Dear Barnstormers and Britten-ites,
Apologies for the long gap between blog posts. Hopefully you have been following our progress on Twitter and other social media, and interacting with us face-to-face at rehearsals, market stalls and social events.
If not, here is our not-an-annual-report Report.
Any community project takes a lot of work and gives a lot of fun, and Bradford Barnstorm's production of Benjamin Britten's Noye's Fludde with Harvey Brough's stunning new composition Ona's Flood has been no exception!
And so, here we have arrived in early July 2013 and it feels like we're close to the culmination of almost two years' work. So what have we been doing all the time? Well ...
IN THE BEGINNING...
There was no cash. It costs more money than you might think to put on a non-profit-making production of this kind, so one of the first things we had to do was to raise over £30,000. Without that, we couldn't be sure that the production could go ahead. Applications were made to anyone and everyone who might consider the educational, as well as theatrical, aspects of the project and support came not only from a number of people who wish to remain anonymous, but also from Britten Pears Foundation, Col Llewellyn Palmer Educational Trust, Fitzmaurice Charitable Trust, Jack Lane Charitable Trust, Wessex Water, Co-operative Community Fund, Arts Council Lottery Fund, Wiltshire Council, Bradford on Avon Town Council and St Laurence School.
By Autumn 2012 it was clear that the Ark would float.
Written for children, Barnstorm felt that Noye's Fludde was of insufficient length to provide a full evening's worth of entertainment, and we wanted people to see the potential of the Tithe Barn as a performance space. To keep the audience in our company for longer, Harvey Brough was commissioned to write a companion piece featuring a community choir. The inspiration for the secular cantata, Ona's Flood, is a village in Catalonia that was flooded to create a reservoir for Barcelona's water supply. At times, the medieval church tower stands above the water level. This unusual sight was something that librettist Clara Sanabras had remembered vividly from her childhood and inspired the text that Harvey Brough then set to music.
GINGERBREAD AND CHRISTMAS TREES
One memorable Saturday was spent making more than 300 gingerbread animals for the Christmas Tree Festival held in Bradford on Avon's Holy Trinity Church. Several of our wonderful and dedicated community volunteers took part in this collective baking drive, and it was another great way to get out into the local community and have a presence, as we slowly introduced the town to the idea that this project was looming! We all learnt something new through this exercise: that animal cookie cutters come in all shapes and sizes, and therefore our Christmas Ark Tree had dinosaurs and giant beers in it. Sounds very Doctor Who to me ...
LAUNCHING THE ARK AND LOOKING FOR GOD
Salisbury Playhouse has been one of the key supporters in this project, and put forward designer Tom Paris and director Ben Occhipinti, who enthusiastically helped with the official Launch in February 2013. Decorated with rainbow striped umbrellas, Wiltshire Music Centre (a partner in the project from its earliest days) provided the setting for the Launch. Volunteers came forward, and there was much interest in signing up for audition slots (including the chance to "play God"!). Everyone wanted to be involved in one way or another. Harvey Brough and Clara Sanabras presented Ona's Flood to the gathered public for the first ever airing of the piece, and the nucleus of the community choir was already hooked.
SCHOOLS, CHILDREN'S WORKSHOPS AND OTHER ANIMALS
Once the structure of the production had been put in place, contact was made with local schools and ideas for a programme of workshops were warmly received, with the promise of learning the music, practising the movement, creating the animal and bird hats and preparing for the stage!
St Laurence School led the music sessions in each of the schools, teaching the animal chorus parts and the congregational hymns, and challenging groups of young children to sing confidently together. Music and Movement workshops run by director Ben Occhipinti and a choreographer were given in the local schools as well. The way designer Tom Paris saw best to dress the animal choruses was to let each child create their own animal hat (or glasses for birds), so hundreds of costume-shop bowler hats and second-hand 3D cinema glasses were purchased to be adorned with ears, tails, feathers, fur, scales and googly eyes - two-by-two of course! These hat-making workshops were run by yet more fantastic volunteers who encouraged the children to be imaginative and creative with their materials. This was, it goes without saying, immensely fun and sticky and messy and the results have been phenomenal. Apart from a few sneak-peeks on Facebook and Twitter, the end result remains a secret until those animals come marching two-by-two into the Tithe Barn next weekend ...
FLOODS, FETES AND RAINBOWS
Well you can't have a flood without a rainbow, and designer Tom Paris wondered if, for such a special event we could make quite a big one. After a flurry of activity around the area - especially by the stalwart twosome who attended many local fetes, fairs and festivals - squares of material donated by members of the community was cut, dyed, adorned, tacked and stitched. A truly beautiful 18 metre long (!) rainbow emerged like a butterfly! This enormous fabric creation has been contributed by hundreds but seen by only a few in it's entirety, so await the performances for it's spectacular unveiling and what undoubtedly will be one of the highlights of the shows.
LET THERE BE LIGHTS!
We were delighted to have been able to present the Wiltshire Young Musicians under their Musical Director, Daniel Smith, with orchestra lights for their continued use. These battery-operated LED lights will be very necessary for the young performers to see their music in the Tithe Barn, and we hope that the gift of these 40 lights will be a legacy from Barnstorm, and may enable the performers to continue to make music in venues that are more challenging and more exciting!
STILL MORE TO COME ...
The Barnstorm project is two-fold: as well as the productions of the two Floods on 12th and 13th July 2013 there is also the additional legacy of negotiating with English Heritage for local management contracts, to be held by local groups - in this case the Bradford on Avon Preservation Trust without the need for the necessary, but lengthy, negotiations for use on each occasion.
We hope that in future the wider community of Bradford on Avon and the surrounding area will make use of the space that the Tithe Barn offers, whether for an under-cover Christmas market, gatherings, theatre (The Bradfordians theatre group used the Barn for The Crucible in 2011, and their discussions with English Heritage laid the foundations for much of the current negotiations) or whatever can be imagined.
Talks are still on-going, but should conclude successfully by the end of 2013.
And of course, there are still the performances. Four of them over two days, each with a seating capacity of over 420, with nearly 200 performers on stage. We are days away from selling out. So if you were undecided ... BOOK NOW, before the Ark sails off without you!
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