A roomful of Ave

Wilson directed and produced this piece of immersive choral theatre as part of the Kampung Halloween Festival at Centre 42 in October of 2024.

The work was in reaction to recent news of horrific deaths of civilians from the bombings of hospitals in conflicts at Gaza. As part of the theme to “bring back the Kampung (village) spirits”, the work takes reference to folk beliefs that persons who have experienced sudden deaths find their spirit trapped in repetitive actions of what they were doing before their demise, oblivious to their changed circumstance.

As Centre42 consists of rehearsal rooms, and in an effort to respond to the site, the work imagines a choral group that perished in the midst of preparing for a concert, and their spirits continue in their last activity in a fractured reality. Audiences are encouraged to enter the room and be immersed in this altered reality while the singers drift about them.

The music is drawn from various choral works from the Baroque and Renaissance period that used the text of the Hail Mary prayer (Ave Maria) in Latin. To further add to theme of conjuring spirits, these composers, who have all died hundreds of years ago, are still remembered through their compositions and are seemingly brought to life again through the voices that sing their works. Albeit in this instance, with the voices of singers who are "deceased" themselves.

The text of Ave Maria, “ora pro nobis peccatoribus,nunc et in hora mortis nostrae”, seeks the intercession of Mother Mary to “pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death”, adding further layers of poignancy to this piece of choral theatre.