MUM’S CHOIR

The Court Theatre, Bernard Street, Addington, Christchurch

15/09/2018 - 06/10/2018

Production Details

THE FAMILY ARE REUNITING TO FACE THE MUSIC

The Court Theatre is celebrating New Zealand Theatre Month this September with a play full of music, laughter and, of course, a gloriously typical Kiwi family in Mum’s Choir.

Mum’s Choir follows the O’Reilly family reuniting in Palmerston North after the death of their mum, Molly. She hasn’t gone quietly, however, with her final request an almost impossible task: for her kids (now adults with children of their own) to sing Fauré’s Requiem at her funeral.

For Ross Gumbley, the Artistic Director at The Court and director of Mum’s Choir, the play is about “the power of family when we all come together. It’s brilliant because the galvanizing force in the O’Reilly family is a love of music and song. Their whanau takes so much strength in being able to come together and pay tribute to their mother through her final request, for her family to sing Fauré’s Requiem.”

Gumbley and writer Alison Quigan worked together at Centrepoint Theatre in Palmerston North when Quigan was the Artistic Director – and where Mum’s Choir was written and first performed, based on Quigan’s experience when her own mother died in 2001.

“This is, I think, Alison Quigan’s finest play. And that’s hard for me to say, because I wrote seven with her… But it’s her best because it’s her most personal.”

A huge part of Mum’s Choir is the music, with songs performed during the play including After You’ve Gone, That’s Amore, Accentuate the Positive, Every Time We Say Goodbye, Hine E Hine, We’ll Meet Again and, of course, the glorious Requiem by Fauré.

“The play takes place in a family that, for years since they’ve all been small, have sat around the piano. Singing is a must in this family. So, there are all those standard songs that mum would have in her piano stall when you lift that up – all those loved classics of sheet music,” Gumbley says.

The cast performing those loved classics includes Eilish Moran; Paul Barrett; Lynda Milligan; Nick Dunbar; Amy Straker; Julie Edwards and Wiremu Waretini.

For Gumbley, Mum’s Choir is a timeless New Zealand play that, 14 years on, is still just as relevant and powerful as it was when it was first written, telling the story of a family coming together in celebration.

“Mum’s Choir is a play which reaches out and touches your heart. It really is a symbol of where New Zealand plays have come from – and how good they are.”

MUM’S CHOIR
The Court Theatre, Christchurch
15th September until 6th October 2018
Show Times
● Monday & Thursday 6.30pm
● Tue/Wed/Fri/Sat 7.30pm
● Forum 6:30pm Monday 17th September Discuss the play with cast and creative team after the performance
● Matinee 2:00pm Saturday 6th October
Ticket Prices
Adult $55.00 – $63.00
Senior 65yrs+ $48.00 – $56.00
Supporter $46.00 – $54.00
Group 6+ $48.00 – $53.00
Child (U18) $26.00 – $30.00
30 Below (max 2 per person) $30.00
Bookings: phone 03 963 0870 or visit www.courttheatre.org.nz

Cast
Jean: Eilish Moran
Noel: Paul Barrett
Cathy: Julie Edwards
Kevin: Nick Dunbar
Terri: Amy Straker
Aunty: Nola Lynda Milligan
Matt: Wiremu Waretini

Creatives
Set Designer: Mark McEntyre
Costume Designer: Tina Hutchison-Thomas
Lighting Designer: Giles Tanner
Sound Designer: Matt Short
Stage Manager: Erica Browne

Theatre , Musical ,

Review by Lindsay Clark 16th Sep 2018

Since the play first appeared in 2005, domestic comedy has mostly picked up on the sharp end of family life. For all that, the banter and sentiment of Alison Quigan’s amiable account of a family funeral is fresh and funny, establishing a direct line to the heart with its musical content, allowing director Ross Gumbley and his cast to romp through the simple plot for an enthusiastic audience.

Molly Elizabeth O’Reilly has just died, but she remains the central reference point for the family members gathered to give her the special send-off she deserves. We learn a lot about her, her attitude to life and especially her predilection for the harmony of shared song. She has requested a family performance of Faurế’s glorious ‘Agnus Dei’ from his Requiem, one supposes with the foreknowledge that sibling sniping will be resolved through the exercise, as indeed it is.

Played out in the (“it smells damp”) realistic clutter of Mark McEntyre’s set, the action is well focussed on building to that event and humour is never far away, in spite of the circumstances. Six siblings file into the room they grew up in and to the piano around which they sang so often. Mum’s ‘Renaissance Choir’ now takes on a richer meaning, as Noel, the one who received Mum’s last wishes, persuades his siblings to take up the challenge of performing the difficult work.

For a start, there are only six of them and the music requires eight voices. Paul Barrett’s fluent musicianship in the role, together with the timely arrival of Aunty Nola, played by the irrepressible Lynda Milligan, as well as the eldest grandson, overcome all that. The latter, Matt, is Maori and the role acknowledges a change in cultural sensitivity to changing custom in Aotearoa. Wiremu Waretini as Matt shows for example, the indignity he feels has been done when Mum, now in her casket centre stage, is left alone in the room.

Keynotes of the production are humour from the inevitable sibling skirmishes and the song filled process of remembering their shared past. This is no ordinary cast, effortlessly able to produce sparkling music in various groupings as the day of Mum’s funeral and the Requiem draws ever nearer. Laughton Patrick’s arrangements are a delight, with inventive scope for the vocal talent on display.

This is not, then, a play about strong individual roles, though all are given enjoyable colour and definition. Eilish Moran is, as always, completely convincing as the middle aged Jean and her unaccompanied ‘Every Time We Say Goodbye’ tugs at the heartstrings. Julie Edwards brings strong voice and physicality to Cathy, Matt’s mum, and Nick Dunbar establishes nicely the contrary Kevin. Amy Straker neatly completes the cast with her Terri.

With this cornucopia of talent and a strongly supportive production team, Mum’s send-off is all round, a thorough success.

MUM’S CHOIR

Sibling skirmishes successfully navigated with humour and song

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