Carnation for a Song - 11th April 2019
Carnation for a Song returned this week for a run of public performances for four days, as part of the Young Vic’s main programme. Carnation is a community show made last year in response to the Young Vic’s Main House show, Fun Home, and originally performed in August 2018 to an invited audience only. It was performed by, and told the stories of, people who identify as LBTQ+ and are over the age of fifty-five. As the director of the piece, Megan Cronin, points out, “whilst the show is not a verbatim piece, it explores how, in one lifetime, our Carnations have lived through decriminalisation, Section 28, and the legalisation of equal marriage”.
The show is made up of songs and speeches based on individual and common experiences of those performing in the piece, but also other people who were interviewed as part of the project and shared their stories, but were unable - or felt unable - to perform or tell those stories in public. It is a truly beautiful piece, interweaving personal stories and setting them in the context of an experience shared by many even if they didn’t know each other at the time. In this way it felt very connective and truly communal, setting the historic alongside the personal. As Joseph Atkins, Musical Director of Carnation, says, “while the speeches seek to capture snapshots of experience, the songs are less personal and more discursive; musical attempts to explore themes, anxieties and preoccupations that emerged in the interviews Megan and I conducted with the company”.
The piece also felt universal, so that however audience members identified, the stories told a common tale of the struggle and/or determination to own oneself and one’s identity whatever that happens to be. This is reflected by director Megan’s hopes that “audiences of all ages and identities see this work and are reminded of one thing; that we are all on our own journey to become the person we are meant to be. Nothing or no one should stop us becoming that person”.
Carnation for a Song will return at the Tate Late at Tate Modern on Friday 26th April at 7:15pm. It was initially conceived by Imogen Brodie, Director of Taking Part, and Kirsten Adam, former Two Boroughs Project Manager. It was written and directed by Megan Cronin with music and lyrics by Joseph Atkins.