In Brief ...
The joint productions of Noye's Fludde and Ona's Flood are giving up to 400 local school children and more than 100 adult enthusiasts the benefit of professional support in an exciting music theatre programme. Staged on 12 and 13 July, it will be one of the biggest shows that the town of Bradford on Avon has seen in the past 20 years. Tickets are on sale now from Wiltshire Music Centre - don't wait until the last minute, they're going fast!
The Barn
Agreement in principle has been reached with English Heritage, the Town Council and the Preservation Trust to confirm the local management contract which we had hoped for, to ensure ready access to the Barn for community activities in the future.
As we are now less than 6 weeks away from curtain-up, we are certain that the joint production of Noye's Fludde and Ona's Flood will be a fantastic example of the potential of this space for performance on a large scale, and to encourage others in the community to think creatively about the wider use of the Tithe Barn.
We have also reached an agreement with English Heritage about suitable lighting and flooring solutions that will provide a physical legacy for future users of the Barn.
The Performers
Following two extremely successful audition days, we have found six talented young people to play Noye's sons and their wives, as well as a great team of "gossips", Mrs. Noye's drinking buddies!
Teaching staff from St Laurence School have now completed two sessions in each of the cluster primary schools to teach the students involved as the animal choruses the music and words to Noye's Fludde, in which these pupils will form the animal chorus. They are all excited about the prospect of making their own animal costumes, and have been extremely keen to participate and learnt all the words. Some groups have already made their costumes and it's thrilling for the whole team to see how quickly the production is coming to life.
All the young performers are excited to be working with the professional Director and Designer from Salisbury Playhouse, and being on stage with two professional opera singers!
Financial position
We have successfully secured funding from a number of trusts, foundations, and local businesses and individuals. We are extremely grateful to both the Town Council and Wiltshire County Council for their support, as well as Arts Council England and many others. Business sponsorship has also come from Wessex Water and the Co-Operative Community Fund. We are also thankful to our primary arts partners: Iford Arts, Salisbury Playhouse and Wiltshire Music Centre, as well as St Laurence School and the cluster primaries for all they contribute on a daily basis.
St Laurence School has pledged a substantial amount to assist in a reduction of prices for the matinee performances for parents, carers and siblings, reducing the advertised ticket price from £7 to £3. This is a concession which Barnstorm will match for any other participating children, including the instrumentalists from the West Wiltshire Young Musicians.
Our diligent team of volunteers has been on a mission around the shops and businesses of the local area to seek out people willing to part with some pennies and book some advertising space in our souvenir programme book. We have very nearly reached our extremely ambitious targets, and are extremely grateful to everyone who has agreed to support us in this way.
Assuming satisfactory ticket sales, we are in a healthy financial position.
Our ever-expanding mailing list of interested choristers has reached over 130 people, so we await the first rehearsal workshop day on Sunday (9th) to see how many turn up, who brings all their friends and family and to give Ona's Flood it's first real sing-through!
The Production
All the design work is underway and props and set are currently in the workshop. If anyone attended the launch and saw the plans for the set then ... be warned, it's evolved into a very different beast now! The plans are now quite secret, so no peeking in the Tithe Barn during production week, and keep the visuals a surprise for the 12th or 13th!
We also hosted some wonderfully creative "rainbow-making workshops" last week during Half Term, inviting volunteers of all ages to come and stitch together squares of colourful materials to make strips of 7-colour rainbow stripes. These are now all being stitched lovingly together to make a gigantic community rainbow. This is the handiwork of literally hundreds of people from across the area, and it will be a thing of awe and beauty!
Some notable achievements
"Bradford Barnstorm" has now been registered as a charitable association with HMRC approval.
Composer of Ona's Flood, Harvey Brough, has worked with A-Level students from St Laurence School to help them with their composition work in school.
As part of the legacy of the project, Bradford Barnstorm has purchased 40 LED orchestra lights as a gift to the West Wiltshire Young Musicians. This will hopefully open up the performance opportunities to the ensembles to play in less conventional venues and embark on more exciting and ambitious projects, as befitting of such talented young performers.
Thank-Yous!
It would be neglectful to not recognise the tens of thousands of pounds we do not have to spend thanks to hundreds of community volunteers who are engaged at some level of activity around this project. The value of this work really does not have a price, and the trustees wish to acknowledge this cooperative effort and sincerely hope that everyone will continue to enjoy the project together, since that is the overall objective for volunteers.
