Bridlington Community Opera to go Ahead as Planned

BRIDLINGTON, England, July 7, 2011 /PRNewswire/ --

Opera North today announces that the community opera, Beached, by Harvey Brough to a text by Lee Hall, is continuing as planned.

We have been at pains to work closely with the writers at all times, and have supported their rights of artistic expression throughout. We have also worked equally hard to ensure that the schools and community groups involved in the project have positive feelings of ownership and identity within the production. Thankfully rehearsals have been taking place throughout the week.

We have been able to keep this project on track thanks to intense negotiations behind the scenes with all parties.

We are delighted that we can now move forward to perform the piece next week; over 400 participants from Bay Primary School and the community groups established as part of the residency have been working and rehearsing very hard and are extremely enthusiastic about the project.

At its core, Beached is not simply about sexuality, it is much more about the life and community of Bridlington, and other similar towns and communities in the UK. It is fiction, but it speaks directly, and often with humour, about the experiences of the community, its joys and its tensions.

Opera North has a highly regarded track record for commissioning new work for young people and community groups; Beached was commissioned for the young people and communities in Bridlington and the choice of writers was in itself a bold step to create an exciting and visionary work.

The result is a superb, inspirational and ground breaking new community opera. We have enormous admiration for Harvey's and Lee's work, which we believe will prove a fitting culmination to Opera North's Bridlington residency.

Our two year residency in Bridlington has celebrated the joys of singing and performing and we hope that it will be an inspirational experience for participants and audiences alike.

Beached will be performed on Saturday 16^th July at 2.00pm and 6.00pm

Royal Hall, The Spa, Bridlington Box Office: +44(0)1262-678258