I love it when my worlds collide. I grew up listening to Emma Kirby singing the meditative music of 12th century religious figure, Hildegard von Bingen. Later I sang this hauntingly beautiful style and now here I am, reflecting, having been mesmerised by a collaboration of her sound and the musical theatre world I also walk in. While familiar, also completely different.

A recent addition to the Wellington theatre scene, Cyclorama Productions NZ’s presentation of the Southern hemisphere premiere of In the Green by Grace McLean, directed by Alexandra McKellar, is nothing short of inspiring!

In the Green, while not a historical drama, is based on Hildegard’s 30 years with Jutta von Sponheim, an anchoress, who chooses to live a secluded and prayer-oriented life in a cloistered cell.

This piece is not driven from the religious point of view, but rather as a tool to guide us through the exploration of women healing together. While there is mention in song of ‘Eve’, as the director says, “this references the idea of Eve and what she represents as a feminist figure which transcends the character from the bible.” 

This virtuosic score by performer, writer and composer Grace McLean, consisting of medieval melodies with an avant-garde blend of vocal looping, breath-as-rhythm, and mysticism woven into contemporary storytelling, is such a unique theatrical experience.

We meet Hildegard as an 8 year old being entrusted to the care of Jutta (Caitlin McDougall). Due to the trauma of seeing her sister die, the ‘broken’ Hildegard is represented by 3 actors; Hand (Meg Tisdall), Eye (Lucy France) and Mouth (Gracie Voice): the personification of Hildegard’s formation, her distress and her flowering.

With Jutta’s harsh and unforgiving mentorship of how to control one’s thoughts and body (‘The Rule’), they begin the task of trying to make themselves whole with the mantra, “Watch, Wait, Try, Dig”, and depriving themselves of any wants of the outside world. From this point, they begin their journey together towards deeper understanding. 

Another character, Shadow (Cassandra Tse), slowly becomes more visible and the five women discover the power of learning to be seen, even broken, to be able to heal.

From Hand, Eye, Mouth’s very first entrance with their tics and body shakes, they give a tangible expression to Hildegard’s trauma. These three actors work with expert physicality as individuals and especially when in synchronisation. This sets up the evocative movement palette by the choreographic collaboration of Alexandra McKellar, Gemma Boswell and Stella McLaughlin, heightening the emotional nuance in this story.

The simple staging surrounded by a projected stone wall (tech by Matt Johnston and Scott Maxim) and the use of minimal props, as per a life of seclusion, with lighting effective for the ‘world’, and a central triangular pit of green fabric, gives an uncluttered platform for the performers’ exceptional character portrayal and inspiring vocal prowess to soar.

The actors completely embrace this world through their performances. The intention of every word, every movement and the clarity of diction is jaw-dropping. They are doing everything this script demands and are putting it out there with 100% output.

The skill of navigating this dense, discordant but also lyrical and hopeful score is immense. The multi-layering of canon, broken percussive sentences, rhythms and close harmony while also inhabiting the necessary range of emotions conveyed through their physicality and vocal gymnastics, is frankly, incredible.

The intricate and varied musical demands of McLean’s score, including triggering vocal loops, are vividly brought to life by Gayle Hammersley’s superb musical direction with support from Jessica Weston (Conductor/Keys 1), Nicholas Appleton (Keys 2), Bennie Sneyd-Utting (Cello) and Helen Halt (percussion).

Costuming is stark and austere for Jutta and this is echoed in Shadow but through physicality appears softer, while the three Hildegard actors are in different coloured matching smocks which suggest the disjointed individual parts while still appearing ‘of the same’.

I notice in the original production of In the Green, puppetry was used to show the Hand, Eye and Mouth but feel that without a physical prop, this production has these characters feel real as one and as three, and actually more connected to their bodies and able to express themselves just as fully without an outward physical depiction which to me, feels cartoonish.

In the Green is an incredibly moving expression of the human psyche, both from the personal perspective and a recognisable societal commentary where women and minorities are disempowered and abused.
“I used to be broken like you,
 Out there in the world, I was too much too,
 Nobody listened when I tried to scream.
 All I’ve ever wanted is to be free”
– which still resonates today. 

What is unique about this piece is the way Grace Mclean has unashamedly written with her personal voice – just raw exposition and an ever-changing riff on the themes she is presenting. She is a pioneer in this landscape of musical theatre, vocal percussion and electronica combined. The score is a celebration of sonic juxtapositions and Jungian insights.

What does seem at odds with the bulk of the fleshed-out score, is the style of the writing of the spoken dialogue and opening animation and the ‘wrap up’ of her life as an abbess, writer, composer, philosopher and mystic. It does however give food for thought about the damage that can still be wrought when trying to have a positive and definitive voice inside a restrictive, patriarchal world.

There’s something deeply elementally female about this piece – earth, blood, echo, myth. Alexandra McKellar has expertly brought out the essence of the viriditas – the green, as per Hildegard’s philosophical teachings – that divine greening, the resonating hum of life, that pushes up through dirt and sorrow.

I will leave you with a quote from Grace McLean herself when asked what she hopes people will find through this work:
“I hope they will feel emboldened to look into their dark little corners to find that there is worth and strength inside of all these heavy little burdens that we feel like we are carrying – that those are actually a part of what make us whole.”

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