Lightwork for Noye’s Fludde

Tine Bech is creating a Light performance for Britten’s one-act opera Noye’s Fludde working with Orchestre de Picardie, Royal Opera House Learning and Participation, University for the Creative Arts, Melbourn Village College and Southend YMCA. The production is a large collaborative process with 110 school children from France and the UK, a 80 people large orchestra with professional and amateurs musicians.

In 2011, Arie van Beek, Orchestre de Picardie Music Director, expressed his wish to conduct the opera. This participatory work, rarely played in France, was composed by Benjamin Britten in 1957 and written to be performed mainly by amateurs (instrumentalists and singers) as well as the audience. The project is part of Rose Bardonnet Lowry vision ACT. ACT is ‘stands for ‘A common Territory’ and is an European network of 13 partners, with a strong English partnership drawing on UK artistic resources. Other talents have joined the ACT network for the occasion and they all have worked together to bring the production to life: Amy Lane is directing the stage, Tine Bech is making the children play with light – creating waves and rain (the flood), the sun / moon and stars from light, Lucy Griffiths has led the design of the headdresses and Karl Longbottom has produced the physical Arch, Rainbow and the Sun, Moon and Stars banners.

The performance takes place in France, Picardy on 15 and 17 January 2015 and then visits Cambridge Thursday 5 and Friday 6 March 2015 at the Comberton Sports and Arts, Cambridgeshire.