ELIZABETH ALLEN

A highlight of the Battle Festival was Barefoot Opera’s performance of Mozart’s Cosi Fan Tutte, and it proved particularly well-suited to the distinctive Barefoot style. That style involves an emphasis on movement, and the energy and extravagance of the production, its fun and farce, were highly appropriate to the crazy devices of the story line. 

In Cosi there is a potential for emphasis on darkness and pain, but here the comedy was always to the fore: it played effectively in the over-acted despair of the sisters (Katerina Oikonomou as Fordiligi and Ilona Nastase as Dorabella) at the departure of their lovers (Isaac Conibear as Gugliemo and Beartsz Thiede as Ferrando) and the lack of acrimony in the final reconciliations.

This production introduced a new complication. Here Don Alonso (Joel Robson) was not an ageing cynic determined to prove to young men that their trusted beloveds can easily be corrupted into infidelity because “all women are like that.” Instead he was a scientist setting up an experiment to prove this hypothesis. This seemed an unnecessary addition, and the Don’s putting on and discarding his white coat in the opening scene was rather confusing. 

Other production choices, such as the emphasis on changes of clothing – for the sisters as well as the disguised lovers and Despina (Zara Donaldson) – lent a strong visual correlation to the themes of shifting identities. A lively addition was the integration of always excellent keyboard player Lesley Anne Sammons into the plot – and a big shout out for those gold boots, Lesley Anne. 

There has been much critical discussion of the way in which in this opera Mozart’s music runs against Da Ponte’s libretto, Da Ponte being a cynic who supports Don Alsonso’s belief that all women are thus, while Mozart provides, conversely, particularly radiant music for deception and betrayal. Unlike Figaro and Don Giovanni, it is not the grand arias for which one remembers Cosi. The majority favourite is the tender ensemble of the sisters and Don Alonso, May the Wind be Gentle. The emphasis on ensemble pieces suited the always firm and clear singing of all the young cast. 

Audiences in the South East will recognise Barefoot Opera’s signature style that fuses outstanding classical singing and dynamic physical theatre with community participation to create an accessible show for a broad audience to enjoy.

Led by an international cast of professional singers, including Beren Fidan in the lead role, choirs from local colleges and communities help to introduce the first episode of the story, creating a unique form of audience participation that expands the experience of the opera for both cast and audience.

Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor is a cousin to Romeo and Juliet: a bitter family feud is the background to Lucia’s doomed love affair as her personal identity is shattered by coercion, power and toxic masculinity. 

Jenny Miller, founder of Barefoot Opera, says: “Our director, Rosie Catt, frames this story within the problems of today’s young people, ensuring empathy with Lucia’s struggles to find mental resilience in a world without anchors. Rosie links this richly melodic 19th century romantic opera with current issues of mental health and well-being. Our preparation has included training with outstanding Hastings based company Soundcastle, a community music hub, and we are truly happy to be able to bring this work to new audiences in our expanded tour.”

“In this version of Lucia di Lammermoor there is an immediate connection between singers, instrumentalists and audience. We replenish our communal experience of live performance. So in this performance bel canto, the art of great singing, meets our bold vision for a new form of opera. “

For further details and tickets, visit www.barefootopera.com Lucia De Lammermoor will be performed at St John the Evangelist, Brittany Road, on 4 September and 4 October. For further dates see barefootopera.com/shop

The derivation of the word ‘opera’ is from the Latin opus – work, artwork, creation, realisation. This is indeed what local inspired company, Barefoot Opera, continue to achieve. Having developed from modest beginnings, they are now a significant and unique musical force, emanating from here but spreading their wings to London and throughout the South East.

In a quiet corner of leafy Decimus Burton country in deepest St Leonards stands an enviable house which must once have been a centre of local social occasions – balls, soirees, salons. In the enormous ballroom, atmospherically lit with a chandelier (holding real candles!) an actual salon was held, to mark the end of one successful season and the beginning of the next Barefoot year and new plans. “It’s so lovely” said one eager attendee, admitting she was not as a rule an Opera fan, “to hear this beautiful singing in such an informal atmosphere.” Many of the guests were Trustees or Friends of Barefoot, which is set up as a charity and survives through donations, Trustee contributions, annual Friends contributions and (comparatively small, but very necessary) grants from the Arts Council and other public organisations. 

There was a decidedly salon atmosphere. The ballroom was crowded with friendly excited visitors and two or three convivial dogs. The invited singers clearly blossomed in front of this kind of audience, and their brilliance was surprising. They had been carefully invited (by Jenny Miller, opera singer, Barefoot founder and owner of the house) not only for their vocal ranges but for their ability to render well known, extremely challenging arias, requiring either expressive romanticism or the rare vocal dexterity given to relatively few singers. So it was that fiery soprano Katerina Oikonomou daringly performed the famous passage from Mozart’s Magic Flute in which the Queen of the Night denounces her daughter – very high, very fast, very brilliant – you’d know it if you heard it. Egor Zhuravskii sang Tosti’s Serenata with great feeling, serenading his distant sleeping lover with an exceptionally pure tenor voice. Zhuravskii and the other soprano, Kristina Nikiforova, are now local residents (and husband and wife). 

Anthony Flaum, himself a banker-turned-singer who additionally runs his own opera company, Prolog Opera, is also now Artistic Director of Barefoot. He was the evening’s genial host, outlining past activities and future plans for the company. 

Very striking was the evening’s feeling of inclusivity; members of the Board of Trustees handed out food and drink themselves, and effortlessly managed to address most of the guests personally. This unstudied informality is perhaps part of the success of the organisation; they intentionally challenge the notion that opera is elitist, by producing work that remains of the highest quality (vocally and dramatically) and simultaneously provides contemporary versions of opera classics that reach new audiences. They do, they work, they create, they realise; they define and redefine opera year by year.

Next year’s principal production will be Lucia Di Lammermoor, Donizetti’s 1835 musical rendering of Walter Scott’s original Bride of Lammermoor, written in 1819 but set in 17th century Scotland. Find out more about Barefoot Opera here: barefootopera.com Upcoming events: barefootopera.com/upcoming-events

Where to begin writing about Barefoot Opera’s production, La Traviata? Being staged in elegant St John’s church on the longest day of the year, perhaps, lent it some magic. Having the score carefully arranged for four instruments (there was one particularly lovely clarinet melody in Act 2, played with a mellow and beautiful tone by Michelle Hromin) and enthusiastically conducted from the piano by the arranger and director, Laurence Panter, was definitely part of the charm of this production. It was the premier performance, but there were no false starts, indeterminate endings, under-rehearsed fluffs. Perhaps the choice of costume – simple, almost androgynous, including, at the beginning, a ghostly drinking chorus in grey and white, singing joy but foretelling tragedy (“Let’s take our pleasure of wine and singing in mirth, till the new day dawns on us in Paradise”), was inspiring. Perhaps it was something to do with the absolute minimalism of the set, a platform of blocks and a screen, variously arranged for different scenes by whoever was on stage, in a little ballet. Perhaps it was the elegant symbolism of Violetta’s grey filmy shawl, used on stage variously as a signifier for love, loss, conflict, and reconciliation. 

THE PLOT

The story is simple enough – a courtesan (high-class ‘mistress’), Violetta, is consumptively ill from the beginning, and leads a life of sad dissolution, a desperate frenzy of drinking and gambling. “I put my faith in pleasure as a cure for all my ills,” she tells her friends. She is kept by a wealthy baron, but there doesn’t appear to be much affection between them. Enter young, pretty Alfredo and declares his love in a heartrending aria. Violetta can’t believe she is loved for herself, but eventually comes to believe him. However much she wishes for freedom (“Free and aimless, I frolic from joy to joy”), she commits herself to him and sells everything she has, so that they can set up home together in the country. 

Enter Alfredo’s father, the baron, who tells her that she cannot be part of his family as her reputation as a traviata (fallen woman) is ruining the marriage chances of Alfredo’s sister, who is pure as an angel in driven snow and courted by a rich man. (Whether this sister exists or not is questionable: she is not represented in the opera and some critics believe she is merely a ploy to remove Alfredo from a socially questionable relationship). Violetta truly loves Alfredo, and as a victim of society’s perpetual double standards, finally agrees to give him up. When she does, Alfredo thinks she has rejected him for the baron, is heartbroken, cynically throws his gambling winnings at her, denounces her and leaves. His father finds him, however, condemns his behaviour (in spite of having instigated it), and explains all. 

The lovers are reunited by her bed: “Death cannot divide you from me so soon. Live, or a single coffin shall enclose me with you,” sings Alfredo. But it is too late. 

THE SINGERS

So trite, you might say. So fairy-tale, so old-fashioned operatic. But there is something about the power and beauty of certain voices that renews an eternal story. And this is where the singing came in. For all the simplicity of the plot, the lead parts of this most famous of operas are only achievable by the finest of singers, particularly the soprano, who is on stage almost all the way through. An extensive range and a great deal of vocal agility is required to produce the high coloratura necessary for Act 1. Traditionally, the final aria in that Act (sempre libera) has a penultimate triumphant very high note that was never written into the original score. All of the above were managed with grace, expression, and apparent ease, the true mark of an excellent singer, by the young soprano chosen for the part, Beren Kader Fidan. 

In fact, the choice of both lead singers (Alfredo was sung by Tylor Lamani) was inspired. Both have excellent vocal expression, matching an accompanying mobility of facial and bodily language: an exceptional chemistry emerged between them. Together, they elicited the same kind of tears you have watching any good love story on any media, where you know it’s all fictional convention, but your heart is touched in a more primeval place than that of your reasoned intellectuality, and in the end, that’s what matters the most.

Details of further performances are as follows:

• Findon Place, West Sussex – Friday 19th July (outdoor performance)
• Down House, Lamberhurst – Saturday 14th September (with Tunbridge Wells Choral Society)
• Norden Farm, Maidenhead Music Society, Maidenhead – Tuesday 17th September
• St Michael and All Angels, Brighton – Saturday 21st September (with Brighton and Hove 6th Form College TBC and choir TBC)
• Grimeborn Festival, Arcola Theatre, Dalston, London – 24th-28th September (with Hackney Voices)
• Wooburn Festival, Bourne End – Saturday 5th October

Full details at whatsonstage.com/shows/inner-london-theatre/la-traviata_228246864

Jenny Miller is taking Barefoot Opera from strength to strength. She is also taking it from comedy to tragedy. Last year’s production of La Cenerentola was a small triumph of minimalist, but brilliant, opera – a modern, relevant production of Rossini’s Commedia dell’arte re-telling of the Cinderella fairy tale. Auditions have taken place in London, but the rehearsals take place here in St Leonards in Jenny Miller’s almost-fairy-tale house, in a stately room that runs from the front to the back. It’s a wonderful facility, and she is clearly a gifted producer. 

GREAT PATHOS

This year’s production will be a contemporary version of Verdi’s La Traviata, itself a retelling of Dumas’ La Dame Aux Camélias. I wondered about the difficulties involved in directing a tragedy rather than a comedy. “I know that the band will create a fantastic atmosphere” enthuses Jenny. “People think the accordion is a comic instrument, but it’s capable of great pathos.” She has always been enthusiastic about the accordion since she started the company in 2011. “It’s the poor man’s band” she tells me – indeed it has a long and interesting history. The word, from the German Akkord, meaning “concord of sounds” describes the way that the instrument provides both melody and accompaniment. It is believed to have been invented in Germany in the early 19th century. But because of various waves of migration throughout Europe and to the Americas, it has become used world-wide, in all kinds of music from the chamamé of Argentina, the tejano of Mexico, through the polkas of Poland, folk music in the streets of Budapest and Palermo, to the jazz clubs of France, Scottish ceilidh bands, and infinitely beyond. 

ESSENTIALLY INTERNATIONAL

So the universal ‘poor man’s band’ takes on a new symbolism within this essentially international production. The original novel is French, the opera adaptation Italian, the singers (all newly-auditioned, since last year’s singers’ careers are now flourishing), from everywhere. Asked about the cast, Miller says: “There are seven soloists working as an ensemble. We have a Turkish soprano from the National Opera Studio [known to be the most prestigious opera training organisation in the UK, and where Miller herself trained as an opera singer, after being educated in France] and a tenor from Cape Town. He’s a lovely singer, and it gives him an opportunity to spread his wings because Cape Town has only one opera company. Then we have all the chorus work by a quartet of terrific soloists, a kind of ‘violin quartet’ of soloists working intricately.”

Verdi’s theme is as relevant now as it was when he wrote the opera. He wanted a contemporary setting when he wrote it, but was not allowed it. “The only reason why Verdi would need to put his characters in the past would be because of censorship. There was very strict censorship. Rigoletto was a scathing political commentary, and he was not allowed to set it in the present day. And for Traviata he wanted the hypocritical, two-faced bourgeoisie who surrounded him to be confronted with their cruelty and their disregard for human dignity and truth.” 

MISOGYNY THEN AND NOW

Violetta, the heroine, is a courtesan, a high-class prostitute, who, though sought-after by men, is essentially abused and has little choice about how she lives. Verdi “wants to keep us focussed on her trying to lead a free life, a good life. He always keeps the human characters alive; no-one is a stereotype”, continues Miller. This new production will hone in on the misogyny theme: anyone who might have read Laura Bates’ Everyday Sexism will be conscious (if they weren’t already) of how much of this is still factored into the way we communicate and the assumptions behind our actions, both in private and in public. As a courtesan, Violetta led what could on the surface be called a life of luxury, but was completely under the control of men. There’s a telling mid-19th century German painting of the party in Scene I, in which Violetta stands Outrageous at the Gaming Table handling coins, entirely surrounded by men except for Annina, her maid. 

NEW DIRECTION

There is a new director for this performance. Miller says she has ‘stepped back’ to allow last year’s assistant director, Michael Spenceley, to become this year’s director jointly with a new, younger member of the company, Alfie Chesney. Alex Milne is this year’s stage manager and assistant director. Miller herself acts as producer and adviser, “steering the ship, or whatever”, she explains, though I dare say her idea of stepping back is to do more work than ever, just in a slightly different capacity. The musicians in the band are as they were last year, with the exception that Andrew Sparling, who both played clarinet and sang in last year’s production, will this year concentrate on the instrument alone. There are also two different accordion players. The music will be arranged as usual by the music director, the exceptional Laurence Panter. 

While the Barefoot company have again, deservedly, gained Arts Council funding this year, this is a compact and minimal production in the Barefoot tradition, born in the first place out of necessity. In Jenny Miller’s music room are some of the Opera props, which are used differently year after year and act as signifiers rather than static scene-content. It has to be stressed though that this is an absolutely professional company and production. The singers, though mainly young and recently graduated, are from the best music schools. The director Michael Spencely trained at Ballet Rambert and has vast experience of stage direction, including as part of the Olympics team in 2012. Laurence Panter gained a choral scholarship at Cambridge, later graduating from Trinity Laban. The whole band have solid musical credentials. The production, as last year, begins here in St Leonards in St John’s Church, but has tour dates arranged throughout London and the south-east. As always, local singers are incorporated into certain scenes – the traditional Brindisi (drinking song) in the first act will feature local choirs from each venue. 

La Traviata is a more ambitious project than last year’s: the opera contains some of the most challenging passages for singers, particularly for the tenor, who notoriously needs to produce a high C, and the soprano who, towards the end of the lovely aria where she wishes to be sempre libre – ironic, given later developments in the story – traditionally produces a high E-flat, though I understand this is not in the original score. In spite of its popularity, only the very best can perform this opera, and Miller and the rest of the creative team will unerringly have chosen the very best.  I can’t wait to see it.

Tour dates and venues

• 21 June: St. John the Evangelist, St. Leonards-on-sea (featuring Voiceworks choir and Bexhill College)
• 22 June: Crowhurst Place, Lingfield (outdoor performance featuring East Grinstead Choral Society and Imberhorne School)
• 29 June: Rye Creative Centre (featuring the Marsh Choir)
• 19 July: Findon Place, West Sussex (outdoor performance)
• 14 September: Down House, Lamberhurst (with Tunbridge Wells Choral Society)
• 17 September: Maidenhead Music Society
• 21 September: St. Michael and All Angels, Brighton (with Brighton and Hove 6th Form College and choir TBC)
• 24-28 September: Grimeborn Festival, Arcola Theatre, Dalston (with Hackney Voices)
• 5 October: Wooburn Festival, Maidenhead 

BAREFOOT OPERA EXCLUSIVE EVENT 

Rye Art Gallery, 9 Dec, 6-8 pm

Rye Art  Gallery is joining forces with Barefoot Opera for a very special fundraising evening.

There will be a programme  with professional singers including  pieces from La Traviata.

Tickets £20 to include a glass of wine. This will be in conjunction with a new winter exhibition Abundance which showcases the very best new work from more than 40 artists represented by Rye Art Gallery. 

Tickets and further details at barefootopera.com.

VICKI PAINTING: SCULPTOR EXTRAORDINAIRE

Short Days, Short Weeks

Until 2 December

There’s still time to see this exhibition – a collection of unique, skillful and disturbing creations of deeply menacing rabbits at Solaris Print, Norman Road. The exhibition ends on 2 December so hurry along to see them and talk to the maker, Victoria Painting. 

Further details at solarisprint.co.uk

NEW ANTHOLOGY BY LOCAL ARTIST/WRITER

Moving Mountains: writing nature through illness and disability is published by Footnote Press, and is a collection of nature writing by disabled authors. It has been well received by early readers and is currently gathering a wealth of endorsements. 

The collection is edited by Louise Kenward, local artist and writer, and includes poems by Dillon Jaxx and works by Lorna Crabbe and Isobel Anderson. 

Further details at footnotepress.com. 

THE NIGHTS ARE DRAWING IN

2 December-30 January, blackShed gallery, Robertsbridge TN32 5NG

More strangely sinister animals, birds, and verbal puns. Artist-in-residence Mark Daniels will also present a series of charcoal drawing workshops throughout January. 

Details of past and future blackShed projects at theblackshedgallery.org.uk.

THE PENNY PINCHER’S CHRISTMAS CAROL

20/21, 24 Dec: 1.30 pm. 22/23: 1.30pm and 7pm Horse and Groom back room

Dickens’ classic Christmas tale brought to you by Kate Tym and John Knowles. Expect topical gags, local references, and nonsense. Funny, cheeky and cheap. 

Imagine a classic farcical comedy: dressing up, disguise, mistaken identities, characters spying on each other, asides to the audience, love, loss, final resolution. Now imagine it updated to the twenty-first century with its super-waste culture, its reliance on joined-up technology and its posturing and virtue-signalling by dishonest politicians, wealthy sycophants, and WAGs. 

Put the two together in a faultlessly-reconstructed listed church, and you have something of the message of La Cenerentola in an enhanced performance in St John The Evangelist, St. Leonards. 

Without a doubt, I have never enjoyed an opera more. Seeing it in the round, characters coming in from all sides and utilising the lovely structure of the church lent it an immediacy that no proscenium could ever project. The characters were dressed in (literally) rags and feathers, including Cinderella’s beautiful blue ballgown and headdress.

If this sounds absurd, think again. The singing (in Italian, but ‘surtitled’ clearly on the church wall with a few thoughtful post-modern additions and knowing anachronisms) was transcendent. Angelina herself was performed by Rachel Deatherage, an American coloratura-soprano with a voice of great power and beauty whom I think we were privileged to see and hear in the early stages of a stellar career. In fact all the main performers, some recent graduates, seem destined for acclaim. Elora Ledger and Jessica Wise were superb step-sisters, singing marvellously while never letting up on their posturing frightfulness. James Beddoe was perfectly cast as an elegant and accomplished tenor prince Ramiro, while in presenting the bodyguard Dandini, Toki Hamano (dressed like a mafioso complete with shades) projected strength, power, and just a little cynicism into his stentorian baritone. Denver Martin Smith, the one new member of the cast since last year, sang an excellent Don Magnifico, managing a powerful baritone to sound variously fawning, peevish, and self-important. 

THE BAREFOOT PRODUCTION

Jenny Miller, the director, spared some time early the next morning to talk about the production. They were to strike the set by midday but she sounded lucid and unhurried. I speculated on how Jenny had managed to achieve the fluidity and integration of production.

“I really like working with Michael Spenceley,” she says. “He is a dance choreographer, and we can work together very successfully. An opera singer is three things: an actor, a musician, and a dancer. The whole body is responding to the music, so that even if the action is to slump across the stage and fall in a heap, there is choreography to it. As to the story itself, I just thought about the character, trying to do good, and thinking about the sisters who I could easily imagine as the kind of people who are obsessed with appearance, wealth, the superficial things of life. There’s a dark kernel to the story too, which we didn’t explore, the fact that she is being used as a slave.” I am prompted to reflect once more on current affairs: modern slavery, or at the very least heavy exploitation of immigrants or vulnerable people at work is still a thing. This story, like many fairy tales, depends heavily on assumed societal wealth and heritage divisions – in this case Cinderella crosses class barriers by being both very good and very beautiful. “The surtitles” continues Miller “were written jointly by myself and my husband. We made them, then updated them. We had to think about how certain words would translate, and rework it.”

The musical arrangement is also a factor in the marked artistic unity of this production. “I love the accordion player – I’ve been obsessed with using the accordion in opera for a long time. It’s an instrument that is there to imitate the whole band, so to have it as the poor man’s orchestra is a great thing. We had to book the accordionist [Iñigo Mikeleiz Berrade] early as he is so sought-after, but he couldn’t do all of the dates.”  Laurence Panter [pianist and Music Director] has arranged Rossini’s forty-odd-piece orchestral score into a four-instrument accompaniment. The opera is very Italian, and the inclusion of the accordion brings to mind, say, Neapolitan street music, but upgraded to complex operatic forms. It’s just another instance of Jenny Miller’s inspired approach to making accessible opera. 

How did she go about finding the extraordinary cast? “London is an absolute hotbed of talent. I have a London Studio, and if you just advertise online in the relevant places (she mentions Opera Forum, Audition Oracle) you get swamped with very talented people. With the amount of available skill and talent, as an artist you have to be very tough.” On the other hand, the clarinet player (who also sings Alidoro the philosopher) “has been with Barefoot from the start – someone who could play and sing at that level of accomplishment was difficult to find.” Almost unique, I should have thought, listening to Andrew Sparling sing splendidly throughout, and hearing him play both in the accompanying orchestra and on stage in the last scene of the opera

LUCY IN THE SKY WITH DIAMONDS. 

How did the idea for the stage set come into being? ‘The set was very abstract; it grew out of a kind of game we played, Jane Bruce and I – we had been given some strange objects, the platform and the strange tower were given to us, and the circle was from something else. It’s an exercise: you’re given some shapes and told, turn this into a farmyard. Anyway I wanted the production to be surreal, with a sort of ‘Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds’ take on it. Jane came up with the idea of turning that tower into something that represented continuance – a sort of tower, beacon, warning – the audience could read into what they want. I see it as some kind of strange space-ship from another realm.” 

The choruses are drawn from local people and various informal choirs whom Miller has met during the course of her career. How does she maximise their skill levels? “I do voice work, breathwork, movement work with them, I get them to sing some of the music and decide how it will go.” One of the groups is the Seaview Choir, from a centre for vulnerable adults. “I do project-based work with them, and help with their Christmas fundraiser. We are also working in schools – we had twenty children from Bexhill College doing a whole enactment of the ‘no-hopers’ chorus at the Prince’s court. They loved it!” 

This approach translates into the professional productions.  “Barefoot always have – however tight the schedule – an hour of warm-ups. About ensemble, we use a lot of theatre and voice and breath and movements to get that ensemble feeling. And we do everything together. We eat together, we don’t just trot off to our separate Marks and Spencers sandwiches. I have to say most opera companies do not have a methodology about this. The ethos of the company is grassroots. We like to take it into intrinsic, surprising venues – schools, churches, local libraries.” This production is going next to the Arcola Theatre in East London as part of Grimeborn, a kind of alternative fringe opera festival, a street version of Glyndebourne.

After this tour, what next? “Next year’s production depends largely on funding. We have an idea, but I don’t want to spook it by talking about it!” About fifty percent of funding for this year’s production came from the Arts Council. “Europe is really the home of opera, it’s a much smaller culture in the UK.” I fervently hope that British opera culture is big enough to accommodate whatever the new Barefoot Opera production might be. If the Arts establishment are attempting to conquer elitism with inclusivity, to be making operatic performance relevant to current audiences, young and old, to be bringing audiences and musicians closer together, they could learn a great deal from the Barefoot approach. This town is fortunate to house such a gifted director, and I look forward keenly to next year’s production.

There is another chance to see La Cenerentola locally: there are performances at Rye Creative Centre on 19 August, and Crowhurst Place, Lingfield, on 3 September. For details, full program and cast, see barefootopera.com/upcoming-events.

Frontline Assignments 

The Lucy Bell Gallery presents Two Worlds, an exhibition’ exploring five decades of renowned British Photographer Brian Aris. Aris, who now lives on the South Coast, was a photojournalist during the 1960s and 70s, covering civil unrest and riots in Northern Ireland, the plight of Palestinian children in Jordan, the Civil War in Lebanon, famine in Africa and the war in Vietnam up to the fall of Saigon.

10 June-12 August .lucy-bell.com/exhibition/brian-aris-two-worlds

Mellow Yellow

A group show called Yellow, runs at the Stade on from Friday 16  June to Sunday 18 June.

We’re told ‘Yellow is a colourful and conceptual, multi-disciplinary response by 15 local artists, to a set theme. The exhibition promises to bring shadows at golden hour, shouty Spring flowers and cigarettes and crisps, in the form of paintings, prints, ceramics installations and sculpture. Come and get your slice of creative sunshine.’

Paper Cut

The Stella Dore Gallery has an unusual show opening running until 25 June. Tearable features works on paper by David Oates and Yokel Graham.

Both artists have vastly different styles and approaches to their work. Both spent years painting graffiti in strange locations. Tearable aims to tell those stories and depicts some of the rewards and punishments.

stelladorestore.com/pages/contact-us

CONCEPT OF SILENCE

A leading figure of Korean art, Yun Hyong-keun, has his first UK public gallery exhibition at Hastings Contemporary this summer. Following the Korean War (1950–1953), the country found itself isolated from the rest of the world’s art markets and movements. This led South Korean artists to create their own sets of rules derived from the Korean tradition and creative parameters in the field of abstraction. Yun, was a founding member of this Dansaekhwa movement.

Hastings Contemporary
10 June-1 October

Golden Evening

Barefoot Opera is hosting a fundraising evening of music for St John the Evangelist.

Bathed in Gold is ‘an exquisite, golden evening of Brahms’ most loved and familiar piano intermezzi and songs, as well as a few fabulous rarities.’

Friday 9 June 7:30pm Barefootopera.com

Marsh Music

The internationally renowned Peasmarsh Chamber Music Festival returns this summer, treating audiences to a magical long weekend of concerts by world class artists, performed in beautiful historic churches and including masterpieces of the chamber music repertoire both new and old. Starting with three concerts and five musicians, the Festival has grown to include an orchestral concert, a community based education programme and 12 guest artists from around the world. 

22-25 June. peasmarshfestival.co.uk

Comedy Coming

As previously mentioned, the UK comedy circuit returns to Hastings and St Leonards for this year’s Hastings Comedy Festival. This year’s running for 5 days from June 14-18.

2023 is the Festival’s eighth year of ‘bringing laughter and live comedy entertainment to Hastings and St Leonards, with another excellent programme of live shows from some of the funniest and most creative comedians performing on the circuit today’.

Headliners include Olaf Falafel who will be performing Look What Fell out of my Head at The Crypt on Saturday 17 June. There will be 75 live shows over the five days including Sikisa, Elliot Steel, Barry Ferns, Helen Bauer, The RH Experience, Thanyia Moore, Olga Koch, Paul F Taylor, Alice Fraser and many more. Hastings Comedy Festival newcomer competition ‘The Norman Award’ also returns, along with additional compilation shows.

14-18 June. hastingsfringecomedyfestival.com

Take a Seat

This spring, Tschabalala Self’s first public sculpture, Seated, comes to the De La Warr Pavilion, outside on the lawn, facing the sea. According to the DWP: “Standing three metres high and made from patinated bronze, this monumental work uses an everyday object – a seat – as an entry point for questions of permission and performance within public space. Its subject – poised, immaculately dressed, glancing to her left – emboldens onlookers to sit with confidence and comfort.” Until 9 October 2023

Family Fish

Molly Tompsett, daughter of Hastings fisherman Neil (“fishing’s been in the family for 200 years”) was recently commissioned by the National Student Drama Festival to make a short film about the local fishing community on Hastings Beach. It follows Neil and skipper Roland Kelly, “depicting the harsh realities” of the British fishing industry – and looking at how it has been affected by the rise of gentrification and the influx of holiday lets and Airbnbs in East Sussex. 

You can see it at youtu.be/w1fvGJzyDnY.

Jazzing it up

It’s hard to keep up with local jazz combo Fabulous Red Diesel’s whirlwind dates around the Southeast – London, Essex and Hove – in the past few weeks alone. But you might be able to catch them when they return to Ronnie Scott’s on 9 July. 

They’re organising another minibus from Hastings, and you can book your seat by contacting Kat at thefabulousreddiesel@yahoo.com

Spanish Twist

Expect first class music and singing with a Spanish twist, from De Falla to Bizet and Carmen, with some “Latino influenced jazz to create a party atmosphere at the Uplands”. It’s Barefoot Opera’s celebration of Cinco de Mayo – somewhat confusingly on 20 May!

5.00-7.30pm and tickets (from barefootopera.com) that include a cocktail, aperitivos and music. ¡Olé!

Nashing of Teeth

Well you might, if you miss the legendary Graham Nash – founding member of The Hollies, and Crosby, Stills and Nash – when he ‘drops into’ Bexhill later this year on his Sixty Years of Songs and Stories tour. A self-described ‘simple man’, Nash was inducted twice into the Songwriters Hall of Fame for his work with CSN and as a solo artist. 

It’s at Bexhill’s De La Warr on 30 August 2023. Tickets are on sale now.

They claim to be the first fully professional orchestra in Hastings since the 1930s when the Hastings Municipal Orchestra was based at the White Rock Theatre, itself a national centre for classical music and favourite recording studio for the Decca Records. This year the HPO have at least one concert a month at either the White Rock Theatre or Christ Church in St Leonards.

Perhaps slightly more on the radar is the biennial Hastings Piano Concerto Competition. Next month sees a special Prizewinners’ Gala Concert at the White Rock with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Shunta Morimoto and Mariamna Sherling return having thrilled the capacity audience with their performances in the final of the 16th Hastings International last year. 

The Competition evolved from the of Hastings Music Festival in the 1930s. It has become internationally-renowned for young concert pianists. Of last year’s 360 applicants from global auditions, more than 40 came to compete in Hastings. Their prize: the opportunity to perform with The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra on the two-night final, and a first prize of £15,000. Plans are already in hand for the 2024 Competition.

As part of the Piano Concerto Competition the indefatigable Sarah Kovitz provides space at her ‘stately’ home, Fairlight Hall for regular recitals. As she says: “I think we are blessed with choice for a regional location where 50 per cent of our potential audience is the sea!  The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, one of the iconic London orchestras, has taken Hastings to its heart and comes now as a regular visitor to a town that for 40 years was a classical music desert.”

Opera is also very much part of the Hastings’ scene. Barefoot Opera strive to make it accessible, and elsewhere on this page we carry a piece from their director Jenny Miller on her philosophy. But Barefoot do not have a monopoly: there’s also Opera South East, based in Hastings, and one of the few companies in the region that regularly performs opera with full chorus and orchestra. 

They attract established singers and musicians as well as young professional performers at the start of their career. At their heart is a chorus of enthusiastic and friendly amateur singers under professional music and artistic direction. 

Other events are also much in evidence, including the upcoming Hastings Musical Festival with its greater emphasis on young people. The Young Instrumentalist of the year competition is in mid March.

Also in this special section, Victoria Kingham reviews a recent concert by the Fritz Brothers and the multi-talented violinist Max Baillie – who is also the inspiration behind the regular St Leonard’s Concerts, an eclectic mix of classical Jazz and electronic genres. 

So then, no shortage of ‘serious’ music available locally; and if you can get tickets, don’t miss the Gala Concert at the White Rock, when last year’s competition winners will play Beethoven’s dramatic and complex 4th concerto and Rachmaninov’s heartrending Variations on a Theme By Paganini. This promises to be an unmissable evening.

My vision originated from my interest in theatre and dance, as well as singing. My mother was trained as a modern dancer and, Isadora Duncan style, I danced to records of Beethoven and Schubert and acted enthusiastically in all my school plays. Aged seventeen, I arrived in England from France to study at The Guildhall to find (at that time) an extremely narrow curriculum. I went to the Director of Music – remember it was The Guildhall School of Music and Drama – and asked if I could join some drama classes. His response was “Why do you want to do drama? You are a singer!” 

Of course their syllabus has since changed considerably and there is much more depth of study, but the attitude of ‘musician first’ still prevails in the world of opera. The real beginning of what I now refer to as ‘Barefoot principles’ or the ‘Barefoot ethos’ took root around fifteen years ago as a result of conversations with Polly Graham, at that time a young student I was mentoring (now Director of Longborough Festival Opera) and who was acting as my assistant. 

I was running a summer course called The Complete Singer, and enthusiastic student singers had agreed with me that they would rather do a whole opera than just the more usual small opera scenes. Polly came along to help with a production of L’Incoronazione di Poppea. She and I formed a close relationship and discussed what we both felt opera needed. Our vision was to create an ensemble style of working in which the whole group shared storytelling with their whole bodies. It would have the attributes and elements of physical theatre, and here we were inspired by Jacques Lecoq. There is no ‘star’ system, and everyone works together. 

As a result, in my vision, there would be a group of people who would train along the same lines as companies that have come out of Lecoq like Complicité (complicite.org/company) and Gecko (geckotheatre.com), or like a contemporary dance ensemble, with a common way of working and a shared creative language with which they approach the piece, whatever it may be. 

This is a very important vision for me and one that I have, as yet, not completely managed to realise (it’s a costly vision! This dream requires a subsidised company!) However, I have partially achieved this ambition because people do come back and do more than one show. Singers are beginning to talk about ‘Barefoot work’.  I have created a training company where these principles are implemented, and artists take the approach on into other situations. These artists include Polly Graham, Lysanne von Overbeek who is now a freelance director, Laurence Panter (a pianist, composer, and teacher), Chiara Vinci (opera singer, ballet dancer, mixed media dance and theatre performer), Oscar Castellino (baritone), and many more.

To my knowledge, none of the opera companies that do have the kind of resources necessary to achieve my ultimate vision have developed the concept of training as an ensemble. When I was young, appearing in a variety of productions, I often felt lonely. Everyone comes in from their different worlds. There is an element of competition, an edginess about ‘so-and-so is getting on better with the conductor’ or ‘will the conductor be giving so-and-so more work and not me’, etc. etc. 

You have this very difficult thing to do, very high profile, very exposing, but you are being pushed around and have no agency. I attempt to do things differently. In La Cenerentola, for example, I feel that Michael Spenceley and I, together with our enthusiastic and talented cast, have managed to create a truly unified atmosphere. This very much relies on how rehearsals are conducted. The leaders’ core goal needs to be to create a unified ensemble, as well as putting on a great show. 

Contact details atbarefootopera.com/contact or barefootfriends40@gmail.com to get further involved as a Friend of the opera company.

Creative community passions run high in Hastings. Art and music flow through it like colour in a stick of rock. Festivals drum through the streets with pomp and flamboyance, always looking for venues and rehearsal spaces. Feelings are deep about heritage and preservation. Friends are still heartbroken about the Pier into which they put time, money and finally tears. I hope it’s not my turn to be heartbroken about St Mary in the Castle.

Seeing that wonderful domed ceiling for the first time took my breath away, the backdrop balcony carved out of the rock, looking down on a stage from wooden seats. I’ve seen the wonderful stained-glass window behind the stage curtain, so rarely seen – a wonder revealed in an art installation back in 2010. The wonderful Hastings Philharmonic Orchestra blasting out the Mozart Requiem was an unforgettable sound of voices filling the dome.

School events, big brass bands, dancing, physical performance artists moving around the wide apron of floor, and a spectacular light installation which mesmerised the audience. There have been political awareness support events like The Siege when the Palestinian Jenin Freedom Theatre UK toured in 2015.

March 2017 saw an anniversary celebrating 100 years since the suffragette Muriel Matters took to the skies in an airship to scatter leaflets saying: ‘Votes for Women’. As an Australian she was shocked that British women were still not allowed to vote. She finally came to live in the house next door to St Mary in the Castle. How ironic the Council has called its offices Muriel Matters House when there is no museum of her work.

I understand the Council is putting a large sum of Government money into Hastings Castle, the first Norman castle in Britain, to promote local tourism. And yet no money is forthcoming for St Mary in the Castle, built in the castle

grounds. Is this due to lack of care and imagination, or funds, or both? Shouldn’t we be recruiting fresh young visionaries to join the Council and have a part in community policies?

St Mary is at the very centre of Pelham Crescent, the only local architectural gem equivalent to the Royal Crescent in Bath. I believe money has been awarded to restore the sad looking arcade on the seafront, but it is still boarded up! This should be a beautiful functioning arcade as it once was.

My own festival, Sotto Voce 2015, with the support of the De La Warr Pavilion, brought Italian and local artists together with the Society of Strange and Ancient Instruments to explore themes of Navigation, Galileo, Marco Polo, and others with writings from confinement. Using the Crypt downstairs, a sound installation had voices speaking the words of those who wrote works from prison. There is no other venue in Hastings that could have hosted this festival.

What a huge variety of events we have had here. Post Covid there was Frock Up Friday, which introduced the fabulous local women’s band, The Ravens. We have had a dinner featuring Indian food and culture, and this kind of event reflects the wide cultural range of our town where 91 languages are spoken. So much creative work, including my own personal opera passion – Jenny Miller’s Barefoot Opera which has given us many wonderful productions and the recently created inclusive opera, Bloom Britannia. This mammoth project exposed new audiences and participants to experience art, music, performance, costume and set design to create the magic that is opera.

If only St Mary in the Castle could have the support of a saviour like director Sir Sam Mendes who restored the beautiful Margate cinema for his new film, Empire of Light, bringing, it is believed, £4.8 million to the local economy.

To propose the building be an Asset of Community Value, I am leading the petition to collect nominations. This will ensure St Mary’s remains a community space. Please go to the ‘surveymonkey’ address below and sign up. Let us make sure this space is kept for the use of the people, by the people!

surveymonkey.co.uk/r/2978V9L

Under an initiative co-ordinated on behalf of Hastings Creatives group by Glenys Jacques, trustee of Barefoot Opera and long-time collaborator on local theatre, film and arts projects, a petition will be delivered to Hastings Borough Council (HBC) next week calling upon it to register St Mary in the Castle as an Asset of Community Value (ACV).

A community body with a local connection is generally required to nominate a prospective ACV, but this can consist of an unincorporated group of 21 or more people who appear on the local electoral register. At the time of going to press, Ms Jacques’ petition had already attracted around 120 signatories, each of whom lives in the borough and claims a creative interest in St Mary as an arts venue and/or exhibition space. She was hoping this number would reach 200 by 1 February, when the petition is due to be served.

HBC put the property up for sale or lease with commercial agents Dyer and Hobbis in November, and leader Cllr Paul Barnett has stated that tenders for “future management options” have been invited for the council’s consideration by 4 February. But if, as seems likely, the council accepts the ACV nomination, it would result in a moratorium on disposal for a minimum of six months during which the local community can raise funds to mount a competitive bid.

Is this realistic? The Creatives group, led by Jess Steele of Hastings Commons and video entrepreneur Paul Walker, think so. As reported a fortnight ago in HIP 217, they propose that the council should link St Mary with Hastings Castle above as a single tourist attraction connected by a vertical stairway or lift shaft. Consulting engineers have pronounced this scheme technically feasible; costings, while steep, are capable of being justified on preliminary calculations of a business case. Historic England are said to be “very supportive” of the linkage idea, which should generate far higher footfall for the castle than the current viewings figure of 30,000 per year.

Most encouragingly, the Town Deal Board, of whom Ms Steele is a member, is reported to have shown “general interest” in the link project. The Board previously allocated a figure of £3.45m (out of their overall pot of £24m) to a stand-alone project which they have previously described as “Hastings Castle World Heritage Destination”, and apparently netted further potential match funding of £2.85m from other sources. But they have never exposed to any public scrutiny what is proposed. Could this be the plan they didn’t know they were looking for?

Graffiti spray paints under the sofa, psychedelic flashing tower in the garden, getting a touch up, very loud singers in every room in the house –this is Barefoot Opera’s Young Artists tour. They are rehearsing locally in intense detail before taking the production to Maidenhead and Beaconsfield, wheeling back to Bexhill, and giving a school performance with Bexhill college students, before finally bringing in full community force to St Mary in the Castle – a perfect venue for this production.

This year Barefoot Opera intends, in a much more compact way, to combine our dreams of a singing town, a vocal community, with the glorious multi-art form that is opera.

We have seven professional singers, a tiny but brilliant professional band, a group of twenty-five community singers, and twenty-two young people from Bexhill College all converging on stage at St Mary’s on Friday 14 October. The opera in question? Rossini’s La Cenerentola, an exhilarating, comic and simply joyous version of Cinderella.

As director of Barefoot Opera over fifteen years, I can say this cast is one of our best: truly ravishing singing, glamourous voices, and some beautifully witty acting. Michael Spenceley of the Ballet Rambert and I have gone all out to encourage the physical theatre ensemble style which is our hallmark. Jane Bruce of Radiator Arts has created a design concept that brilliantly re-styles pre-loved pieces of set (we mentioned spray paints) and Natascha Stolle has transformed old costumes into something rich and strange – yes, this is an eco-production, waste not want not.

I spoke to Rachel Deatherage, our leading lady, who plays poor Cinderella, who does go to the ball and meets her Prince – 

You have just sung this role in Vienna. What do you think defines Rossini’s character of Cinderella in particular?

Rachel: Well Rossini’s tale is much more focused on forgiveness and love than I think a lot of the other versions of the tale are. In the end Cenerentola implores her prince to forgive her family even though they are terrible and that is quite impressive.

What are the challenges for the singer in this role?

Rachel: Cenerentola has a large range and a lot of coloratura (which is when you sing a lot of notes very quickly). But she also requires honesty in your acting and a sort of range there as well, to go from the poor girl who shrinks away from her family to a self-assured and forgiving queen in a believable manner takes a fair bit of versatility. 

Have you worked before with community and opera? What is your experience of this and what are the benefits?

Rachel: I have! At Opera Neo in San Diego we brought Hansel and Gretel to the Boys and Girls club. It was delightful! The children all stood up and helped Gretel teach Hansel different dance moves. It engaged folks in opera who otherwise may not have been exposed to the art form and that was thrilling to be a part of.

Where next for you Rachel?

Rachel: The sky is the limit! I have many auditions and applications all over Europe and the UK coming up to keep me busy. Generally, I will be home in Berlin with my cat when I can though.

• Barefoot Opera’s La Cenerentola plays at St Mary in the Castle on 14 October. Information and tickets at barefootopera.com

Tasters

St Leonards Ceramic Studio celebrates its first anniversary of work by students and members, having taught more than 300 people in courses, tasters and workshops. They are taking part in Coastal Currents with open studio and sales on 8 and 9 October at 36 Marina. 

www.stleonardsceramics.co.uk 

Folk Cultures

Violinist Max Baillie is joined by Berlin-based star Serbian pianist Ljubica Stojanovic for the next St Leonards Concert – an evening of violin and piano music. The programme includes some music inspired by folk cultures, and two of the great French pieces for violin and piano. Friday 14 October 2022. 

Details and tickets from eventbrite.co.uk

Effervescent 

Barefoot Opera are coming to St. Mary in the Castle on 14 October, with Cenerentola – Rossini’s effervescent comedy. It tells the classic tale of Cinderella with a sparkling new twist. The professional cast is joined by Voiceworks, Arts on Prescription Choir, Seaview Choir and students from Bexhill College and Hastings Academy.

Tickets from www.stmaryinthecastle.org.uk/events

3D Self Portrait

Hastings’ Digital Arts Hub mounts an exhibition and event from the 1 – 8 October. It’s a culmination of this summer’s work and a chance for people to take home personal 3D printed scans as part of the XR22 Project – a digital 3D mass self-portrait of Hastings: its town, culture and its people, using the latest the emerging XR technologies. dah.

hastingscommons.com

Dust and Light

Hastings Contemporary celebrates the gallery’s 10th birthday with three new shows this autumn: Caragh Thuring –
a survey show of paintings, drawing and monotypes created in the last 15 years; Making Waves features artworks from 10 alumni artists and Penny McCarthy presents Cloud falls in Love with mortal – drawings inspired by the clouds, water, dust and light of Hastings.

Afrikaba

Habib Koité one of West Africa’s leading guitarists, returns to the UK for a series of live shows this November, including Sussex Hall, White Rock Theatre, as part of Afrikaba Festival.

www.africannightfever.com

Become a lifeguard

Last year RNLI lifeguards, who cover 177 beaches across the UK and Channel Islands, protected an estimated 20 million visitors. Now the charity wants to hear from potential lifesavers to help keep people safe this year while they enjoy the summer in Hastings, Camber Sands and Bexhill-on-Sea.

Successful applicants will undergo first-class training to build valuable skills – from handling lifesaving equipment on the beach to first aid and casualty care – and learn how to use RWCs (rescue watercraft or jet skis), all-terrain vehicles (ATVs), the four-wheel drive (4WD) patrol truck, and IRBs (inshore rescue boats). 

Georgia Landy, Seasonal RNLI Lifeguard Supervisor in Hastings, says: “Working as a beach lifeguard is a great opportunity to develop many different skills: adaptability, teamwork, fitness, and inclusivity. We’re incredibly lucky to have such a wide variety of training within the RNLI – not only the physical side but also mental health awareness and how to communicate effectively in high pressure situations. This is invaluable when you’re working on days where there are more than 25,000 people on the beach. Prevention is first and foremost as it allows everyone to have a better understanding of the environment. Key safety advice is to swim between the red and yellow flags.” 

The RNLI is looking for individuals who hold a National Vocational Beach Lifeguard Qualification (NVBLQ), ILS Beach/Surf Lifeguard award or equivalent. If you do not hold one, there will be courses running in Hastings and other neighbouring areas. 

• Find details at https://rlssuk.tahdah.me/event

Apply to be part of the lifeguarding team at https://jobs.rnli.org/vacancy/lifeguards-hastings-camber-sands-to-bexhillonsea-467934.html

Take to the streets!

Barefoot Opera is working on a special pop-up street performance event called Sun Shall Rise. It will take place during the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee weekend on Saturday 4 June in Hastings.

Would you like to be part of it and sing at the event? Barefoot Opera’s Choral Director, Jenny Miller, working with professional singer and workshop specialist, Lucy Mulgan, will recruit a community choir in Hastings, and rehearsals will take place during May.

If you are interested, you’ll need to commit to some rehearsals as well as to the performances over the Jubilee weekend. The rehearsals will be held on the following dates at St John’s Church, Pevensey Road, St Leonards on: Thursday 26 May (approx. 6-7pm) and in Hastings town centre on: Friday 3 June (approx. 5.00pm-6.00pm). Email bbrowninghastings@icloud.com to register your interest.

• Parade marshals are also needed for Saturday 4 June – Contact sophie@mslprojects.co.uk

Hat making workshops with Radiator Arts

As part of the above event there is also a drop-in hat making workshop with Radiator Arts on Saturday 4 June from 10am to 1pm, giving adults and children the opportunity to make a fantastic hat for the occasion. 

Offered on a ‘pay what you can’ basis (minimum £1). 

• Contact sophie@mslprojects.co.uk

Hospice volunteer open days

Ever wondered what it would be like to volunteer at the St Michael’s Hospice Donation Centre? Often referred to as the Aladdin’s Cave of treasure, why not come along to one of their Volunteer Open Days this month to find out more? 

You will have the opportunity to tour the building, speak to the St Michael’s Hospice Retail managers about what goes on in the donations warehouse, check out how their e-commerce hub works, and discover the flexible volunteer roles available. 

Head of Retail and Business Development, Rose Bedford, says: “The St Michael’s Hospice Retail team relies on the generous support of our volunteers as we strive to raise vital funds for the Hospice through our high street shops and our eBay store. At our volunteer open days this month, you’ll have the opportunity to discuss the various volunteer roles available in our warehouse, e-commerce team and shops. If you are able to spare some time each week and help support the Hospice with us, we would love to meet you.” 

• Join the team on Wednesday 25 May, 12.00-4.00pm, or Saturday at Donation Centre, Unit 1, Queensway Avenue South, Queensway, St Leonards on Sea, TN38 9AG. No booking required.

Contact: 01424 457962 or email volunteering@stmichaelshospice.com 

Therapy month is almost here

Back in 2018, The Sara Lee Trust launched the annual Hastings and Rother Therapy Month to help fund essential care and to raise awareness of how counselling and therapy can improve lives by having a positive impact on health and wellbeing. Since then, therapists have helped raise over £10,000 for The Trust, supporting more local people to receive specialist care. 

The Sara Lee Trust Therapy Month provides an opportunity to book a therapy or counselling session throughout June from a local practitioner in exchange for a donation to The Trust. 

• Taking part is simple. Go to www.saraleetrust.org/therapy-month.html

Contact your therapist of choice directly to book an appointment and quote ‘The Sara Lee Trust Therapy Month’. When attending your appointment, please give your donation to the therapist. 

The suggested minimum donation is £10 for a half-hour appointment and £20 for an hour. 

Sessions are limited, please book soon to avoid disappointment.

Become a foster carer

Residents across East Sussex are urged to consider becoming foster carers. There are more than 70 children currently waiting for a family, and foster carers can transform the lives of children and young people by offering a safe and loving home.

All carers are fully supported by the Children’s Services team, with dedicated social workers,
a 24-hour helpline, extensive
local training, educational and therapeutic support for children and a network of support from experienced carers.

Anyone interested in finding out more about offering support to a child or young person by becoming a foster carer or caring for older teenagers as a supported lodgings provider can visit www.eastsussex.gov.uk/childrenandfamilies or call 01323 464129 or 01424 726155, respectively.

Help publish HIP

Writers, (especially for News, Arts and Community Pages) sub-editors, and those with fundraising experience are particularly welcome. 

• We’re also keen to help young people and those with no prior newspaper experience. Contact info@hastingsindependent.co.uk

As the final rendition of Ajde Jano (a traditional Serbian folk song) concluded the evening’s performance, it was clear that Barefoot Opera’s Bloom Britannia was a distillation of many aspects of Hastings – both good and bad. This community-led effort directed by Jenny Miller had music by Orlando Gough and words by Stephen Plaice, with a variety of performers and choirs from the Hastings area taking leading roles. 

From the beginning, it was enjoyable to note our real, gentle mayor sit opposite the stage version of a flamboyant, adulterous mayor – one of many interesting characters in the show which also included a lobster, Queen Victoria, ‘Where’s Wally’ Tourists and an inordinate number of seagulls. This indicates just how eclectic the story is, drawn together by the narrative thread of a rejuvenation grant competition.

CREDIT: Chris Parker

This enables the opera to give the many singers time to shine and provide an array of different genres. That was the heart of the opera – great performances. The stage was constantly teeming with people who all gave it their all, and provided an animated backdrop to each song – alongside Queen Victoria’s head occasionally popping out of the balcony. The schedule sheets and Punch and Judy show in the interval integrated your time outside of the show into the experience – it felt brimming with life at every corner. But of course, the many familiar faces to those accustomed to the Hastings music scene gave the show an eerie sense of reality to many of us. 

The storyline was driven by many small narrative threads. An affair, a rivalry, and a lobster provided at least one song and one story for everyone – even if at times some of the music felt excessive or out of place, there was always the next song to look forward to. 

CREDIT: Chris Parker

It seemed the key role of Bloom Britannia was to present many real aspects of Hastings in a comedic way. This worked well for aspects already comical: our abundance of occasionally messy tourists, our pesky seagulls, and of course the wonderful – but occasionally insane – events like Jack in the Green. However, it caused problems when a serious issue like gentrification was presented in a comical way with ‘artsy performances’ pushing out the homeless or when it came to the stereotypical characterisation of a homeless man. Not to mention the slightly performative mentions of the refugee crisis or colonial history of England – followed by a bizarre tribute to Queen Victoria. But this was combated by the thoughtful presentation of the difficulties of a gay character. Overall, the opera had a thrilling realness even if occasionally trivialising serious issues. 

All of this is to say Bloom Britannia quite accurately reflects Hastings. Musical eclecticism parallels our own cultural scene’s diversity; passion is shared between the Hastings community and the opera company; and a ‘gentrified lens’ through which issues of a gentrified town are presented. Hastings is lucky to have a wealth of music of all genres, including Barefoot Opera itself.

The production has been recorded – availability will be on its website. I recommend anyone who has lived in Hastings to watch it, as it has too much of us in it to ignore – both good and bad. 

• For more information see barefootopera.com/bloom-britannia-peoples-opera/bloom-britannia-background

It is surely one of the most tired cliches about music that Opera is just for ‘toffs’ who like to dress up ‘posh’ and listen to fat people making overblown sounds. If you think like this, Barefoot Opera have news for you: Opera is
for everyone and can be sung by anyone. In October their production of Bloom Britannia will be a ‘People’s Opera,’ to be performed at St Mary in the Castle.

It is, in part, a darkly comic tale, told in song, of the exploits of the people in a seaside town – not unlike Hastings – seeking to win a regeneration grant. Again, not unlike Hastings, the people of the town prove to be somewhat unruly, lustful, unstable and gloriously anarchic – with a strong dose of surrealism thrown in. 

Young participants in rehearsal
CREDIT: Chris Parker

The piece has been composed by Orlando Gough and the lyricist Stephen Plaice. Gough specialises in fusing different musical genres: Jazz, Pop, Folk and even that thing called Opera. What makes the performance the anthesis of a Glyndebourne snooze is that it employs large numbers of ‘ordinary’ local people alongside a small number of professional musicians and performers. Many of the professionals are also local, such as Bev Lee Harling. The mix is likely to be extraordinary, but it is also an incredible challenge to bring together.

The artistic director, Jenny Miller, describes the process of staggering rehearsals for around 100 individuals as “dizzyingly complex”, like orchestrating the coming together of “a vast jigsaw puzzle”. But she is very upbeat about the energy and passion that people bring to the creative process, and the way that energy radiates across the group. The cast includes both young and old and people from all walks of life. Numerous local community organisations are involved: the Seaview Project, Eggtooth, Arts on Prescription among others. Also involved are the Project Art Works collective who are working on the costumes, set and props.

(Left) Director Polly Graham with young participants in rehearsal; (right) Bloom Britannia participants in rehearsal CREDIT: Chris Parker

It might be thought that singing in public, for those with no experience, would be daunting or even frightening, but it seems that almost all those involved talk of the way singing with others is a deeply uplifting experience. As one performer puts it, you get “a feeling of being really connected to other people.” Almost the perfect antidote to Covid.   

Soprano Abigail Kelly in rehearsal at SMIC
CREDIT: Chris Parker

The production has had an extraordinarily long gestation, largely due to Lockdown.  But now, after three years of fits and starts, all seems primed for the production to hit the St Mary space.  The first full-cast run through will be on 14th October. That is only eight days before the opening night! Adrenalin levels are likely to spiral, which should make for a thrilling performance.   

Apparently, in the eighteenth century the operatic tradition was entwined with popular culture, and they fed off each other: when popular street ballads might be picked up by composers and inserted into Operas. Barefoot Opera are surely pulling the tradition back towards its roots. If you are still not sure about it, why not take the advice of one of the older members of the cast – and now a born again minstrel – and just “suck it and see”.

• Tickets range from £5 to £25.00 and they are available from www.barefootopera.com

By Nick Pelling

The Festival of Sanctuary sends a simple message of welcome, with some of Hastings’ best musicians and artists once again showing their support for the act of seeking sanctuary. Organised by Hastings Community of Sanctuary, and raising funds for Hastings Supports Refugees, the festival celebrates the power of community, of creativity and of hope.

Taking place for the first time in the centre of the town at Hastings Museum & Art Gallery, the event, previously known as Festival by the Lake, is now in its fifth year. Many of Hastings’ brilliant musicians have supported the event, and this year’s fantastic lineup includes Buddha Triangle, Helen Sharpe and Clair Nicholson, alongside festival regulars Jamal, Alaa & Zahi, renowned Syrian musicians now based in Brighton. As well as a solo set, Bev Lee Harling will be performing with Lucy Mulgan from Barefoot Opera and the Refugee Buddy Project. Hastings’ younger generation of artists will be represented by Kay Iris and Poppy Sharpe.

Around the grounds of the museum you’ll find storytellers, art workshops, poetry readings, drumming sessions, fun for kids, community stalls and delicious food. You can also take a walk through the woods to the Bohemia Walled Garden – a sanctuary for nature in the heart of the town – for a guided tour.

Inside the museum, you can see a British Museum Spotlight Loan Crossings: community and refuge, a new exhibition featuring the moving Lampedusa Cross made by Francesco Tuccio from the remnants of a refugee boat wrecked near the Italian island of Lampedusa, alongside poignant boat artwork by Syrian-born artist Issam Kourbaj. Made from repurposed bicycle mudguards tightly packed with burnt matches, 12 tiny boats represent the fragile vessels used by refugees to make their perilous voyages as a response to the ongoing tragedy in Syria.

The exhibition is co-curated by the Refugee Buddy Project, who have run workshops with the local refugee community across a series of weeks on the exhibition’s themes, whose work will also be displayed. There will be talks and workshops responding to the themes of the exhibition, including from Issam Kourbaj, exhibition curator Jill Cook from the British Museum and a speaker from the UN Agency for Refugees. A display of original postcards, donated by local artists, will be sold to raise funds for vital work supporting refugees in the UK and in Europe.

With so much conflict around the world, and an increasingly hostile environment in the UK, it is more vital than ever to send out a message of hope

Polly Gifford

Festival organiser Polly Gifford said, “We’re excited to be able to bring people back together this year, and to be working with Hastings Museum. With so much conflict around the world, and an increasingly hostile environment in the UK, it’s more vital than ever to send out a message of hope, and no better way of doing that than through music, art and community.”

Cllr Paul Barnett, Deputy Leader and Lead for Culture and Regeneration at Hastings Borough Council, said, “The council is really delighted that this wonderful festival is taking place in and around our Museum and Art Gallery this year. At a time when the world is increasingly concerned about the plight of refugees, and in a town which does 

so much to welcome people from wherever they come from, we can all learn so much from the experiences and words of those who have successfully settled in Hastings. So, a big thanks to all those volunteers at Hastings Community of Sanctuary and the Refugee Buddy Project who have worked hard to make this happen. I am looking forward to this special day so much.”

Hastings Community of Sanctuary is part of the national City of Sanctuary network. Their vision is for the UK to be a welcoming place of safety for all. A place that is proud to offer sanctuary to people fleeing violence and persecution. Find out more about their current campaigns and how you can get involved at their stall and at hastings.cityofsanctuary.org, where you can also sign the City of Sanctuary Pledge. Find the latest festival news on the Hastings Supports Refugees Facebook page.

Hastings Festival of Sanctuary Sunday 12th September 2021, 12-6pm, Hastings Museum & Art Gallery. Entry is free and open to all, so bring your picnic (and your dancing shoes) and join them for a day of solidarity, community and culture.

• For more information about the festival contact info@hastings.cityofsanctuary.org

• For more information on the exhibition go to britishmuseum.org/exhibitions/crossings-community-and-refuge

Before we talk about Justin as an interesting person, we should point out that a lot of people seem to be interested in him. Over the last couple of years he’s been in demand for all sorts of things from opera to local politics – and more recently he’s become involved in Luma, the new Instagram channel run by Eggtooth and Isolation Station. 

The surprising thing about Justin is how he has emerged from a difficult childhood into such a thoughtful and articulate adult. A ‘difficult childhood’ can mean many things: in Justin’s case, it involved being brought up by a young single mother in a family where he didn’t feel he fitted in, leaving home at 16 and being homeless for a year. Not fitting could well be down to his heritage: he only discovered two years ago that his father was Greek, not just a different Englishness but a whole different genetic pool! 

So Justin appears to be something of a cuckoo, emerging into an environment not suited to his character and dealing with all of this as he was growing up. Fortunately, he encountered the Eggtooth organisation quite early on and was given a second chance at hatching. (Eggtooth is
a local organisation that works to enrich people’s lives in many ways www.eggtooth.org.uk)

In fact, Justin first came across Eggtooth at 12 when it was running a summer school at a local Academy. He then volunteered to assist team leaders as an older student and has been working with them on and off since. Sally Grieg, Director of Eggtooth, says: “He’s an incredibly caring young person.” 

PRETENDING TO BE SOMEONE ELSE

His perception is that he had to pretend to be someone he wasn’t when he was growing up “just to make people happy”. That includes his mother – although on reflection he admits that she has recently told him she’s proud of him.

Part of the problem seems to have been ‘the Billy Elliot syndrome’. People tried to pigeon-hole him because of what he liked to do, and assumed he was gay. “Apparently it was because I like to sing: I like to perform, to act; for some people that makes me gay. It always confused me.” But his response is a confident: “I am who am. I’m not gay, I’m straight. I’m unique and I’m Justin. My own version of myself.”

He also likes speaking out on certain topics and always has. “I love debating. And that’s probably why I got into arguments with other people. I have my opinion and school kind of deprives you of that.” He goes on: “I’d felt like I was an outsider for as long as I could remember: family, friends, workplaces and it gave me feelings of loneliness and anxiety.” 

STRENGH FROM ADVERSITY

When I asked about his apparent confidence, he said this might have come through faking it over the years, faking that he was OK. “I’d never had the ability or the courage to actually let my true self be known to other people until it got to the point where I just had enough. And I started thinking ‘Why should I hide what I really am from people?’” And that was when he was around 12 and, interestingly, when he got involved with Eggtooth.

Justin accepts that strength can come from adversity. Talking about his homelessness and whether it was the worst experience of his life he answered: “It should never have happened in the first place, and it should never happen to anyone, but in another way, it actually helped because it helped me become even more independent than I already was. 

Everyone has a fear of not being good enough, though most people would never admit it

I think being homeless could have been one of the best things that ever happened to me. Like it was bad, but it was also a part of growing up. Not everyone goes through being homeless, but at the same time, in a way, we do because there’s always that time in everyone’s life when they have to move out of their parent’s home, no matter what age. And then they’re thinking ‘How am I going to do this? How am I going to cope? I can’t be alone’ and that goes through everyone’s head.” 

But there were difficult experiences, the worst being “sleeping on the street in the rain and having a bunch of drunks and drug addicts shouting at you in the night”, he says. “It got to the point where I wouldn’t sleep at all at night, and I’d go round to a friend’s house during the day and take a nap.”

GETTING INVOLVED

Nevertheless, Justin managed to turn his life around: currently he is involved with the Barefoot Opera and Luma, the new Youth social media channel, as well as being Vice Chair of Hastings Youth Council. Recently he was involved with the Wilding Festival (“Amazingly helpful,” says organiser Beccy McCray) and he is talking with Cllr Maya Evans about the possibility of becoming a councillor. 

Asked about whether he was getting involved in too many things, he said: “To be honest I don’t think I’m doing enough. I see so many issues, so many challenges every day walking through Hastings. Hastings is in the top 5% in the Southeast for homelessness, mental health problems, domestic violence unemployment – and that’s not just in adults but in youth as well.”

And he doesn’t feel this is just the responsibility of the council. “It’s everyone’s first assumption to blame the council. They do what they can. Since the budget cuts they don’t have much money. As Vice Chair of the Hastings Youth Council I know what the council’s like and what they do. Hopefully I’ll actually join the council at some point as a young councillor.” 

Talking about what people can do for themselves, we got onto the subject of cooking and why some people find it so difficult. Justin says he learned how to cook at a very early age. And unlike many young men, he’s proud of his cooking skills, proud of the Cajun Gumbo, Chicken & Chorizo Jambalaya and Seafood Chowder he cooked for his GCSE Food Preparation practical exam. His view on why so many people don’t know ‘how to cook’: “Everyone has a fear of not being good enough, though most people would never admit it.”

But in the end, what really brought a smile to his face was telling me that he’s recently fallen in love, not something that happened out of the blue but with someone he already knew as a friend. They’d just been hanging out without any expectations and “we’ve slowly fallen in love with each other”.

• Read more of our Interesting People series here

All students have had to be more creative and resourceful over the last year and this is certainly true for BA Designer Maker students studying for their University of Brighton accredited degree.

This ‘Covid’ year meant that the Work Experience module had to have a whole new spin put on it. As the students have been working online at home, the experience of uniting to make work, create content and use social media to promote themselves was proposed as the alternative. They are currently introducing themselves via the Edge Hastings on Facebook, and the 2nd Year Designer Maker Instagram account, Edge – We Made It, with ‘works in progress’ before the main exhibition goes live. The sites are specifically for this exhibition and will close after 6pm on 8th March.

• See the exhibition between 1st and 8th March on facebook.com/edge.hastings.3 or Instagram: @edge.wemadeit.esc

Bev Lee Harling

Barefoot Opera: rehearsals for the ‘people’s opera’, Bloom Britannia, are restarting after Easter. If you want to know more about the project, you can find a short film on their website: It takes a town to make an opera: Bloom Britannia, and also catch an ITV News feature on them from last Tuesday on itv.com/news/meridian/2021-02-22/lockdown-lift-the-opera-going-virtual

You can still join the project – the official ‘sign up’ page is now on the Barefoot Opera website with all relevant details.

• Go to barefootopera.com/bloom-britannia-launch to find out more. If you have any questions about the production or want to join the weekly ‘virtual café’ meetings every Friday at 11.00am, email bloom@barefootopera.com 

PAINTING THE PROM is a competition call-out for local artists to design and paint a mural for one of the ‘suntrap’ seating booths on the lower promenade of St Leonards seafront. Submission is FREE, and every artist selected gets a fee of £300.

This is a unique opportunity for local artists to create a new artwork for the seafront that will engage, surprise and delight those who see it. The unique St Leonards suntrap booths were built in 1934 by Sidney Little, the Concrete King. Since then, generations of people have sat on the benches, looking out to sea, which has inspired this year’s theme: Day Dreaming. Mural submissions will be chosen by a committee of St Leonards artists, residents and community representatives. Submissions will be featured on the PAINTING THE PROM 2021 online gallery. In other words, if your work is not selected, it will still be seen!

• To apply, go to https://goodstuffinstlens.com/painting-the-prom-call-out
and fill in the online application form before midnight on 31st March 2021.

Recent events have put a great strain on theatre providers worldwide. We at Hastings-based theatre company, Theatre Nation have been no exception but are adapting to the ever-changing external environment created by Covid-19. 

Following the cancellation of a mid-scale tour of Samuel Beckett’s existential classic Waiting for Godot (scheduled for April), the organisation began working out how to make viable theatre work on a pandemic-struck planet. In particular, how to rework and reimagine Beckett’s masterpiece in line with the times.

David Glass Workshop
PICTURE: Robert Golden

Enter David Glass. Accomplished theatre maker, visionary and avant-garde provocateur with an international reputation, David Glass agreed to take the reins and direct Waiting for Godot, now scheduled from 24th March – 3rd April 2021, at Stables Theatre. If Glass’ production is anything like his grotesquely comic, highly physical and powerfully emotive Bleak House (national tour 2019), it will be something special.

But the two companies feel that theatre is changing, and that it’s important to look beyond traditional theatre productions – not least because the threat to venues actually being operable remains ever-present. The support of Stables’ Chairman, Neil Sellman has been really invaluable in allowing the realisation of this work. 

So, we have decided to curate a three-year community-focused project on Samuel Beckett: Beckett in the Time of Pandemic. This will entail three productions: Waiting for Godot (2021), Endgame (2021) and a devised piece of new writing (2022). This piece will be inspired, conceived and created via
the programme of community workshops and events to be held with associate organisations – currently including Barefoot Opera and Eggtooth – as well as various individual artists. We’ll be announcing exciting future collaborations as time goes on. 

David Glass Workshop
PICTURE: Robert Golden

As part of Beckett in the Time of Pandemic, David Glass will be bringing his iconic ‘Alchemy Extraordinary’ Creative Practice workshop to the Stables Theatre in Hastings from 21st to 25th September. He will introduce his five-stage Creative Practice used by many worldwide; his work has influenced noted individuals and companies including Emma Thompson, Anne Marie Duff and Stephen Daldry. 

Theatre Nation’s key collaborator for their proposed Spring 2020 tour of Waiting for Godot was Leigh Dyer. His sculpture work is known and loved throughout Hastings (and beyond!), and he was commissioned to create the iconic tree. His beautiful sculpture deserves an audience, and so they’ve created a new project: Tree on Tour. The sculpture will be taken to various community spaces and be presented in various ways. For example, a singing tree featuring live performances from opera practitioners (with Barefoot Opera).

Not only that, but Caravan of Love – the first play I worte – will be performed at Sweet Venues from 5th – 11th October. It comes after a preview in Prague and small-scale UK tour (2018). It will be performed with appropriate social distancing and livestreaming, of course. 

It’s a challenging time for all of us, and Theatre Nation are hoping to remain optimistic, positive and creative in a time where the arts are more important than ever. That’s partly why we’re adding ‘Creativity, Community, Collaboration’ to their Manifesto – to reflect what they feel are the best ways to respond to Covid-19. 

• Read more on their website: www.theatrenation.org

A new mixed media exhibition is showing at Zuzushii Arts Laboratory until 29th August, featuring work by Fumico Azuma, Alexander Brattell, Ben Browton, Tim Can, Kathleen Fox, Jill Rock and Keith Waller. Normal opening times Wednesday to Sunday, 10 till 5.

• Zuzushii Arts Laboratory, 26 White Rock, Hastings, TN34 1JY. 

Hastings Fringe in 2020

For the first time in five years, Hastings Fringe will sadly not be going ahead in 2020 due to concerns around the Covid-19 pandemic.

Heather Alexander, Artistic Director said, “The Fringe has helped to make Hastings a leading cultural destination for the south east through its Fringe and Theatre Festivals. We have looked at staging an open-air event later this Summer, but ongoing concerns about Covid-19 have made this impractical. The health and safety of our audiences is of paramount importance to us.

“Both the Fringe and Theatre Festivals are hoping to be back next year in full, with an exciting programme of cultural experiences for everyone. In the meantime, we are looking at other possibilities in the interim – watch this space!” 

Arts on Prescription Receives Blake Logo 

Local community arts organisation Arts on Prescription (AoP) recently received an illustration by Sir Quentin Blake, featuring a doctor who has painted a large rainbow and the title “Art on Prescription”. AoP believes in the potential power of art and community as therapy, as a strong companion to medicine and other technical methods in healing. Every Friday they host art sessions on Zoom, and they recently featured Jenny Miller from Barefoot Opera. See HIP Issue 149 Arts on Prescription goes online.

• For more information about AoP’s free ‘art for wellbeing’ sessions contact info@artsonprescription.org or visit the website www.artsonprescription.org

Collage à Trois 

Artists Peter Quinnell, Rachel Williams and Alice Howard have filled the gallery with their amazing collage work. Exhibition open until August 30th. Find out more, and subscribe the mailing list for updates at www.thedirtyoldgallery.com

• The Dirty Old Gallery, 31a west street, Hastings, East Sussex, TN34 3AN. Gallery open Thursday–Sunday, 11am ‘til 4pm (sometimes 5).

Over that time, AoP has been successful in introducing a wide variety of creative activities in a safe, accessible environment. It’s ironic that nine months later, the population at large is now experiencing problems previously confined to a minority.

Still life arrangement 

During the current pandemic, AoP has had to rethink its way of working and in the process has been able to widen its target audience to anyone who wishes to join in. Tara Reddy, the driving force behind AoP, says of the current situation: “The way people work has changed dramatically over night, for some it has made people slow down, be more empathic to other people’s needs. It’s critical to ensure that people keep well, stay connected and be creative.”

Seeing the crisis coming, she set up a dedicated Facebook AoP members page to ensure the work could continue, supporting people to connect and stay creative for wellbeing.

Each week a different topic is posted for people to draw, photograph, collage, write about or explore using any art form they choose and then post on the AoP Members Facebook Page.

Alongside promoting art activities, the Facebook page signposts people to opportunities in the wider community and services available to support people’s wellbeing such as: Hastings Emergency Action Response Team, Extinction Rebellion Hastings, Hope for the Homeless, HVA Phone Line, Next Door and Isolation Station – all run by volunteers and set up to respond to the pandemic. 

A painting in still life

And what about the workshops that used to be run at the Warrior Square surgery? Stay Connected and Be Creative art and wellbeing sessions are now carried out ‘in the ZOOM room’ every Friday at 10am for two hours. This provides opportunity for AoP members to engage with each other and focus on participating in an art activity – each week something different: still life drawing, creative writing, dance and lots more.

On Mondays at 10am they are in the ZOOM Room with singing sessions facilitated by Jenny Miller of Barefoot Opera. On Tuesdays at 11am there’s a mindfulness and wellbeing session delivered by Lucy Pappas. 

Tara has a full-time job with One You, East Sussex but is now working from home.

Barefoot Opera launch new call-out and Jamboree for people to take part in a new homegrown opera project!

Do you have a secret passion for music, singing and performance? Ever wondered what it might be like to sing in a professional music theatre production? Do you know anyone with a great voice but who’s always been too shy to perform? Do you know a young person who dreams of a career in music and theatre? 

Bloom Britannia preview performance in 2019
PICTURE: Chris Parker

If the answer to any of these questions is YES, now’s your chance to try something completely different! And it’s FREE! 

Barefoot Opera announce the launch of their new campaign, a call-out to everyone in the towns of Hastings, St. Leonards and Bexhill. They’re inviting us all to take part in an ambitious new project – Bloom Britannia a home-grown, professional opera, three years in the making, telling a story inspired by our lives in Hastings and St. Leonards. With diverse musical influences, characters we can all relate to, quite a few surprises and a lot of laughs…it’s an opera, but not as you know it. 

“It’s open to everyone…you don’t need any singing experience…just enthusiasm!” says Jenny Miller, who has been leading the project since the beginning. “You’ve heard that singing makes you feel good…and there’s scientific research to prove it’s true! This is also a great chance to meet people, and experience the buzz you get from singing with hundreds of others”.

Rehearsals will be taking place once a week from May-July. It all picks up again in the Autumn, with the show itself taking place in October at St. Mary in the Castle, Hastings. 

Bloom Britannia preview performance in 2019
PICTURE: Chris Parker

It’s an all-singing, fun-packed family-friendly afternoon for anyone and everyone who is interested. And there’ll be free tea and cake

If any of this sparks your interest, why not go along to St. Mary in the Castle on Saturday 21st March from 3-6pm for the Bloom Britannia Jamboree – a free event/launch party for people to find out more about the project.

You’ll hear the composer and creative team talk about the project, meet other people taking part, and find out about the organisations who are already involved, including: Rattlebag; Acapella Bellas; Now and
Then; The Seaview Choir; Bexhill College; Soundcastle; Arts-on-Prescription; and more….

This is an event for everyone across generations, for people with all levels of singing experience …or none. Go on, give it a go!

FREE, by booking in advance at https://barefootopera.com/shop/bloom-britannia-jamboree or free entry at the door.

• For further information, email bloom@barefootopera.com, check their website or look on HIP’s website for past coverage of Barefoot Opera. 

Who are Barefoot Opera, and what is Bloom Britannia?
Barefoot Opera is a creative arts organisation who want to bring out the arts in everyone. I was the first teenager to be a part of Bloom Britannia – we’re looking for more people to join of any age, background or experience! Bloom Britannia involves professionals and non-professionals, a lot of whom are based in, or come from, the Hastings area. The story is about seaside towns like Hastings, and the audience will get to experience a masterpiece!

Clubbers getting involved with preview of Bloom Britannia
PHOTOGRAPHY: Chris Parker

What is opera, to you?
Turns out opera can be quite a lot of different things. To some, it offers the chance to escape. It is another form of singing. Most of the songs in the show aren’t even opera songs – it’s called opera because it’s a way to open up, a way to heal, a way to communicate.

What would you tell anyone who is thinking of getting involved?
If you want a life filled with music, experience for a job, to have a dance, to try singing, acting, insight into being a sound engineer, or a backstage coffee runner, just come and get involved! Or come and see it!

Tell us about the team. 
‘Absolutelyamazing’ – all in one word. Orlando (composer) is unique. I don’t know how he does it. I had quite a few chats with him and the librettist, Stephen Plaice. They opened new doors for me and nicknamed me mini-Bowie! Polly, the director, gives very good hints and tips for actors – the young people in the show just loved working with her. Jenny (Artistic Director) is an influencer. For vocal warm-ups, she has a unique technique where everyone ends up loving it – and doing it. She makes you feel better about yourself.

• Take part in Bloom Britannia – a home-grown, professional opera, made with and for the people of Hastings, St Leonards and Bexhill. An opera, but not as you know it…

• Visit www.barefootopera.com or email bloom@barefootopera.com to sign up

Meanwhile, Bloom Britannia continues to build. Inspired by our very own Hastings and St Leonards, complete with warring councillors, a hen night, clubbers, a street-sweeper, and featuring folk, beat-boxing and a ukulele, this thrilling project will be an opera, but not as you know it. 

People across the generations and from all kinds of backgrounds have already taken part during the first two years of development, as singers and performers, alongside professional opera singers and musicians. Many say they felt ‘proud’, ‘invigorated’ and ‘on a high’ after taking part. 

But founder and director Jenny Miller says Barefoot’s main pre-occupation right now is raising funds to bring Bloom Britannia to full fruition in 2020:

“A small organisation like Barefoot Opera can feel like David gazing at Goliath, as we start the hugely ambitious process of raising money for a dream we believe in, where sung music is social glue, social healing, social well-being. An opera, however unusually set, still requires visual artists, theatre artists, musicians, the lot – it does cost. A community opera needs all of that plus – the community!”

The Barefoot Opera team are on tenterhooks waiting for news from Arts Council England. In the meantime, following a successful Kickstarter campaign last year, a new crowd-funding campaign launched on 1st November. Making a donation is as simple as buying your ticket now to see the full production of Bloom Britannia in 2020. Other rewards for donors include autographed copies of the new score, opera performed in your own house, unique artist-designed Bloom Britannia badges, recordings of Orlando Gough’s music and many more. There’s something for everyone…from the fun, to the fantastical, to the glamorous. 

Jenny Miller again: “In these fractured and troubled times, we need projects like Bloom Britannia to bring us together.”

• Visit the following link to find out how to donate to the crowd-funding campaign justgiving.com/crowdfunding/barefootopera. 

Also go to barefootopera.com for details of how you can take part in Bloom Britannia next year. 

Meanwhile, it’s Bloom Britannia – with Damon Albarn from Blur as patron – that is turning out to be a particularly enriching and stimulating addition to the musical life of our town. Inspired by our very own Hastings and St. Leonards, complete with warring councillors, a hen night, clubbers, a street-sweeper, and featuring folk, beat-boxing and a ukulele, this thrilling project will be an opera, but not as you know it. You could say the same perhaps for any Barefoot Opera production. But what sets this project apart is the direct experience of music it brings to people within our communities. People across the generations and from all kinds of backgrounds have already taken part during the first two years of development, as singers and performers, alongside professional opera singers and musicians. We have consistently heard that they felt ‘proud’, ‘invigorated’ and ‘on a high’ after taking part. In these days of cuts to arts education and funding, this can only be applauded.

Founder and director Jenny Miller’s main pre-occupation right now is raising funds to bring Bloom Britannia to full fruition in 2020.

‘A small organisation like Barefoot Opera can feel like David gazing at Goliath, as we start the hugely ambitious process of raising money for a dream we believe in, where sung music is social glue, social healing, social well-being. An opera, however unusually set, still requires visual artists, theatre artists, musicians, the lot – it does cost. A community opera needs all of that plus – the community!’ – Jenny Miller

The Barefoot Opera team are on tenterhooks waiting for news from Arts Council England. In the meantime, following a successful Kickstarter campaign last year, a new crowd-funding campaign launched on 1^st November. How can you help? It’s as simple as buying your ticket now to see the full production of Bloom Britannia in 2020. Other rewards include autographed copies of the new score, opera performed in your own house, unique artist-designed Bloom Britannia badges, recordings of Orlando Gough’s music and many more. There’s something for everyone…from the fun, to the fantastical, to the glamorous.

‘Many wonderful people stepped up last time with donations ranging from a fiver to five hundred, and the fiver is just a valuable as it’s well-zeroed neighbour. This not only helps guarantee some of our costs, but shows funders that we all want this to happen – it’s an invaluable vote of confidence’. – Jenny Miller

So far this project has touched our community in a great many ways. It has given many children and young people an experience of classical music and performance they will never forget. It has brought the health and well-being power of singing to hundreds of people. It has already brought diverse members of our community together. Jenny Miller again: ‘In these fractured and troubled times, we need projects like Bloom Britannia to bring us together.’

Visit the following link to find out how to donate to the crowd-funding campaign https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/barefootopera. Also go to www.barefootopera.com for details of how you can take part in Bloom Britannia next year. Email: bloom@barefootopera.com to find out more.

Barefoot Opera’s new ‘people’s opera’ was created through engagement with the people of Hastings, St Leonards and Bexhill. The creative team – including composer Orland Gough – met and talked with hundreds of people across a range of ages and backgrounds about what it means to live in a town on the South Coast today. 

The result is Bloom Britannia – a satirical look at what Britain might feel like in the future, centring on a fictional regeneration competition on the South Coast.

Barefoot Opera are now looking for people to take part. Whether you sing a solo part or as part of a chorus, it’s sure to be a dynamic, theatrically and musically interesting experience. 

• Full details on the website: www.barefootopera.com

The Observer Building has recently been purchased by White Rock Neighbourhood Ventures, a community-rooted developer who successfully redeveloped Rock House. After 34 years of dereliction, funds are urgently needed to start the process of resuscitation – starting with waterproofing!

• Check out their crowdfunder. Rewards on offer for pledges range from limited edition art from award winning Becky Beasley to dinner for two at Tommy’s Pizzeria. www.crowdfunder.co.uk/the-observer-building

Now in its fifth spectacular year, Hastings Fringe is holding its second call out for artists and performers.

Anyone can register as the festival welcomes performance from every corner, whether monologue, poetry, musical cabaret or performance art, or work by under-represented LGBTQI, BMER or disabled artists.

Whether your voice is that of a talented new playwright or an established artist gearing up to wow audiences in Edinburgh, Hastings Fringe is the place to make your statement.

n Meet the Fringe Team
Saturday 2 March, 11.00am – 1.00pm, 
Stables Theatre, The Bourne.

RSVP via callout@hastingsfringe.co.uk or visit Facebook/hastingsfringe for the latest information.

Barefoot Opera invites you to an evening with the French classical singer, Judith Charron, at the Music Room in St. Leonards. Thomas Denman reviews.

Charron’s repertoire will include French mélodie (Debussy, Fauré, Poulenc), French opera (Gounod, Bizet), and some of her own music, a classical take on French chanson. Charron is herself Parisian and, in what promises to be a delightful evening, she will take you on a musical tour through her home city. Her recent operatic roles include Belinda in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas (London), Susanna in Mozart’s Nozze di Figaro (Palace Opera); and in Hastings, she has already sung the roles of Barbarina in the Nozze di Figaro (alongside Marcio da Silva) and the mischievous Amor, one of the highlights of last year’s L’incoronazione di Poppea. She has also released an album, ‘In Heaven’s River’, of songs she co-wrote and recorded with Benjamin Kahn.

In keeping with the theme, the ticket to Paris! Paris! includes a glass of red or white wine and cheese and biscuits.

• Sunday 6th May, 6:00pm (doors open 5:30), The Music Room, 6 Uplands, St. Leonards-on-Sea

TICKETS: £15 in advance or £18 on the door from www.barefootopera.com or call 01424 432985 : NB: Now sold out but get in touch if you’d like to be on a waiting list.

We hope you have enjoyed reading this article from Hastings Independent. The future of this volunteer led, non-profit publication would be far more secure with the aid of a small donation. It only takes a minute and we would be very grateful.

Barefoot Opera is developing on an ambitious new ‘people’s opera’ called A Town. It is based on the lives and stories of people living on the South Coast in the here and now. Richard Lewis reports

Hundreds of people have already signed up for more than 25 workshops with a wide range of local groups, choirs and other organisations, pop-up sessions in pubs and cafes in Hastings, St. Leonards and Bexhill, as well as free, open to all workshops during March/April 2018.

Some workshops will focus on singing, others on discussion and points-of-view.

Jenny Miller, of Barefoot Opera, said, “The project has been really taking-off. There are so many workshops taking place with lots of interesting groups. All kinds of people are involved…from children to dog-walkers to singers in choirs…all ages…”

What’s it like living in a South Coast town?
What makes your town tick?
Got a story to tell?

Barefoot is working with a team of musicians, composers and writers, and they’re looking for people in the Hastings and Rother area who want to take part in the first stage of the project. In particular, Barefoot is encouraging local people to come along to their discussion workshops, taking place at Grand Rue de Pera cafe and the De La Warr Pavilion studio, to talk about their lives in a coastal town, so if you’ve got a story to tell or if you want to have your say in what it’s like to live in a South-Coast town today, then get involved!

Jenny added “This is the last chance to be part of this initial phase…the workshops will be great fun and very stimulating…and you never know…your story might end up being part of the opera!”

Everyone who goes to a workshop will also be invited to a free big get-together at the De La Warr Pavilion on 22nd April, where a series of ‘one minute operas’ will be tried out.

• Find out more about how to take part in this exciting new project, or sign-up and reserve your place for a workshop at www.barefootopera.com/atown. Page-down to find a long and exciting list of free workshops, times, dates and venues from 31stMarch to 25thApril 2018

• Join the Facebook page: ‘A Town That Sings,’ to keep in touch and get involved, share photos and videos, and to find out more about the pop-up sessions taking place near you.

We hope you have enjoyed reading this article from Hastings Independent. The future of this volunteer led, non-profit publication would be far more secure with the aid of a small donation. It only takes a minute and we would be very grateful.

BY CAF FEAN

Delight in a glitzy cabaret strictly for the over 60s, encounter Great Expectations on the streets of St Leonards or play a part in an opera inspired by the lives of local folk. Early 2018 looks set to be full of opportunities to get involved and immersed in some fantastic projects here in Hastings.

From 13th March to 15th April 2018, ExploretheArch will bring Charles Dickens’ ‘Great Expectations’ to town. Visit this quirky non-traditional arts and culture venue, Archer Lodge in Charles Road, St Leonards,
TN38 0QX.

The House of the Identity of Things at Archer Lodge acts as one part of the journey: look out for visual responses dotted about St Leonards. Restaurants and cafes will be reinventing themselves as pop up creative writing hubs. Partners include Zoom Arts, Open Door Hastings, Arts Hastings and Bexhill Mencap, Black Winkle Arts, Burtons’
St Leonards Society and others.

Barefoot Opera embark upon a major new project, A Town, which tells the story of our lives on the South Coast in the here and now, and will culminate in a brand-new opera. Building on the success of CLASH!, a choral extravaganza involving seven Hastings choirs, seven commissions, and music for the combined choirs, Barefoot Opera has been awarded an Arts Council ‘Research and Development’ Grant for the first stage of an ambitious new project, also involving local people and professional singers, to begin in the Spring 2018. The whole project will take place over the next three years, with the performance itself to take place at the De La Warr Pavilion in the Spring of 2020.

Visit the project website to find out about exciting opportunities to get involved. Some workshops will focus on singing, while others will be more about points-of-view, stories, memories and experiences. There will also be more informal interviews, walkabouts and discussions in pubs, hairdressers and other public places. These sessions will be free and open to all and will be run by members of Barefoot Opera’s creative team. Visit the website in early January to book a free workshop.

Purveyors of progressive working-class entertainment, Duckie are bringing us The Posh Club, a ritzy cabaret event for swanky senior citzens, elegant elders and glamorous golden girls in Hastings. There will be lots of amazing acts – three per week usually. Showbiz sideshows include tap dancers, opera singers, comedians, London’s finest flappers, acrobats, hula-hoopers, Black Elvis, Chinese Elvis and White Elvis, music hall starlets, soubrettes, ukelele bands, acapella troupes, impersonators and the finest ballet.

Expect spectacular cabaret, classic afternoon tea and a ritzy afternoon party. For Ages 60+ and their friends and fans – tickets are £5. To book a table call 07848 831 290. Dress Code: Posh.

Every Friday for 10 weeks from 23rd March till 25th May 2018, 12noon – 3pm at St John the Evangelist Hall, Brittany Road, Upper St Leonards East Sussex TN38 0RD.

For more information: atownexploresabook.com, barefootopera.com/a-town, duckie.co.uk/events/the-posh-club

We hope you have enjoyed reading this article from Hastings Independent Press. The future of this volunteer led, non-profit publication would be far more secure with the aid of a small donation. It only takes a minute and we would be very grateful.

Barefoot Opera – ‘Hastings and St. Leonard’s very own opera company’ – has been awarded an Arts Council Research and Development Grant for the first stage of what promises to be an exciting new project involving local people and professional singers. The company have now built quite a reputation for their vibrant, youthful and accessible performances, for example last month’s well attended and highly acclaimed L’incoronazione di Poppea at St. Mary in the Castle. With this new project, the working title of which is A Town, Barefoot Opera plans to be yet more innovative and inclusive, involving people of all ages, singing abilities and backgrounds. It builds on the success of Barefoot Opera’s CLASH!, which involved seven Hastings’ choirs and culminated in the performance of Bayeux!, a choral extravaganza written and composed by the eminent Orlando Gough. The same composer will be working on A Town, this time in collaboration with the librettist Stephen Plaice.

Central to the new opera will be the voices and stories of all the communities collaborating in its production. Beginning in April 2018, the first stage of A Town will involve a series of far-reaching workshops in and around the communities of Hastings and Rother. The workshops are divided into singing workshops and talking workshops for those who don’t feel like singing but might want to be involved or at least share their story and be part of the opera’s narrative. The project will run for two years, culminating in a performance at the De La Warr Pavilion in Spring 2020.

All are welcome and the workshops are free to attend. For further details, see the Barefoot Opera website: www.barefootopera.com.

On Saturday last weekend, another brave and innovative production from Barefoot Opera, electrified a packed auditorium at St. Mary in the Castle.

Staging L’incoronazione di Poppea (‘The Coronation of Poppea’) for a contemporary audience is no mean feat. Having premiered in Venice in 1643, Monteverdi’s musical drama of the story of Poppea’s seduction of Emperor Nero is one of the earliest operas ever written (to offer some perspective, it predates the birth of Mozart by over a century). Although the subject matter is racy, encompassing themes of tyranny, death, lust and deceit, the music is courtly and restrained. It is more reflective of the manners of Baroque Italy than the in-your-face, galloping operas of the later eighteenth and nineteenth centuries; and staging it to a contemporary audience in the spacious auditorium of St. Mary in the Castle, would have no doubt presented itself as a challenge.

A challenge nonetheless overcome, and with gusto. The singing was vibrant, improving throughout the performance as the singers found their stride, making one wish the production would continue for more and just one night. Many would agree that the high points were the death of Seneca (Tobias Odenwald), the statesman and philosopher whom Nero forces to commit suicide, and the closing love duet, both sexy and tender, sung exquisitely by Lucilla Graham (Nero) and Sarah Parkin (Poppea). Michal Aloni as Ottavia, Nero’s spurned consort, and Hannah Jones playing the supporting role of Drusilla were also among those who stood out.

The acting was bold and gestural. Especially entertaining was Judith Charron’s Amor, whose role as the driving force of the opera (above Fortune and Virtue, over whom he declares his superiority in the opening scene, love being the thing that ultimately ‘conquers all’) was played with mischievous aplomb.

In addition to the fine singing, the production was engaging for its combination of physical theatre, an elaborate set and striking costumes. A walkway connected the back of the stalls with the stage so the singers could perform amidst the audience and enter the scene from multiple angles, making the event an immersive experience for audience members sitting in the stalls. Fluorescent white costumes were worn by all except Poppea, whose dress was lusty red, and Amor, a cupid in black (with white wings), making him invisible, presumably so he could artfully intervene in the relations between the opera’s characters.

Purists might say that Barefoot Opera’s version of L’incoronazione was more flamboyant than the original, and perhaps some of the subtlety of the music was lost; however, judging by the applause it received, there is no doubting that the show was an immense success and that we are lucky to have Barefoot Opera bring Monteverdi to Hastings.

For more information see http://www.barefootopera.com

Barefoot Opera – Hastings and St Leonards’ very own opera company – for one night only, at St Mary in the Castle, will present what promises to be another unique and scintillating spectacle. Considered by many to be Monteverdi’s operatic masterpiece, L’incoronazione di Poppea (The Coronation of Poppea) is a morally ambivalent tale of lust, deceit and power set in Ancient Rome. One of the earliest operas to take a real, historical event for its subject, it describes how Poppea, a beautiful and conniving noblewoman and the erotic obsession of Emperor Nero, used charm and intrigue to manipulate her way to the imperial throne. Nero is already married to Claudia Ottavia when he falls in love with Poppea with whom he has an adulterous liaison, putting relations between him and his family and court in murderous jeopardy.

Known for their innovative and youthful productions, Barefoot Opera have chosen to stage L’incoronazione in honour of the 450th-anniversary of Monteverdi’s birth. And, given that it premiered in Venice, in 1643, and is thus one of the earliest operas to be composed, its staging is an important opportunity to witness opera in its earliest development as a dramatic musical form.

The intimate ensemble of musicians will include Lesley-Anne Sammons on keyboards, Lucy Mulgan on double bass and Evelyn Nallen on recorder, and among the singers, Lucilla Graham will play Nero – some of you may remember Graham starring in Barefoot Opera’s 2014 Carmen. Adding interest to the evening will no doubt be the setting. The Regency auditorium of St Mary in the Castle is designed in the form of an amphitheatre and therefore is appropriately reminiscent of the ancient Roman context of the opera’s narrative.

Jenny Miller, the director of Barefoot Opera, has collaborated with Peter Fillingham (who designed Derek Jarman’s Garden Installation for the Design Museum) and costume designers Cressida Lewis and Vicky Turner in producing what will certainly be a feast for the eyes, as well as the ears.

L’incoronazione di Poppea, St Mary in the Castle, Hastings, Saturday 11 November, 7:30pm, tickets: Standard £16.50 in advance (£18.50 on the door), £3.50 under 12s, available from the Barefoot Opera website (and Hastings Tourist Office): www.barefootopera.com