Something In Your Voice was a show by Emergency Chorus, still in development. I collaborated on the development of the show, and composed the sound for the most recent showing.
Unvanish; 2020 – stillborn
70 minutes
in development
A magician runs over his act, time and time again. The one where he escapes certain death. The one with the appearing dove. The one with the cafe and the empty house. The one that floods the auditorium.
Somewhere, a woman is trying to put the pieces together. Somewhere, a beach that was once a hill waits beyond a hole in the world. Someday, the rain is going to wash everything away.
Unvanish was originally concieved of as ‘show about wizards who do actual magic’, but along the way it turned into something more open ended and sadder. It’s a show about grief, really: about the strangeness of grief, about trying to grieve for strangers, about falling away from the people you love. It’s sort of about climate grief, too. It’s big and ungainly and openhearted, and probably the thing I most care about getting onto a stage if I ever get the chance.
Which I nearly did – I was going to mount a version at the end of my MA – but thanks to covid that slipped through my fingers. At the moment, all that exists is a subtitled reading, a still of which adorns the top of this page. I’m determined to make the full thing happen soon. Speaking of which: if you are someone who makes theatrical things happen, and you like the sound of a sad ambiguous show where people describe magic tricks and unpack clothes from boxes and dance in synchrony, then let’s get coffee.
Written and directed by Nat Norland.
