir and State Theatre Company of South Australia.
Key Image: Andrew Gough
Images: Pia Johnson
BY / | David Greig |
DIRECTION / | Clare Watson |
CAST INCLUDES / | Johnny Carr, Catherine McClements |
SET & LIGHTING DESIGN / | Geoff Cobham |
MUSICAL DIRECTION / | Luke Byrne |
COMPOSITION / | John Browne |
STAGE MANAGER / | Natalie Moir |
ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGER / | Amber Bock |
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Event & ticketing details
Accessibility
Dates & Times
PREVIEW | 7.30pm, Tue 21 Jun |
OPENING NIGHT | 7.30pm, Wed 22 Jun |
TIME TO TALK | 6.30pm, Tue 28 Jun |
AUDIO DESCRIBED | 7.30pm, Wed 6 Jul |
AUSLAN INTERPRETED | 7.30pm, Wed 6 Jul |
Location
Merlyn Theatre
The Malthouse, 113 Sturt St, Southbank 3006
Get directionsTrain
Any train to Flinders Street, then a 12-minute stroll through Melbourne’s sparkling Arts Precinct.Tram
The No. 1 South Melbourne tram goes right past our door. Get off at Stop 18. Any tram down St Kilda Road—jump off at Grant Street, Stop 17 and take a 3-minute walk.Event notes
DURATION /
75 minutes (no interval)