Credit: Mihaela Bodlovic
What’s in Grace’s Satchel? A Choir, a Question, and a Quietly Shattering Night at the Tron
By Grace Hatchell
Right then. This is one of those shows that asks you to slow down, take a breath, and really listen.
Wonder Fools, in association with Cumbernauld Theatre, return to the Tron Theatre with their latest staging of David Greig’s modern classic The Events, running from Thursday 19 to Saturday 21 February at 7.30pm. And honestly, it feels like a piece that belongs exactly here, exactly now.
Set in a choir rehearsal hall, The Events focuses on Claire, a priest and choir leader who survives a mass shooting in her church. What follows is not an easy journey, nor a neat one. Instead, we’re invited into Claire’s thought-provoking, at times anguished search for answers, as she attempts to make sense of the unthinkable. Her question is the hardest one of all: why?
As Claire’s journey unfolds, she comes face to face with The Boy, the attacker who destroyed her choir in an act of unimaginable violence. What the play explores so powerfully is not just what happened, but what happens next. How do we live with trauma? What does forgiveness even look like? And is understanding ever truly possible?
Directed by Jack Nurse, this production carries one of the most striking elements of Greig’s original vision: a live community choir, specially created in each venue. That means every performance is unique, rooted in the people and voices of the place where it’s staged. It’s a quietly radical choice, and one that gives the piece a deep sense of immediacy, humanity, and collective presence. You don’t just watch the community in this play — you feel it breathing beside you.
Claire Lamont and Sam Stopford return to their roles as Claire and The Boy, bringing extraordinary sensitivity and control to characters that could so easily tip into melodrama. Instead, their performances remain grounded, restrained, and deeply affecting.
The production has already been described as “heartfelt and haunting” by The Scotsman and “a play that demands to be seen” by The Stage, and it’s easy to understand why. This updated staging invites audiences into a shared experience about resilience, responsibility, and the power of community to hold space for grief and healing.
One of the most striking parts of this production is how it builds a choir from scratch in every venue it visits. A live community choir is specially created in each location for the run, meaning the show is never quite the same twice. It’s not just a backdrop of voices either — it roots the story in the place where it’s being performed, giving each performance its own texture, its own local heartbeat, and a real sense of people coming together in the room.
Originally premiered at the Traverse Theatre during the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2013, The Events won the Carol Tamber Best of Edinburgh Award and has continued to resonate ever since. Its 2024 revival by Wonder Fools and Cumbernauld Theatre only underlined how urgent and relevant the piece remains.
The creative team includes music by John Browne, set and costume design by Becky Minto, lighting design by Lizzie Powell, sound design by Gary Cameron, with the community choir led by Clare Haworth. Associate direction comes from Katie Slater, movement by Robbie Gordon, and executive production by Michael Duke.
Speaking about the production, director Jack Nurse describes The Events as a modern Scottish classic that feels even more urgent now than when it was first staged. In a world shaped by polarisation, fear of the ‘other’, and recurring acts of violence, the play’s questions around belonging, empathy, and responsibility are impossible to ignore. The collaboration with local choirs at each venue, he says, has been a genuine privilege and a vital part of bringing the piece to life.
Running at 90 minutes with no interval, The Events is not an easy night at the theatre — but it is a necessary one. This is storytelling that trusts its audience, honours its community, and leaves space for reflection long after the final note fades.
And if you ask me, that’s theatre doing exactly what it’s meant to do.
Grace Hatchell
Theatre Village
LISTINGS INFORMATION
Venue: Tron Theatre, 63 Trongate, Glasgow G1 5HB
Dates: Thursday 19 – Saturday 21 February, 7.30pm
Tickets: £19/ £23/ £26
Box Office: 0141 552 4267 or www.tron.co.uk
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