Co-Producer:
The Promise Opera
A new outdoor opera for families, by daniel saleeb & nicola Davies, conceived by lucy bradley.
Composer Daniel Saleeb
Librettist Nicola Davies
Director Lucy Bradley
Designer Sascha Gilmour
Producers Anne Timpson & Tamzin Aitken for Handpicked Productions
I was asked to join the team developing on this exciting new opera as part of an R&D week at Wild Rumpus’s Woodland Whirligig in 2021. I then continued to develop the project as Co-Producer working alongside Cumbria-based producer Anne Timpson and her company Handpicked Productions. Working closely with Anne and Lucy we successfully secured three successive ACE grants alongside support from a wide range of Trusts & Foundations, Local Authorities, and generous individuals.
The piece was developed in conjunction with co-creation workshops with schools in West Cumbria, Leeds and Tower Hamlets, and we continued this work delivering workshops with a range of partner primary schools and specialist d/Deaf and SEN schools, and community groups in the run up to our tour. The finished piece premiered at Leiston Abbey in July 2023 and toured across the UK, presenting a total of 16 performances in Leeds, Milton Keynes, West Cumbria, Carlisle and London. Our tour was followed up by a number of community planting events in all our performance locations.
About The Promise
Inspired by the much-loved children’s story by Nicola Davies and Laura Carlin, The Promise was a new opera by Daniel Saleeb and Nicola Davies, originally conceived by Lucy Davies. At its heart, The Promise is the story of a young girl who is lost in a cold city; her life, and that of the community around her is transformed when she unwittingly makes a promise to plant seeds. This unexpected promise to plant was central to our production, which asked its audiences, like the girl in the story, to make their own promise to plant.
Part performance, part environmental intervention, The Promise prioritised the participation of young people and families from areas of deprivation in new cultural and climate-focussed experiences. Our work built meaningful links with communities, planting-partners and families, engaging new audiences in opera, and creating future environmentalists who developed an interest in and a care for trees and their local green spaces.
PERFORMING COMPANY
The Woman Bethan Langford
The Girl Eleanor Penfold
Terry And Amy Helena
Terry Too Chloë Sommer
Musical Directors / Repetiteurs: Amy Hsu & Tim Murray
Violinists Sophia Kannathasan & Aaliyah Booker
Accordionists Zivorad Nikolic & Iñigo Mikeleiz Berrade
BSL Performance Interpreters Paul Whittaker OBE & Megan McArthur
BSL Interpreters Katie O’Connor & Craig Painting
The Promise opera is based on the book The Promise © Nicola Davies and Laura Carlin. Licensed by Walker Books Ltd., London.
With thanks to Florence Arts Centre, The National Theatre, The Royal Opera House, Ally Rosser, Sherry Neyhus, and Nicola Rossiter & Caleb Derrick in the Music department at the National Theatre.
PRODUCTION TEAM
Production Manager Vivienne Clavering
Sound Engineers Rory Howson & Craig Standon
Technical Stage Manager Steff Andrews
Assistant Director Ashen Gupta
Dramaturg Zoë Palmer
Access Advisor Kate Lovell
BSL Advisor Emily Howlett
Costume Supervisor Marina Diamantidi
Costume Assistants Arianna Danielle, Fay Rusted, Rachel Tansey
Puppet Maker Ellie Ferguson
Scenic Artist Maya Kazmarski
Carpenter Sam Stacey
Metal Work Steve Brown
Additional BSL Interpreters Kerrion Miller, Caroline Smith, Carly Horton, Carrie Smith, Chris Curran, Irmina St Catherine, Megan McArthur
The Promise was supported by The Arts Council England, Cumbria Music Education Hub, Cumbria Action for Sustainability & the Zero Carbon Cumbria Partnership, Mila Charitable Organisation, Three Monkies Trust, Edith M Ellis Charitable Trust, Hadfield Trust, Allerdale Borough Council, Tower Hamlets Arts & Music Education Service, Cumberland Council Without Walls Blueprint Fund, Wild Rumpus, Cumbria Community Foundation and the exceptional generosity of Victoria Robey OBE, Dominic Wallis and Oliver Bradley.
Performances were presented in partnership with Pro Corda, Slung Low, Rosehill Theatre, Poplar Union, Cumberland Council, Cumbria Coastal Community Forest, Friends of Egremont Castle, and Milton Keynes Internal Festival.
Planting Events were delivered in partnership with Workington Nature Partnership, Mersey Forests, The Community Forest Trust, with in-kind support from Pro Corda and Slung Low.
Schools Workshops were delivered in partnership with: Beckstone Primary School, St Gregory’s Catholic Primary School, Our Lady and St Patrick’s Catholic Primary School and Ewanrigg Junior School, Ingram Road Primary, Arnhem Wharf Primary School, Seven Mills Primary School, Canary Wharf College (Glenworth site), Mowlem Primary School, Hague Primary School and Culloden Primary School.
Additional R&D and Test Performance Creatives
Soprano Mimi Doulton
Mezzos Amy Payne & Bernadine Pritchett
Actor & Puppeteer Rachel Fletcher
Designer Ruth Paton
Eleanor Penfold as the Girl in a performance for local schools at Poplar Union, Tower Hamlets in July 2023
Amy Helena and Chloe Sommer as Terry And & Terry Too in a performance at Poplar Union, Tower Hamlets in July 2023
Bethan Langford as the Woman in a performance at Poplar Union, Tower Hamlets in July 2023
Musicians Amy Hsu (keyboard), Sophia Kannathasan (Violin), and Zivorad Nikolic (accordion) performing with BSL Performance Interpreter Paul Whittaker, OBE.
Eleanor Penfold as the Girl being attacked by pigeon puppets in a performance at Poplar Union, Tower Hamlets in July 2023.
Students at one of our partner schools in Tower Hamlets participate in one of our co-creation workshops.
Students at one of our partner schools in Tower Hamlets participating in one of our planting events with Trees for Cities
Students at one of our partner schools in Tower Hamlets participating in one of our planting events with Trees for Cities
A student at one of our partner schools in Cumbria participating in a community planting event in 2021.
Singers Mimi Doulton and Amy J Payne in a work-in-progress performance of the opera to a local community audience as part of our R&D week at Wild Rumpus' Woodland Whirligig in 2021.
Composer Daniel Saleeb working at our R&D in Autumn 2021.
Designer Sascha Gilmour working with Director Lucy Bradley and performer Amy J Payne at our R&D week in Autumn 2021.
Performer Rachel Fletcher-Hudson works with a bird puppet at a work-in-progress performance at one of our partner schools in Maryport, West Cumbria in July 2022.
Director Lucy Bradley, Designer Ruth Paton, and performers Mimi Doulton and Amy J Payne experimenting with puppetry at our R&D week in Autumn 2021.
Singers Bernadine Pritchett and Eleanor Penfold fight over a bag of seeds at a work-in-progress performance at one of our partner schools in Maryport, West Cumbria in July 2022.
Performer Rachel Fletcher-Hudson experiments as newly created character, Terry, in a work-in-progress performance at one of our partner schools in Maryport, West Cumbria in July 2022.