Let's Stage a Community Opera

Tim Brooks shares his experiences and gives us some tips

There is a saying that goes: the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. This is at the heart of community opera, where people of all ages, abilities and levels of experience work together to create a high-quality show, usually put on with only one week of rehearsals.

For the past seven years I've been musical director of such a project: the annual Ryedale Festival Community Opera in North Yorkshire. As part of the festival, director Em Whitfield Brooks and I have created new operas for the local community. Year after year, participants have benefitted in terms of confidence, learning and personal development through their engagement with a large-scale, arts project.

What makes our shows successful (and manageable) is the way things are broken down into bite-sized chunks. We start off with a theme and develop a story that incorporates the variety of participants involved, provoking ideas for songs that can be staged for the most appropriate group. In this way, everyone is able to make a contribution without the workload becoming too much. Individual groups rehearse and develop their songs - usually three per group plus the finale, which everyone learns - then the whole cast brings it together in an intensive week. No small undertaking.

Staging your own

What are the arguments for staging a community production over an in-house one?

• An opportunity for primary pupils and teachers to be involved in a larger-scale production than they could run themselves
• Exploration of transition between primary and secondary schools
• Creating a space for young leaders to emerge and develop their leadership skills
• Greater involvement of peripatetic teachers (both vocal and instrumental)
• Opportunities for pupils to work alongside adults from the local community - including professional singers and instrumentalists
• Opportunities for young people to explore a wide range of arts activities with singing as the central cohesive activity

So, if you want to stage a community production, always consider the following:

• Get together with your cluster of primary schools and lobby the local secondary school(s) to jointly host the project
• Enlist the talents of any teachers (including peripatetic singing teachers) and adults within the schools and also members of local choirs/singers, etc.
• Gain support of peripatetic instrumental teachers, talented pupils, musical parents and other local musicians to form a 'band'
• Contact your local authority to help

Such a project takes funding, organisation and logistics but, ideally, this would be spread over several schools. It will also need time and the planning, imagination and courage to put arts at the centre of the curriculum for a sustained period. But think of the holistic rewards for all involved - the colours, chaos and joy! So, go on, be part of something big!

For more information, contact Tim Brooks.