Finding the sound of the Chorus with Samira Barar

“Just find it…..I don’t care if it’s ugly.”
-Charlotte McIvor

Being one of the six within the Chorus, it seems safe to same that initially one would expect a song or dance number. No, we don’t break into a musical number singing ‘ELECTRA’ in a perfect 3 part Harmony, however we do create a cacophony of deafening cries worthy of shattering glass.

Mourning within the Greek tradition provided an opportunity for families to display their wealth and prove their status by staging elaborate funerals and mourning in a public fashion. Between the male and female mourners there was a noticeable difference in the way each mourned. Men typically did not show emotion and behaved in a formal and somewhat detached manner. It was the male head of the family who often waited to greet guests some distance from the body. The female relatives, in contrast, stood near the body, wailing and gesturing wildly, including pulling at their hair. The leader or head mourner was the mother or the wife of the deceased. She stood near the head and often held it in her hands in grief. Their aim was to attract a large amount of public attention by mourning. Initially, these mourners were family members but later they were replaced by professional mourners and performers, including musicians and singers.

Laura Webb, Jessica Watts and Niamh Ryan working on finding the Chorus's place in the play.

Chorus Members

During our process with exploring the wild mourning sounds we were incredibly timid this was due to the fact that every time someone would wail it would sound slightly ‘ahem’ inappropriate. It seemed we struggled with the embarrassment of it all as mourning in Ireland is a private family affair. In order for us to achieve the desired effect charlotte wanted us to go over the top, as then, she would be able to reel us back in. We were unsure of what sounds to make, but having the expert of Natasha at hand she suggested we try ‘Oi’s’ instead of crying noises. At the beginning of every run we would do a vocal warm up ranging from our ‘mememememmooos’ to our ‘mememememaaaaa’s’. A personal favourite of mine is *insert cursing and cussing* and take my word for it, being able to curse at the director is somewhat of a liberating sensation. Apart from distracting Paul from his monologue (sorry Paul) during our last run through we finally broke the barrier, personal boundaries dissolved and we became a Greek chorus worthy to hire for a funeral. After the initially giggling and scarlet faces we forgot the others around us and became consumed within Electra’s world.

Samira Barar