Reaching for the stars in Stratford with a space odyssey
Apr 16 2010 By Christopher Morley
“We’ve worked to high-quality professional production values, everything aimed at the best level, and the children are raising their aspirations.
‘‘It’s like a big salad-bowl – I just chucked in all these ingredients and look what’s come out of it.”
Space Odyssey has come about with the help of funding from Youth Music, Arts Council England (West Midlands) and Welcombe Hills School itself, as well as substantial private donations, but many more scores of thousands of pounds are needed so that the legacy of the project can be developed over the next few years.
But the value of the present moment remains undeniable – the children from these three schools responding to the discipline of an arm raised for attention, as they concentrate and focus on their work for three hours at a time, giving their attention to detail and colouring, and understanding, thanks to the tireless communication of the production team, exactly why these things are important.
“They were well-prepared before the first rehearsal with some workshops beforehand. And we didn’t give them scores – they don’t need the music, they just learned the show as they went along,” says Simon.
Helping them learn is the dedicated and energetic team of professionals coaching and mentoring the children.
Apart from David Curtis, Diane Clark, Simon Clark and Nick Walker, also giving their all during the rehearsal I was privileged to attend were composer Derek Nisbet, director Steve Johnstone, and the extraordinary vocal coach Rebecca Ledgard (education officer of Ex Cathedra). There are also the two charismatic principals: Matthew Sharp (Odysseus) and Georgia Ginsberg (Penelope), both with impressive Glyndebourne credentials.
Derek Nisbet is well used to creating music for unusual situations – a tightrope walk between church spires on Millennium Eve, theatre in an underground car-park, the decommissioning of both a hospital and a livestock mart – and he appreciates the stimulus of this assignment.
He says: “We wanted to make it something we would like to watch, and this was a natural idiom for me. We like humour, we like tunes, we like big emotions. And there are absolutely no concessions to the children, whom we take to the highest standards of which they’re capable. And, in writing for the theatre, there’s always a performance date.”
Simon Chalk sums up, after admitting to the “heart-on-sleeve” factor of working with these uninhibited young people: “This is music for a purpose. This isn’t art for art’s sake. This hasn’t cost a bucket-load of money, and everyone’s going to come out of it having had a great experience.”
* Space Odyssey is at the Civic Hall, Stratford-upon-Avon on Friday, April 23 (Shakespeare’s birth and death) at 4.30pm, and on April 24 (4pm). Running time 60 minutes. Details on 01789 207100
