History telling brought to life
Philharmonia Orchestra and the female voices of the National Youth Choir of Scotland came together in Julia Wolfe’s Fire in my mouth.
A couple of nights ago I was lucky enough to sketch at the rehearsals for the UK premiere of Fire In My Mouth. A multimedia performance which tells the tragic story of the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in New York which led to the deaths of 146 garment workers.
Every victim is represented by a choir member and as they move around the Usher Hall filling the stage and the aisles it brings to life the scale of the loss. Haunting sounds from the orchestra and choir mimic factory noise, fire, smoke and confusion. Names of those lost are pictured along with black and white faces and images of the devastation on a huge screen as the sound builds and the choirs songs turn to screams.
The tragedy is superbly brought to life and as I scribbled down the scene before me I could feel my emotions building. I added notes to my sketch as I watched and added colour with big brush marks.
