We Are in Time

Two bodies, suspended in darkness.
A team of surgeons, poised as one.
A gathered chorus, singing of life and death.
And a human heart, speeding through the city…

Unfurling through song, words and a visionary live score for strings and electronics, We Are In Time follows the extraordinary journey of two strangers, one giving life, the other receiving it. Musicians are at once performers, chorus and specialist team as the drama between renowned mezzo-soprano Ruby Philogene and vocalist Jodie Landau unfolds, and time ticks on.

The result is a thought-provoking meditation on life, and on what it means to live; on the frailty and strength of human beings, working together, with science, against nature, in search of the superhuman.

Written by
Pamela Carter
Composed by
Valgeir Sigurðsson
Directed by
Stewart Laing
Music Direction by
Jonathan Morton

The Show

Tue 25 February 7:30 pm

Perth Perth Theatre

Preview performance
Wed 26 February 7:30 pm

Perth Perth Theatre
Fri 28 February 7:30 pm

Glasgow Tramway
Sat 29 February 7:30 pm

Glasgow Tramway

With a post-concert talk
Tue 3 March 7:30 pm

Edinburgh Traverse Theatre

With a post-concert talk
Wed 4 March 7:30 pm

Edinburgh Traverse Theatre
Fri 6 March 7:30 pm

Inverness Eden Court

The Trailer

Notes: The Music

by Valgeir Sigurðsson

Operation. Cutting out the heart of one human being. Transporting it in a box. Implanting it in the body of another. When Scottish Ensemble approached me to collaborate with Stewart Laing and Pamela Carter on a “heart- transplant project” it immediately struck me as a fascinating subject. For a piece of music theatre, the Opera_ting Theatre. After dreaming of the possibilities I found myself submerged in the work that is now coming together in We Are In Time, and this music which is on many levels my most ambitious yet. Pamela went deep behind the scenes in researching the medical procedures, the science and the history of organ donation. And she has married this intel so wonderfully with the human element, the journey of one coming to terms with his own death, and another accepting to live with a heart that is not her own. Pamela’s poetry is the true backbone of this music, and an idea that I kept closely in mind when I was writing the choral- sections (sung so bravely for us by the string players) was that for me as an outside eye the whole procedure reminds me of a ceremony; a religious procession. A mass. The teams of surgeons and hospital staff appear to take on a God-like role, and I’m astounded by the science and procedures that we as people have developed in the pursuit of extending a human life. Success even just by a fraction of a lifetime makes this journey worthwhile.

Subject matter aside, this piece has presented many challenges for me as a composer. As the musicians take on the roles of chorus and medical staff, basses, cellos, violas and violins – with their vast range of possibilities for making sound – replace the surgical instruments. Electronic sounds blend in to remind us of the humming machinery that is constantly present. I was privileged to be able to work so closely with members of the Scottish Ensemble in the writing process too. It is an honour to be given the opportunity to write for a group of such extraordinary musicians.

Notes: The Direction

by Stewart Laing

We Are In Time. Pamela’s title for this new composition has been humming round my head for a long time now. It was Valgeir who recognised that the words make an acronym – WAIT. And there is certainly a lot of waiting for those on critical lists for organ transplants. I thought for a long time that the title had a double meaning, suggesting a connection between the intricate time keeping of a music ensemble and a similar precise coordination in the surgical teams involved in heart transplantation. We are in time with each other. It took me a while longer to reach
another, more tentative sense in these four words. We made it just in time. And of course the medical treatment of a critical heart condition is time sensitive, it must be achieved within a certain time frame in order to save the patient’s life. The last time Pamela and I talked about the title, she suggested a further more existential interpretation. We all exist in time. We organise our lives within the human construct of calibrated time and it gives us a sense of past, present and future. We Are In Time.

Cast

Stella
Ruby Philogene
Jay
Jodie Landau
Narrator
Alison O’Donnell

Production

Production Manager
Nick Millar
Technician/Re-lighter
Laura Hawkins
Stage Manager
Sophie Wright
Stage Manager (rehearsals)
Fiona Johnston
Technical Stage Manager
Emma Campbell
Wardrobe Supervisor
Emma Clifton
Sound Engineer
Jonathan Green
Model Maker
Catherine Morgan
Produced by Raw Material
Producers
Gill Garrity, Margaret-Anne O’Donnell
Student Placement
Sophie Aziz
Social Media
Niall Walker

[A] production that wears its substantial technical achievements lightly, and is, critically, full of heart.

Valgeir Sigurðsson’s score is a shimmering miasma of sound, occasionally punctuated by soaring lyricism from the voices or from the string players of the Scottish Ensemble, whose masterful playing, directed by Jonathan Morton, is fundamental to the piece’s success… This is an impressive premiere, moving and strange, and it never loses sight of the fact that, as the chorus ultimately reminds us, we’re all only human.

Sigurdsson’s score is at once future-focused and atavistic, and the penultimate scene with the two strangers’ voices blending together in life and death stuns the room into silence… it is an insightful, deeply moving and politically engaged piece of theatre. Pamela Carter’s words are wry, beautiful and at times furious, very much a comment on our struggle to connect and survive, in a time of collective anxiety over our global health crises.

The cumulative effect is quite something – a work that weaves together contemporary classical music, philosophical ponderings and hard facts in a moving paean to a modern medical miracle.