CLAMOUR AND ROAR – A Citizen’s Chorus is a new project by theatre director Veronica Coburn that explores the people and landscape of South Dublin County.

It is a mixed discipline and participatory art project that involves forty members of the local community. They have been taking part in workshops since April, and now the project is getting into shape.

“I’ve gotten interested in making work with people who wouldn’t identity, if you like, as professional artists,” Coburn says.

Participants don’t have to have any prior experience or training in performing, and are forming a chorus on stage that will sing and speak.

The final text and performance will explore the lives of the community members involved, using their own personal stories and memories, something that Coburn believes will resonate with audiences.

Orla Gildea, one of the chorus members, says it’s “really good to feel that freedom to sing in a choir… and to hear about other people’s life experience.”

“You tell a really specific story to access a universal truth,” Coburn says. “Once you do that, what you’re actually talking about is the human experience.”

Clamour and Roar – A Citizen’s Chorus is a public art commission from the South Dublin County Council and is is set to be performed in The Civic’s Main Space in May 2019.