THE CHOIR

$15.00

The orphanage boys’ choir has won the interstate competition 3 years in a row. Miss Lawson (never seen) wants to win it again. She has the boy sopranos castrated so that their voices will remain high, pure and beautiful. The choir boys get an easy life with 7 to a dormitory and they also are passionate in wanting to win. Andrew is the Head Boy in the dormitory of this story. The others idolise him except for Michael who will not speak and sits at his desk cutting out heads from photos in magazines. Underneath the story lies an uneasy and distorted sexuality with Andrew as love-god.

During a fight/game/tease Michael reveals that the castration is a mistake because they were done too late. Their voices are still changing. He thinks everyone must know this but the other boys don’t. They are extremely disturbed by the revelation. They try to organise an escape. They try to tell the rest of the choir who won’t believe them at first and fighting breaks out amongst the different choir rooms. Others try to set the building on fire. In a fight, David (the singer) is injured in the throat. He commits suicide with the help of his best friend, Colin.

Andrew tries to bring about calm. But he no longer holds sway over his group. They castrate him so that everyone in their room will be equal.

APT