The lives of residents at a Wrexham care home are being turned into a soap opera.
Welsh National Opera has launched an ambitious programme to create nine episodes which will become an opera about the town and people of Wrexham, thanks to backing from organisations like Pendine Park.
Writer Alan Harris, librettist for WNO, arrived at Pendine Park’s Bryn Bella care home with his camera team to record the first workshop interviews with residents.
Workshops are also planned with other groups for October and November followed by a further six up to November 2014.
By October 1, Alan will have added the stories, reminiscences and memories from Bryn Bella to help create a five minute opera, one of nine to be known as Nine Stories High, which will be performed live in Wrexham.
Pendine Park has had an artist in residence for 15 years and their innovative collaboration with the Hallé orchestra has won awards. Now, the organisation has been unveiled as WNO Community Champion.
Resident Christine Jones told how she married a village policeman nearly 50 years ago, only for most of the village to turn out and watch the wedding.
With little money and no prospect of a honeymoon, she recalled a friend of her parents giving them an envelope with £5 (“a lot of money in those days”) and a key – which opened a caravan in Blackpool which they were to use for their honeymoon.
“I want the residents to talk about days which influenced their lives, about memories of Wrexham,” said Alan.
“I’ve worked with WNO for about three years and done other workshops. A lot of the workshops have been in the south Wales Valleys, working on various projects with pensioners right through to youth groups.
“We did one residential course with youngsters where we got them to write song lyrics, introducing them to opera and we combined that with learning to surf! We engaged the youngsters and it was a great success.
“From the stories here today I will write a five minute libretto and that will be put to music by a composer by next month.”
The completed soap opera will be performed next May as part of the Wrexham Arts Festival. And there will be a programme of fully-staged productions, concerts and community singing events along with other music projects.
Sarah Edwards, the Artist in Residence at Pendine Park, believes it is a very exciting project.
She said: “We wanted to give residents a new experience to give them the opportunity to tell their stories and their experiences in Wrexham, and they have done that and really enjoyed it.
“It links in with our other projects involving the Halle orchestra and various other things. We also have another project with the WNO where they will come and do an opera session on October 12 at our Hillbury premises.
“It will be a sort of performance workshop where residents can join in and take part. We also hope to take those taking part in the workshop today to see the results on October 1,” said Sarah.
Alan, whose work has been performed at the Sherman Theatre in Cardiff, added: “It’s wonderful to meet these people. They have come from all over the area, all over the country and now they’re in Wrexham.
“Hopefully we will hear plenty of their stories which will be the inspiration for the short operas. It’s my job to find a story I want to tell and have their input. At the end of the day you have to make a drama, so it cannot be just memory I have to introduce a dramatic element.”
Alan Hassall, 65, had certainly lived and worked all over the UK, but bouts of illness had brought him to Pendine Park four years ago for respite care but a deterioration in his condition persuaded him to stay at Bryn Bella full-time.
“You get a lot of freedom here and excellent staff who really care for everyone in every way possible, and you get the benefits of all these activities.
“I certainly never thought I would be taking part in an opera, that has to be a first! It’s very interesting and I enjoyed taking part,” he said.
Alan was a computer programmer and systems organiser, working extensively with supermarket group Tesco, travelling to their stores throughout the country.
Sandra Morris confessed: “I like listening to music but I don’t listen to opera! It’s interesting to be included though.” Sandra, 56, has been a resident at Bryn Bella for seven years.
Born in Trevalyn near Rossett, Sandra travelled with her parents and lived in Leamington Spa and South Wales before returning to live in Acrefair until her parents died and she moved into Bryn Bella.
Claire Cressey, WNO producer for Nine Stories High, said: “People think opera is not for them, that it’s all about a distant world that has nothing to do with their lives. I think the big surprise will be realising how many parallels there are with television soap operas, which are so familiar to most and actually borrow a lot from traditional opera.
“What we want the people of Wrexham to do is come on board and join in workshops where they can create work using writing, film, photography and art. They can also contribute stories and ideas to our team of professional writers who will be writing each soap opera episode which will then be performed by a professional cast of singers.”
“We’ve set up a special Facebook page (www.facebook.com/streetsongs) where people can follow up what is happening between episodes by discussing each cliffhanger storyline.”
The workshops are open to existing groups in Wrexham, such as schools, businesses and community organisations. More information on bookings can be obtained from [email protected].
