We will hear the Angels
Fruitmarket, Edinburgh, 24/1/2025
Magnetic North
Edinburgh theatre company Magnetic North bring their moving and thoughtful piece of theatre, We Will Hear the Angels, to the Warehouse performance space at the Fruitmarket Gallery this late winter.
Taking its title from Chekhov's play Uncle Vanya, and inspiration from Hitchcock’s 1954 classic film, Rear Window, the piece exposes various states of loss and loneliness using the stories of four disparate characters. It uses the concept in both texts to highlight the very human condition of sharing similar feelings and emotions while living separately and at the same time in proximity to each other.
The four lecterns with sheet music that have held the centre spot in the Warehouse, are swiftly moved by the cast as they appear on stage before then manoeuvring bits of old furniture, that have sat at the edge of the space, into their places. A recorded voice delivers text that sounds like an overview of the play’s theme, ending with the eponymic title.
In turn, each character stands and reveals snippets of their particular experience of melancholy to the sound of a rhythmic shaker held by Lou (Marie-Gabrielle Koumenda) who has the roles of observer, sometime disrupter and chronicler. As she appears to capture each individual on camera, that image appears on a screen on the wall courtesy of film-maker Marisa Zanotti, who is co-director of the show with Nicholas Bone.
As glimpses of the complexities of ordinary unseen lives unfold, each one is quietly augmented by actions such as dance, clothes sorting, making calls and a sign on a man’s desk reminding him to ‘Get On With Your Work,’ while unobtrusive yet atmospheric background music from Daniel Padden adds a further musical level to this already layered work.
Throughout we are reminded, as the old hymn said, that we are all in our own small corner experiencing the commonality of human sadness of disappointments; deceit; lack of purpose or fulfilment and unattainable love. Yet the message of this contemplative work is that of acceptance and that moving on despite feeling deep yearning can bring hope and peace.
We are reminded of the solace of music and the irony held in the comfort sad music can bring when one is at a low ebb, allowing a release of deeply felt emotions. A tune in waltz time can have the power to tug the heart strings and the slow plaintive versions of Hank Williams’ I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry does just that as does Patsy Cline’s Why Can’t He Be You? Another slow treatment of Scottish band Orange Juice’s Rip It Up and Start Again adds to the melancholic but certainly not depressing mood.
The quartet, made up of Greg Sinclair, Marie-Gabrielle Koumenda, Mia Scott and Nicholas Bone, replace the lecterns towards the end where bass, violin and guitar play ‘Gottes Zeit ist die allerbeste Zeit’ by Bach and Apphia Campbell sings an unaccompanied version the profound ‘I’d Rather Go Blind’ made famous by Etta James.
A quiet philosophical crescendo of a show, We Will Hear the Angels, is the culmination of a season of events to celebrate the company’s 25th anniversary, and one that will stay in the mind.
Dates: Tuesday 28th January - Saturday 1st February
Tuesday 4th February - Thursday 6th February
All performances are at 7pm
Accessible performances:
Captioned: 29th January and 31st January
BSL: 31st January and 5th February
Photo Credit: Jassy Earl