A night of lights and shadows

An illuminated puppetry show, a choral piece, a procession, a piece of art—The Dark is an upcoming design-led performance to be performed at the Normandy Field that is not specific to any one performing art genre. Performed on November 2 and 3, The Dark features elements of music, theatre, poetry and fine arts, created and put together by Dr. Kiera Galway, professor of music education and choral director at Mt. A and Ian McFarlane, resident designer at the Motyer-Fancy Theatre. The show is based on a poem by a Sackville poet, Keagan Hawthorne, featuring live choral music by the Elliot Chorale, composed by Mt. A. alum, Hope Salmonson. 

Galway shared that the idea for the project came from her work on “unsettling power dynamics between composer, conductor, and the choir.” She received a grant from the Marjorie Young Bell Fine Art Fund for a collaborative choral piece, and had a chance to meet with McFarlane to discuss possible project ideas. The choice fell on Hawthorne’s new poetry book and the Elliot Choral members suggested Salmonson as a composer. 

The show will be performed after sunset, at 7:30 p.m. each night, and includes a lantern procession through Waterfowl Park, underlining “the interplay of light and shadow, literally and symbolically,” commented Galway. Following the procession, illuminated puppets and shadows animated by students in the Mt. A Drama Department will come to life around you, interacting with the choir, the audience, and the marsh. Galway added that all of the parts of the show come together to bring out this idea of light and dark: the visual play of the lantern lights in the darkness of the park interacts with the themes of the poem, as well as the choral composition that includes folk music ideas and dissonances.

To McFarlane, the poem of the same name by Hawthorne is based off “what it means to be young, what it is to be mortal, what it is to be in an ecology, what it is to be in a community,” and is a “beautiful invitation to sit with those things: what it means to be where we are.”

Salmonson shared that while working with the poem, she misinterpreted a line which led to a folklore-inspired sound of her music. They thought that it was a creature talking beneath the ice rather than the river. Both Galway and McFarlane loved this sound as it highlighted the fact that the production is local in all of its aspects. This “complete accident led to a new construction of the meaning,” Salmonson said. 

One of the most challenging but exciting aspects of the project for Galway is the show’s staging. “I don’t want to recreate a concert hall because this show is completely different in that way,” she noted. 

The Dark poses an equally interesting challenge for the show’s student puppeteers, many of whom are more familiar with performing on-stage, with a script, than in the woods and without a single line to memorize. Instead performers must learn movements, and collaborate to make their pieces come to life.

McFarlane talked about bringing the idea of “art as a container” to the show. Most people think of theatre as a script, but, “how do we queer that? How do we take the linear way of imagining how to gather and how to make it more circular, something more of a vessel?” They wondered.

The Dark will be performed on the Normandy Field at 7:30 p.m. on November 2 and 3, involving students from drama, art and music Departments. The show is free for anyone; you can register to see the performance via the QR code or by visiting mta.ca/drama or mta.ca/music. Bring a warm coat, a mug of hot cocoa and enjoy the light and music that reaches you from across The Dark.