Sunday, April 10th, 2011 | fables, News

Welcome to the Fables Blog – a chance to sneak a peak behind the scenes of our new production. You can also  post questions and commments at the bottom.

Matt Peacock, CEO and Producer

25 May

Our screening in Lucerne last week went really well – following on from My Secret Heart in 2008, the good people of Switzerland seem to love our work! Thanks to the Lions Club and Stadt Kino. We’ve also had screenings at Late Shows in Newcastle at the Discovery Museum and we’re looking forward to Cardiff (WNO Open House) on 4 June and our first big film festival - Edinburgh International Film Festival on 20 June in an event with the lovely folk from Open Cinema. We’ve also just heard that ‘Hey! Come on Out!’ has been selected for by the British Council as one of the films it promotes to film festivals worldwide. See here.

4 May

Dates are rolling in for Fables screenings… Edinburgh International Film Festival on 20 June, Cheltenham Music Festival 5 July and we’re really looking forward to our big Manchester live performance on 30 June at Zion Arts Centre.

12 April

We have been searching for an intersting tour date in Manchester and we have it at last! 30 June at Zion Arts in the ‘Not Part Of’ Festival (the Manchester Festival fringe). Great venue, edgy festival – should be rocking! We’ll be developing our touring format with a narration and live music between the films. The films are picking up bookings at festivals now. Fingers crossed we get some good film festivals!

25 March

Another stunning performance! Huge congrats to the London and Luton groups for the Fables gig at BFI last night. Plus all the band and the rest of the cast. Lots of people have commented on the atmos – touching and beautiful in places and then ending with a huge dance in the aisles! We loved working with the BFI – just like the teams at Broadway and Tyneside Cinemas – brilliant.

23 March

Wow! Tyneside Cinema was utterly, utterly brilliant. We had a long queue out the cinema, John and Paul from the band were playing local folk tunes in the foyer and the cast were in character giving out pebbles to the audience as they walked in and telling them that there was a storm brewing! Mike the narrator was great and took everyone on a magical journey through the fables with the Streetwise performers popping up from the audience to tell stories, sing Byker Hill and shower the audinece with rose petals. It was all just brilliant and a standing ovation at the end! Well done everyone. BFI gig tomorrow with an audience more than twice as big! Yikes.

17 March

Drew, one of our performers from the North East and Simon one of our workshop leaders were promoting Fables this morning on BBC Radio Newcastle. They were truly amazing – please spend a few mins listening in if you can. Here’s the link to the Breakfast Show and please scroll forward to 1 hour 19 mins. http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/radio/bbc_radio_newcastle/20110317

15 March

The pebbles and shells have been collected, tickets sales are accelerating and the band is  getting ready for Tyneside Cinema this week! Hope the Choir are still on a high after what sounded like an amazing Get Carter gig at the RTS Awards. Tyneside Cinema are really looking forward to the event this week and have been brilliant – great to have actor Mike Hodgson on board. Can’t wait!

10 March

Feel embarrassed that over a month has gone by without a Fables blog. Well it just goes to show how exciting the tour has been. The performance at Broadway in Notts was AMAZING. So great to see everyone and the piece really worked in a cinema setting. So we’re now getting ready for Tyneside Cinema on 18th March and then BFI on 24th March – both huge gigs – can’t wait! We’re also hatching plans for the films to hit other film festivals and venues through the year. Hope you all got your DVDs!

21 Jan

Hello all. Please excuse the silence since December. We’ve been getting our tour ready and it’s looking v exciting! The films are going to be touring to some independent cinemas (sadly no Odeons!), venues and festivals. As our performers know, at some of these gigs there will be live performance presented by our groups – e.g. Royal Festival Hall 30 Jan, Broadway Cinema 18 Feb, Tyneside Cinema 18 March, BFI 24 March etc. We’re trying to create something a bit new with these performances and certainly not a dilluted version of the premiere. So expect something a bit different. DVDs are being pressed and packaged next week so they will be available early-mid Feb.

20 Dec

Well what can I say about last week?! I feel so many emotions at the same time – exhaustion, exhilaration, pride and sadness that it’s over. What an incredible experience the premiere was in every way. At the office we are getting a veritable flood of emails, texts and tweets about the show. Everyone loved it, some saying it was the best show they have ever seen. The first 3 reveiws are in (Evening Standard, Telegraph and Times) and the critics are also raving about it.  The Standrad called it ‘A glorious avant-garde show that was as musically interesting as it was spiritually stirring’; the Telegraph said, ‘A joyful event, culminating in a thrilling rendition of a sea shanty by all four casts, lifting the church roof with exhilarating glee.’ Here’s a photo of the finale, right.

I am so incredibly proud of everyone involved – the staff, back-stage team, volunteers, artists and most of all our performers. I’m finding it hard to put into words my admiration for all of you – the way everyone put heart and soul into the performance and looked after each other was just incredible. Everyone should be so proud of what they have done and achieved.

A massive congratulations and thanks to everyone. I said it at our celebration but no one can ever take this experience away from you and your amazing performances are captured on film forever! Wow!

12 Dec

Sorry for the lack of posts over the last few days – it’s just been so busy! We were in post production for the films last week (making the colours right, the soundtrack and adding credits) and they are all ready to be shared with the world! I’m just about to upload the trailer onto Youtube!
So this is the week of the show! There is a strange calm in the office – all the hotel rooms are booked, the catering organised. We have had 395 people involved in our ambitious show and there will be over 200 at Shoreditch Church on Thurs and Friday. We just can’t wait!

30 Nov

All the films have arrived! And my, do they look great! We’re at the final edit stage of Hey, Wolf and Nightingale and Monkey are in the can. SO excited! All our performers look amazing. Here’s a screen grab from Hey.

29 Nov

The Nightingale film is ready and looking gorgeous! And we’ve just had the rough cut of Wolf – we’re loving how different the films are. You’re not going to know whether to laugh or cry (in a good way!) More press over the weekend inc our first mention in Sunday Times (book now section in Culture). We’re also going to be featured on BBC Radio 3 Music Matters on Saturday 4th at 12.15 – the lovely Tom Service came into a workshop at The Connection at St Martins and recorded some of Emily Hall’s music being recorded. Post-production starts a week today. Yikes!

Ignatius, one of our performers from the Passage, wrote this about his experience of The Nightingale  film shoot:

As some people had never experienced filming, we were given a thorough explanation of what was to take place over the next 2 days to make the 7 minute film which will premiere at Spitalfields Music Festival then tour internationally at various film and musical venues. This was given by Gaëlle the film-maker along with the Sarah, the Director of Photography and Emma Bernard, the Director. We must not forget that there were the two professional actors; Samantha playing the part of the love interest and Alan playing the student. There was also Mara and Alice representing the nightingale.

After the briefing we all went to get changed into costume (for some there were numerous costume changes), had make-up applied and then went through the songs which we had recorded with Rob and Nicola at the recording studios in September. Whilst filming took place, those not wishing to be filmed got the chance to learn about other facets of production and filming, thus getting an understanding of the processes involved. There were some 20 or more scenes that were required to shoot the 7 minute film.

There was a constant request for “Silence, filming is about to take place” which everyone in the vicinity of the set was requested to adhere to. Then the “Clapper” stands in front of the camera with the clapperboard, slams the top of it and moves out of the way while Sarah gets the required shot, be it wide angle or close up depending upon what’s required. Gaëlle is watching the shot on a small screen and shouts “Cut” when she’s happy with it.

The filming of the scenes on some occasions didn’t stretch to more than 3 or 4 takes and they took it “like a duck to water”, being complimented by Gaëlle as she said “I have worked with professionals who never listen to directions given and it has taken sometimes as many as 20 takes” this was taken warmly to heart by everyone. Some of the scenes were beautiful to watch being filmed and this will be apparent in the film.

One must not forget also that there was makeup, crew, interns and others who numbered something like 60 or more who ensured that that it all ran smoothly. It was a wonderful 2 day experience for all and we look forward to appearing at the Spitalfields Music Winter Festival on 17 December 2010, which will be the culmination of 2 years of hard work and dedication by all.

22 Nov

Lots to report in the last couple of weeks – the edit of the Nightingale film is nearly done and it’s looking gorgeous; we were in the Independent on Sunday yesterday (click here to see a photo caption from the article featuring Elizabeth at the Wolf shoot looking amazing); Emma the director is working hard on the live performances that will be staged between the films at the premiere and we’ve just had our 125th Streetwise performer join up! Can’t wait for the premiere on 17th Dec – it’s selling really well so don’t forget to book your tickets! Here is a link straight to Spitalfields Music’s box office

9 Nov

Tour dates for Fables coming in… Royal Festival Hall, London, 30 Jan (part of a evening curated by amazing cellist Olly Coates); Broadway Cinema, Notts 18 Feb (part of Light Nights Festival) and National Film Theatre and Tyneside Cinema in March. And that’s just for starters…

8 Nov

Some amazing production shots from the Wolf film shoot by Åsa Westerlund.

Here are three – Elizabeth as Rapunzel (right – Elizabeth has also submitted some beautiful poems which we have started uploading onto the Performers’ Forum on this website.

Chris as the Policeman during the chaos when the Boy cries wolf the first time.

Vince (Baker) and Bryan (Butcher) relaxing backstage.

5 Nov

Just seen the first edit of the Hartlepool Monkey film!! It’s AMAZING and I think everyone is going to love it. V exciting.

I thought we’d get a break after the filming but there’s lots to do at the Streetwise HQ and in all our centres! Rehearsals for the live sections of the show are being rehearsed from this week by all our groups. Thanks to all the composers for producing such brilliant new introductions to the films. It’s going to be great seeing all our performers on stage introducing the films and then see the films!

I have just been updating our Facebook page – please come and chat to us here!

1 Nov

Phew! Four weeks, four film shoots around the country with around 100 Streetwise performers and about the same number of crew. It’s been a blast and time and time again all the crews, directors and external artists we worked with said how incredible the Streetwise performers are. Despite there being a lot of waiting around, repeating scenes and long days, our performers were completely amazing and I am so proud to be working with you guys!

So on Friday we finished our two-day filming for The Boy Who Cried Wolf – shot in a warehouse in East London by the lovely Flat-e trio (think a modern day Three Muscateers with cameras instead of swords!) The Streetwise performers played all the characters from the amazing Wolf (Martina) and Boy (Ingrid) to the people of the village including Bride and Groom (Mustaffa and Michelle), Little Red Riding Hood (Agnes), Footballer (Cutty) and many more. The film was shot in a couple of long takes with a hugely technical set of chain reactions taking place where we had to rehearse several things happening one after the other around the space. It’s going to look great!

25 Oct

We had our third shoot at the end of last week and it was another really amazing, contrasting experience. After the spartan surroundings of Wellbeck Abbey, we were in the lavish 3 Mills Studios in London so although less atmospheric than a stately home (!), it was warm and there was a canteen! Filmmaker Gaelle Denis’ production company, Stink brought in a huge crew who were great to work with. The art direction and costumes were particularly amazing (Marketta Kornikova, Jess Banting and Stella Cecil). Our performers were being filmed in a big dream sequence (see David right) as the student is falling in love with princess – this dream sequence takes up the vast majoirty of the film. We had a chance to listen to Emily Hall’s amazing score again which all our performers had memorised brilliantly. As usual the film crews’ first comment was ‘The Streetwise performers are so focussed – much more than professional actors!’

Thanks to everyone involved in teh Fables launch event especially our performers who read fables and performed sneak-preview-snippets. See Spitalfields Music’s blog about the event here.

18 Oct

Two shoots down, two to go! We’ve just returned from the breathtaking, majestic, freezing cold Wellbeck Abbey. We were filming Hey! Come on Out! in the crumbling tunnels in the stately home. It was exciting seeing the vast ballroom and hear about the reclusive former owner who built a network of tunnels around the area so he could move around without being seen. Our groups from Manchester and Nottingham were amazing – performed brilliantly and never complained despite the cold and the waiting around. See our two Nuclear Waste Supervisors (Matt and Garry left). Thank you everyone – crew, staff, volunteers and performers.

12 Oct

Wow! How to describe our Hartlepool Monkey shoot at the end of last week?! Here are a few higlights – Darren looked incredible as the Monkey following 2 hours in make-up (I want to include a photo but it might be best to keep that as a suprise!); Dave and Drew at first light on the beach; the Hartlepool Maritime Experience was perfect as a location (see right); we kept warm by dancing to Abba (don’t ask) and laughing a lot. What a brilliant group of people to work with – the crew, behind-the-scenes team, support workers, SO staff and our performers – 25 of them. You were all amazing – thank you.

1 Oct

It’s October and we’re shooting all four films this month (one per week!) Deep breath… Hartlepool Monkey next week at Hartlepool Maritime, Hey! Come on Out! the following week at Welbeck Abbey outside Notts; Nightingale and the Rose in London the week after and finally The Boy Who Cried Wolf during the final week of Oct. Phew! 

Here’s a lovely photo taken by Rebecca Steel of Spitalfields Music when their box office team came to visit our session at Crisis Skylight in London.

29 Sept

One of our brilliant Fables singers Mara Carlyle is on this stunning Ikea advert here Listen to that voice!

Great blog from Spitalfields Music about their workshop visit

28 Sept

Tickets are on sale for the premiere at Shoreditch Church on 17 December! Book via the Spitalfields Music website here or call the box office on 020 7377 1362.

We’re up in Nottingham today recording the whole of ‘Hey! Come on Out!’ in one day… what an awesome piece.

Emma Bernard has written a blog below – she is overall Artistic Director on the project and is directing the live performance for the premiere at Shoreditch Church in December.

Emma’s Blog 10th September 2010

I’ve been visiting recording sessions and delighted to see some familiar faces among the Streetwise performers, and great new faces too. I’m very much looking forward to the film shoots, and I’ve been talking to the Fables artists about the live show we will be doing on Dec 17^th to launch the Fables films. Our venue will be Shoreditch Church, which will be made even more atmospheric by our fantastic design and lighting teams, and our show is a feature of the prestigious Spitalfields winter festival.

Once all the films have been shot (by the end of October) our next exciting process will be to devise musical and theatrical live introductions to the films, to be performed at the premiere. These will feature characters from the films and some brand new material. I’ll be visiting workshops during November and December to rehearse and work on ideas, and we’ll have technical and dress rehearsals at Shoreditch on the 16^th and 17^th Dec, leading up to the shows in the evening of the 17^th.  The idea is that the evening alternates (seamlessly!) between films and live sections.

We will also be developing some “ walk past” performance installations in the church, where groups of performers will be in costume and in character as the audience arrives at the venue, and the audience will be directed around the space to see different “ happenings” before the main show begins. I think this aspect of the project is particularly exciting – by combining film, music, live performance and design in this way we’ll be giving the audience a completely immersive “Streetwise Experience”, involving over a hundred performers!

24 Sept

Orlando Gough is the composer for Hey! Come on Out! and he is working with our performers from Booth Centre in Manchester and International Community Centre in Nottingham.

Orlando’s Blog 17th August 2010

I have just written the lyrics and music for our piece Hey! Come On Out!. It’s based on a brilliant short story by the Japanese writer Shinichi Hoshi. I must confess I hadn’t heard of him till Iain suggested the story. It turns out he’s a very big name in Japan. He writes great science fiction stories which are really about life now.

Hey! Come On Out! is a very political story about getting rid of all the rubbish in your life. The lyrics have turned out to be quite satirical- a lot of the piece is about the lies and half-truths that politicians and businessmen tell us. The music is busy and funky and slightly strange. I’ve really enjoyed writing it. I’m just off today to introduce the piece to the Nottingham group. I wonder what they’ll make of it.

17 Sept

Paul Sartin is one of the composers for The Hartlepool Monkey and he is working alongside composer Andy Mellon, with our performers from Stages Academy, St Silas Church and Virginia House.

Paul’s Blog 8th September 2010

When Andy and I started out on the Fables project, I don’t think either of us realised what an exciting and challenging task laid ahead! We’ve had several sessions with wonderful singers and superb workshop leaders in Newcastle, who, through their interpretation of and enthusiasm for our chosen story – the legendary Hartlepool Monkey – have inspired us in our musical dramatisation of the tale.

At this point the words and music are written, and we have recorded the voices at the Sage Gateshead; but ‘The Monkey’s Tale’ (our working title) is still very much a work in progress, as we are in the throes of laying down instrumental overdubs with members of Bellowhead, whilst filmmaker Tom Marshall prepares to shoot the film later this month in Hartlepool itself. We’re certainly getting there. The process is an amazing and wonderful learning curve and we’re really grateful to all of the singers and team around us. Can’t wait for the end result!

16 Sept

Popped into the recording session for our soloists Mara Carlyle, Alice Grant and Oli Coates at the Premises Studio. It was one of the highlights of the year! Hearing Mara and Alice singing over the tracks that our Streetwise performers had sung the week before was completely amazing. I heard tracks with Saffron, Kevin and Steve and everyone was saying how stunning their voices are!!

Meanwhile we’re making really good headway with all the film shoots – Monkey will be at the Hartlepool Maritime Experience, Hey will be at the Welbeck Estate outside Notts and Wolf in a studio in London.

We also had an amazing meeting with Halo Post Production who are doing us an unbelievable deal on all the post production on the films. Wow!

8 Sept

Here are the beautiful designs we’ve had created by David Caines for the initial wave of postcards to publicise our four Fables Film Operas (above). From right to left – The Boy Who Cried Wolf, The Nightingale and the Rose, The Hartlepool Monkey and Hey! Come on Out!

6 Sept

Amazing recording sessions for the Nightingale and the Rose and The Boy Who Cried Wolf last week. Thanks to all those involved. We picked up some brilliant press in London’s Metro who came to the Wolf recording session. See the article here.

24 Aug

Mira Calix is the composer for The Boy Who Cried Wolf and she is working with our performers from Crisis Skylight London and NOAH Enterprise.

Mira’s Blog 14th August 2010

Yesterday I went down to the Friday workshop session with the Crisis Skylight London group at the Kobi Nazrul Community Centre. It was the first time I would hear the piece sung so of course I was looking forward to it but a little nervous.

I had a quick meeting with the Flat -E boys who will be creating the film for our fable The Boy Who Cried Wolf. We were focusing on the live element for the premiere in December. I left them with a head full of ideas and excitement. Still a lot of refining to do but the basics are in place, even if, uhm, we still have to make it work in budget! Ah well – that’s art.

It was wonderful to see the participants again. I know some of them from working on My Secret Heart, and most of the others from a Devising Day Workshop we did earlier this year. They have added small actions to the song to help them remember the lyric. It really added good humour and cheer to both the music and the rainy London evening.  As always they made me feel incredibly welcome and it gave me a lot of joy to see how much they had embraced both the music and lyrics. The Workshop Leaders are so skilled at engaging and teaching others. I have real admiration for what they do.

It was all over in a flash but attending was really inspiring. I’m still working on the rest of the piece doing some tweaks so hearing the participants bring it all to life was just what I needed to hear.

18 Aug

The artists are begining to write blogs about what they’re up to and here is the first. Emily Hall is the composer for the The Nightingale and the Rose and she is working with our performers from The Passage, Connection at St Martins and Queen Mary Hostel.

Emily’s Blog  14^th August 2010

I’ve been asked to kick off the artists’ Fables blogs. Best thing is to tell you where I’m up to with the amazing, awe-inspiring and intimidating all-at-the-same-time task of creating a 7 minute film-opera with film maker Gaelle Denis for Streetwise Opera. About ten days ago I finished the score which Streetwise singers are now learning in weekly workshops….this feels good…but there is still a long way to go before it is a film-opera…But I’ll start from the very beginning….

Gaelle and I were both drawn to the Nightingale and the Rose by Oscar Wilde for different reasons. Mine was that as the Nightingale is singing about love and sacrifice for the majority of the story, it seemed like it really is a story with loads of songs already in it.

As a composer I mainly write songs and usually with a lyricist, Toby Litt, but for this I decided to adapt words about love from existing lyrics from classical operas and songs. This wasn’t difficult as most classic operas and song cycles seem to cover different themes of love and sacrifice. For example from ‘Let Beauty Awake’ written by Robert Louis Stevenson and set by Vaughan Williams, also Radamès’s Aria from Aïda and Rusalka’s aria from Rusalka.

Some of the lyrics in the Nightingale are more recognizable than others. I purposely didn’t listen to settings done by these long-gone composers whilst I was writing, ‘cause I didn’t want to do covers, I just wanted to use the words.

Once all the songs were finished and I had recorded them roughly, I had one of those computer-not-behaving moments which actually gave me something really special. It sped up the singing so it sounded like bird-song; high and fast, but the melody was still recognizable. This gave me the idea that the bird would sing a bird-song and the performers would be translating what the Nightingale is singing about. The only other musical ingredient is the cello which links the bird songs and the singing together.

Gaelle and I are now at the point of getting our heads together and working out how our visions combine while Streetwise participants are working hard to learn the music. Iit’s a crucial and exciting time…watch this space…

18 Aug

Two of the staff from the office went along to the workshop at the Kobi Nazrul Community Centre in London last Friday. We heard everyone practising the music for the eagerly anticipated Fable The Boy who Cried Wolf and it sounded fantastic!

Mira Calix, the composer, came along too and heard her piece being sung for the very first time. Everyone agreed it was great to hear Mira explaining the ideas behind the words. She told us it was amazing to hear real voices singing her music and that it really came to life.

We really enjoyed the workshop and are looking forward to hearing the finished piece after the recording day. Carry on the good work!

17 Aug

Orlando’s score just arrived in my inbox! It’s such a great piece of work – funny, thought-provoking – perfect. Loads of solo opportunities for Streetwise performers alongside 4 main solo characters. Feel very privileged to be working with such great composers and seeing this work unfold into what will be an amazing final piece come December!

9 Aug

Here is some footage from The Boy Who Cried Wolf Devising Day. Performers from NOAH Luton and Crisis Skylight London were devising some stories based on the famous fable with director Emma Bernard, composer Mira Calix and filmmakers Flat-e. So many brilliant ideas and great acting skills.

9 Aug

We’ve just recieved some photos of the recording day in the North East! The day went really well and Andy and Paul were really impressed and very happy with the results! Looks like everyone was having fun! The recording is now being edited in a studio and everyone in the office can’t wait to hear the results. Thanks to The Sage Gateshead for the use of their amazing recording facilities.

Here are some photos of the day

5 Aug

The music is all coming together fabulously – just heard rough cuts of the Monkey recording in the North East. Fantastic! Heard all of Emily’s songs – gorgeous! And we’ve got Mira’s score. Stunning!

29 July

The recording of the North East groups went brilliantly yesterday and it sounded like we were well looked after by The Sage Gateshead. Sorry I couldn’t be there. I was just at the Connections workshop in London where some of Emily Hall’s music was being rehearsed. It’s gorgeous!

27 July

It’s all happening here… Wonderful music from Emily for the ‘Nightingale and the Rose’ coming through the airwaves and we’ve got through the script for ‘Hey Come on Out’. The music for ‘The Boy Who Cried Wolf’ is on its way and we’re recording all the North East groups singing the score of ‘Hartlepool Monkey’ tomorrow. Good luck guys!

15 July

Looks like the Nightingale and the Rose fable will be given a more modern setting! Getting some serious interest from cinemas and festivals to screen the pieces on tour…

12 July

We’ve just had a brilliant meeting with Mira Calix and the Flat-e boys to come up with a synopsis for the Boy who Cried Wolf following the devising day with our Crisis Skylight London and Luton NOAH groups. We’re dying to tell you lots about the piece but don’t want to ruin the surprise for audiences. Suffice it to say the piece will based on vocal and visual consequences!

Last week Orlando Gough and Iain Finlay were workshopping with our Notts and Manchester groups again – we didn’t get clearance to use our Rabbit Fable sadly but we have found another which is really exciting: Shinichi Hoshi’s estate have given us permission to adapt Hey Come on Out, a fantastic Japanese fable. Our performers have been practising singing into a hole in the ground…

Paul Sartin and Emma Bernard visited the North East to sing through some of the Hartlepool Monkey score that Paul and Andy Mellon have written following the devising day in the North East. The piece is a cracker – part folk, part sea shanty and the group love it and sing it beautifully!

1 July

Devising days have now taken place for all the groups. The days went really well and all the artists are very inspired by the creative response to the fables from all our performers.  A huge amount of material came out of the

devising days and the composers are now busily creating the music and lyrics and the film-makers are deciding where to shoot the films. Below is some material from our final devising day where three of our London groups worked with Gaelle Dennis and Emily Hall on The Nightingale and The Rose by Oscar Wilde together with director Emma Bernard.

Click here to listen to the whole group singing a new song  ‘I have hung ropes..’

Click here to listen to some poems that have been adapted  and stylised. Here is Andy reading his  group’s poem and another group reading their  poem

The photos below show the group devising scenes that might appear in the final film or on stage at the premiere. We created ‘still’ pictures of scenes from the story and worked with the camera to see the difference between acting techniques used for the stage and film.

28th June

A great few weeks on Fables! The final devising day was really great and the Connections/Passage and QMH groups did some amazing work on the Nightingale and the Rose with Gaelle Denis, Emily Hall and singer Mara Carlyle. All the stories have now been picked! Very exciting new direction for the Notts/Manch Fable (watch this space) and one of the musical scores has just been completed! Andy Mellon and Paul Sartin have finished their score for the Hartlepool Monkey Fable for the North East groups! It’s just BRILLIANT and we can’t wait for everyone to share it. Lots of info going to all centres soon and thanks for all your fab comments and feedback. Please keep them coming.

8th June

We’re all set for the final Devising Day next week. Very exciting group of artists joining our performers from Passage, Connection at St Martins and Quenn Mary Hostel – BAFTA-award winning filmmaker Gaelle Denis, composer Emily Hall and singer Mara Carlyle. They are interested in presenting the group with Oscar Wilde’s beautiful fable, the Nightingale and the Rose.

3rd June

Here is a wonderful poem sent in by Dawn Parrott from Notts, inspired by the Devising Day at Opera North where we worked on the Poisonous Rabbit.

I want to be free
somewhere, some place, that
I only know in my dreams.

Run around, run away from this
town
to be
in a land of green,
In a land of green.

Where I am never captured
only seen,

Seen  through wild eyes
that only live to be free,
they only wait for the dawn
to rise, and the starts to crowd
their sky.

You don’t know how to set me
free, because a fair life, is
something you have never
lived to see.

You have never been
in a land of green
In a land of green.

Rejection,
no one’s seeing
no one’s listening,
Are these the feelings of
a human being?

Here I am.
In a cage with rage,
in a cage with rage.

I want to be set free.
Overwhelmed with the possibility
after what they did to me.

Used me, with no voice, to defend,
to say I’m against their experiment,
conditioned me this way.

I’m in need of what I can find,
In a land of green,
in a land of green.

All they see is what they
want to take away from me.

They only want to fill me, to
satisfy their own hunger and needs.

When you opened your arms,
I thought you were showing
how you cared.

Why did you not take me where
I belong, where you long to be,
to a land of green.

2 June

I promise we’ll get some audio and visuals uploaded soon! This week we’ve officially taken on Ashtar Alkhirsan our Line Producer for the project and Margaret Levin who will be working on Marketing. We’ve also had a great meeting with our friends from Spitalfields Music who are just about to launch their Summer festival next week. Check it out here. We’re organising hotels for the premiere in December and rehearsal times – looks like all our performers will arrive on 16th Dec for some mini rehearsals in the afternoon and then more rehearsing in the venue on 17th. We’re then planning three performances in the evening (the show should only be an hour so hopefully that won’t be too tiring!) Then there will be another night in a hotel and everyone will leave on 18th.

This week we’re also very excited that our last show has been shortlisted for a National Lottery Award. Please vote for us to reach the televised final here.

25 May 2010

The Devising Day in Newcastle (at Hoult’s Yard) was truly inspiring. Thanks to everyone involved – highlights of the day included some rousing folk and shanty singing led by Andy Mellon; great individual and group performances of local folk songs by everyone (including Malcolm on the Northumbrian Pipes!); scenes based on the story of the Hartlepool Monkey created by the group led by director Emma Bernard; filming techniques led by Tom Marshall (exploring close-ups and the subtlety of film acting compared with stage acting). And all in the blistering heat. Phew!

20 May 2010

Great meeting with composer Emily Hall, filmmaker Gaelle Denis and the singer Mara Carlyle who will be working on the London (QMH, Passage and Connection) Fable Film Opera. It looks like they are interested in an Oscar Wilde fable, the Nightingale and the Rose. Very exciting. Really looking forward to working with the North East groups tomorrow with Andy Mellon and Tom Marshall.

16 May 2010

Just had a brilliant meeting with our North East team (composers Andy Mellon and Paul Sartin and filmmaker Tom Marshall). Their Devising Day is next week at Hoult’s Yard in Newcastle where they are likely to be working on a fable which is a North East legend of the Hartlepool monkey!

12 May 2010

Welcome to Gaelle Denis who is our final filmmaker for the project. Gaelle, who is a BAFTA winner will be working with composer Emily Hall with our performers from Connection at St Martins, Passage and Queen Mary Hostel.

5 May 2010

Just had our London Devising Day with Mira Calix and Flat-e and our Crisis Skylight and NOAH Luton groups. Lots of new participants and a really buzzy session – we’re probably going to be working on the very famous fable the Boy Who Cried Wolf with this group.

30 April 2010

We’ve got our funding! Thank you to Arts Council England, Streetsmart, PRS Foundation, Northern Film and Media, RVW Trust, Macquarie Group Foundation, Garfield Weston Foundation and our performers at the Carmen fundraiser!

Devising Days have started – to create a concept for the film operas. First up was Leeds in late April (with our artistic partner Opera North) involving composer Orlando Gough and filmmaker Iain Finlay with our Manchester and Notts groups. Brilliant session – only problem is that the fable we want to use is in copyright! Watch this space…

3 Comments to ‘Fables- A Film Opera’ BLOG

Leave a comment