A bold, melancholic music-theatre exploration of loneliness and isolation.
Magnetic North’s We Will Hear the Angels focuses on the effects of alienation of an urban landscape on five isolated individuals. These characters express their solitude and heartbreak through interpretations of morose melodies and quotidian sounds. This creates an atmosphere of tranquillity before it attempts to infuse these different thematic elements, primarily, to a broader motif of loneliness.
This ambitious piece of music-theatre has drawn great praise for its reutilisation of profound source materials, including, but not limited to: Hitchcock’s Rear Window; Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya; Katherine Mansfield; and the works of Bach, Hank Williams, and Etta James among others. Yet within the scope of the Citizen’s Studio Theatre’s thrust staging, there was a characteristic distance from its audience members from, at points, an oversaturation of ideas.
Though each aspect was executed with aplomb, more careful consideration of how they form a cohesive piece could still be undertaken for the regular theatregoer. An example of this, is the camera sequence in the second act that simulates portraiture rendering of each performer whilst also attempting homage to the famous James Stewart sequence in Hitchcock’s film and overlapping spoken elements from Uncle Vanya. However, the photography and dialogue do not meld together well in this moment and, thus, become a bit jarring.
Within the exposition of the piece, the characters construct a mundane life through the introduction of different set pieces (predominantly five cold wooden desks positioned in a circle inward) and live sound effects of a disconcerting nature, such as: a squeaky marker pen or glass ringing. Whilst these features are gloomily atmospheric, they lack continuation throughout the piece that makes their presence feel more redundant later. Furthermore, the staging draws confusion as to where the central thesis of the piece is to be drawn from.
From the second act, the transition from pre-recorded to live music and vocalization is where the piece really picks up pace and rallies its spectator. The live musical performance carries the melancholy and theatrical power of this piece. This begs the question of why this was not sustained from the first instant of the show and why voiceover and backing tracks were required at all, other than to embellish the highlighted feature as they do later on with greater success.
The piece evolves with dramatic monologue vignettes that, in the final third, transform into solo ballad covers of heartbreak anthems. Each character’s dilemma is clear and the performances are excellent: particularly Bea, played by Apphia Campbell, who is commanding in her vocal delivery and is bewitching and lamenting in her rendition of James’s “I would rather go blind”.
Other technical features, such as lighting serve the piece well, but are somewhat basic and could be accentuated in specific moments. As in, the portraiture photography sequence, the inclusion of flash could have punctuated the anecdotal vignettes and made the homage to Rear Window clearer.
Undoubtedly, Bone demonstrates his skills at producing and directing an array of theatrically brilliant flashes, but the compilation into a single piece puts a lot of pressure to bind a vast collection of source material that varies in quality throughout. In this aspect, Daniel Padden’s musical direction must be praised above all else in the production, as aurally, the live performance cannot be faulted.
Overall, the piece has innumerable exhilarating parts and a premise of exploration into the fascination of sad songs that is innovative and bold. However, whilst like a cathartic melody, We Will Hear the Angels, is gripping for its miserable cacophony, it could also, at times, benefit from further declutter of its theatrical arrangement.
This show has now concluded its run.