The Bullet and the Bass Trombone

There’s a concert orchestra, trapped in a city during a military coup.

As violence erupts, with pitched battles breaking out around them, the orchestra becomes separated – lost – hoping and trying to find their way back to each other.

The composer is left to tell the story.

With an intricate, fractured narrative and haunting soundtrack, The Bullet and The Bass Trombone is a modern hymn to people and places now lost. The story comes together from the smallest of pieces, like a mosaic: a whistling bird in the jungle; an antique harp used for target practice; a gunfight on an airport runway; a murder in a forest of music stands.

It’s a fugue of voices, memories and sounds, played concertostyle by a lone performer trying to make sense of the chaos.

FUNDERS & SUPPORTERS

A Bristol Old Vic Ferment commission. Produced by MAYK. Developed with support from Parabola Arts Centre, Live Theatre, The Empty Space and Forest Fringe. Supported by the National Lottery through Arts Council England.