Britten’s ‘Suffolk opera’ comes home with sold-out Sizewell Creative production

By Comms Team | Published on 16 July 2024 | 5 min read

Benjamin Britten’s ‘Noye’s Fludde’ opera came home to Suffolk at the weekend with a new production that brought together local communities, schools, and the Sizewell C team, alongside top talent from the world of the arts.

Noye’s Fludde (Noah’s Flood) was written in 1958 for amateur performers and children in Suffolk to perform – and Britten’s vision was fully realised near Southwold on Saturday as a cast and creative crew of 150 performed two sell-out performances at Thorington Theatre.

Local performers were accompanied by industry-leading musicians and creative performers, including world-renowned conductor Tim Brown, designer Phleds, who has worked on over 300 productions, including at the English National Opera (ENO), and professional opera director, Rosalind Parker.

Rosalind Parker, Sizewell Creative’s Creative Director, said: “Benjamin Britten defined a new genre of community opera for the villages in and around Leiston with Noye’s Fludde – and we couldn’t be prouder of all the community performers who’ve so successfully captured the creative spirit Britten wanted to inspire.

“This opera has been months in the making, and it’s the result of the participation and support of a huge cross-section of the Suffolk community. We want to say a big thank you to everyone who was involved in this production, from the venues who’ve hosted our workshops and rehearsals to all the people who’ve taken part, from stage designers to musicians and the amazing Sizewell C team, who were at the heart of the production.”

 A creative milestone months in the making

Preparations for the opera began at the end of last year with ‘come and sing’ sessions at Pro Corda at Leiston Abbey. This was followed by creative workshops in eight schools, including Snape Primary Forest School, with over 500 children participating; arts and crafts sessions at Leiston Film Theatre, where local families helped create the stage rainbow; inmates at Warren Hill Prison in Hollesley helped with the fully-sustainable production design, created in their sewing studio and welding workshop; and members of the Sizewell C team took part in numerous sessions, from testing sustainable materials to joining singing sessions.

Choristers from St Catherine’s College, Cambridge, joined students from local schools, including Alde Valley Academy in Leiston, in both performances. While eight students from Suffolk New College, all of whom are studying or have just completed University of Arts London courses in Performing & Production Arts, also took part in the production, each one benefiting from professional experience that could help with potential careers in the arts.

Imogen Fraser, Lecturer in Performing Arts at Suffolk New College, said: “This project has provided our Performing Arts students with the fantastic opportunity to work as independent artists on a professionally run production. It’s allowed them to develop and grow as performers and theatre technicians, as well as individuals, in a nurturing and positive environment. It has been a very enriching experience, which I am sure will have an enhancing effect on them as they move forward with their studies or into the workplace.”

The students were able to get experience across a variety of roles, including acting and stage production.

William Caley, 17, who has just completed the first year of the two-year Level 3 Extended Diploma, said: “It was so much fun, and it’s allowed us to explore different roles in the theatre, both on and off stage. We were able to put everything we’ve learnt at College into professional practice.”

Alex Leek, who has now completed the Diploma, said: “Noah’s Flood really allowed me to explore more of my acting range and gave me a totally different style of theatre to perform. We loved it.”

And over a half a century after Leiston children performed in Britten’s premier in 1958, students from Leiston returned to the production, as part of the animal troop, with Alde Valley Academy students acting as a gang of “Mrs Noye’s gossips”.

Sizewell Creative: investing in the arts in Suffolk

Noye’s Fludde was the first stage production from the Sizewell Creative arts programme, developed by Sizewell C. It aims to provide free, accessible, and sustainable arts events and initiatives for the community and local schools. To ensure the programme is wide-ranging and rooted in the community, it is also set to appoint permanent positions for local artists, including an Artist in Residence.

Julia Pyke, Joint Managing Director at Sizewell C, said: “Sizewell C is a major infrastructure project, and it’s deeply important to us that this project leaves a legacy in this region, and that it brings together the communities that live and work alongside each other.

“Investing in the arts and delivering performances and opportunities that help bring together community and raise aspirations within Suffolk, is such a rewarding way for us to achieve that.”

Created in collaboration with award-winning arts and events producing house, Outdoor Places Unusual Spaces, the theme of Noye’s Fludde highlights the climate crisis and it was created with sustainable principles from the outset, working with the Arts Council Green Book, using found and sustainable materials, and it was performed in the natural space and sustainable setting of Thorington Theatre. One of the notable set pieces of the production was the live, onstage construction of Noah’s Ark from sustainable materials by members of the Sizewell C team.

Rosalind Parker continued: “Noye’s theme of climate crisis has never been more relevant, more urgent, than it is today. Opera, especially opera rooted in the local community, can be a really effective way of carrying that message, engaging with people directly about environmental change.”

Sizewell C has forged partnerships with organisations and creatives from across the region to develop the programme, and its organising committee features key figures from Suffolk’s creative arts scene. There will be more to come from the Sizewell Creative initiative later in the year.

More information is available on the Sizewell Creative webpage.

Tagged with: Sizewell Creative
Posted by Comms Team