Cultural Sector Partner: The European Opera Centre
HE Partner: Liverpool Hope University

Liverpool Hope Graduate Theatre Company (Artistic Director Dr Niamh Malone) has worked with The European Opera Centre for the last two years on The Cunning Little Vixen project. The overarching aim of the project is to bring opera into the classroom, introducing and demystifying the production of opera for young children. The project has been successfully delivered twice in Barlows Primary School, Fazakerley, where Hope Graduate Theatre Company facilitates workshops for year 5 (9-10 year olds). The project introduces the students to the four disciplines that combine to produce opera: Art & Design; Drama/Movement; Music/Sound; Production – including Photography. Each discipline has an artistic director (staffed from Hope Graduate Theatre Company) who works independently with the groups and then brings all the components together to produce a children’s opera for public viewing.

The children work for several weeks in advance of the arrival of Hope Graduate Theatre company, exploring background research on the narrative of the children’s opera. Part of this process draws on Janacek’s The Cunning Little Vixen – an hour-long animated film version instigated by the European Opera Centre and made by the BBC.

Hope Graduate Theatre company combines members’ specialisms annually to produce exciting socially inclusive work for local children with The European Opera Centre.

Contact Prof Steve Davismoon

davisms@hope.ac.uk