The Bard stands with the Reformers of Peterloo, and their shared genius in teaching history with music and song
Two outstanding youth productions
DAVID NICHOLSON is enthralled by new work from WNO that teaches children to sing and perform
The pupils of Data-class 452 and their android teacher in Cary John Franklin's The Very Last Green Thing
[Kirsten Mcternan/WNO]
SUE TURNER is fascinated by a book that researches who the largely immigrant workforce were that built the Empire State
MARIA DUARTE and MALC McGOOKIN review Sirat, The Testament of Ann Lee, EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert, and All You Need Is Kill
STEVE ANDREW recommends a Marxist analysis of the long chains of production that global corporations exploit
MARY CONWAY relishes the period detail but misses the drama in this unsatisfactory dramatisation of the subjugated life of George Eliot
IAN SINCLAIR welcomes a mainstream scholar to the ranks of left-wing critique of US foreign policy
PETER MASON is disappointed that the eponymous Count fails to put in an appearance
Welsh Youth Opera
Millennium Centre, Cardiff Bay
IF OPERA is to thrive and bring in new audiences, then having a youth wing of singers and putting on productions aimed at young people is essential. Welsh National Opera claims it is committed to diversity and ensuring its work is accessible to a wide audience.
Its latest production of Solomon’s Ring and The Very Last Green Thing by the WNO Youth Opera manages to be both entertaining and a great introduction to opera for a younger audience. The youth opera has two cohorts aged 10-14 and 14-18 years of age and both groups combine to bring us 60 minutes of top-class singing and fine acting performances.
Solomon’s Ring is a very short piece that started life as a way of providing more stage time for some of the members of the youth opera who were not as involved with the longer The Very Last Green Thing and helped create the piece themselves.
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