Pimlico Opera Explained

Pimlico Opera is an opera company and registered charity founded in 1987 by Wasfi Kani.^{[1] [2]}

The company aims to use participation in opera to advance personal developmentparticularly with younger people and to engender a sense of community.^{[3] [4] [5]}

The most recent production from Pimlico Opera was Sweet Charity staged in HMP Bronzefield in November 2018. Olivier award-nominated actress Laura Pitt-Pulford^[6] played the leading role of Charity Hope Valentine.^[7]

History

Though its focus today is solely in prisons and primary schools, Pimlico Opera was known for 19 years (1990-2008) as an Arts Council-funded small-scale touring company. In those years, repertoire included the Da Ponte trilogy, Cenerentola, Falstaff, Pagliacci, Turn of the Screw, Rigoletto, Gianni Schicchi and the company travelled from Berwick-upon-Tweed to Padstow in Cornwall. Pimlico Opera staged the European première of Shostakovich's musical comedy Cheryomushki at the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith on 20 October 1994. A translation was commissioned David Pountney and composer Gerard McBurney to create a reduced orchestration. A documentary was made by the BBC "Another Bite of the Cherry".^[8]

In prison

Pimlico Opera has been staging productions in prisons since 1991.^[9] In 1993, BBC Wales filmed the three-month process involved in putting on a show inside a prison. This was made into a documentary called Guys, Dolls and D-Wing that was aired on BBC2.^[10]

Prison projects since 1991:

1991: HMP Wormwood Scrubs Sweeney Todd

1992: HMP Wandsworth West Side Story

1993: HMP Wandsworth Guys & Dolls

1995: HMP Wandsworth West Side Story

1996: Mountjoy Prison Dublin West Side Story ^{[11] [12]}

1997: HMP Bullingdon, Oxfordshire West Side Story

1999: HMP Downview Threepenny Opera.^[13]

2001: HMP Winchester Threepenny Opera

2002: HMP Winchester West Side Story

2003: HMP Wormwood Scrubs Guys & Dolls

2004 HMP Ashwell, Leicestershire Assassins

2005: HMP Coldingley, Surrey Assassins^[14]

2006: HMP Bronzefield Middlesex Chicago^[15]

2007: HMP Wandsworth Les Miserables^[16]

2008: HMP Kingston Sweeney Todd (Project cancelled)

2009: HMP Wandsworth West Side Story

2010: HMP Wandsworth Carmen - The Musical

2011: HMP Send, Surrey Sugar

2012: HMP Erlestoke, Wiltshire Les Miserables ^[17]

2013: HMP Erlestoke, Wiltshire West Side Story^[18]

2014: HMP Bronzefield Sister Act^[19]

2015: HMP ISIS Our House^[20]

2017: HMP High Down Les Miserables^[21]

2018: HMP Bronzefield Sweet Charity^[22]

In primary schools

Every week of the school year, Pimlico Opera gives 2,000 primary children a half hour singing class. Schools are selected in which there is little or no music provision, with KS2 results below the national average and a high percentage of free school meals.^[23]

The project takes place in Hampshire, Surrey, Durham, Newcastle, and Nottingham.^[24]

Further reading

• News: Maycock . Robert . 22 October 1994 . OPERA / House warming: Cheryomushki - Pimlico Opera . The Independent.
• Winter 1994 . Shostakovich Rarity from Pimlico Opera . . 117 . 357–358.
• July 2001 . Reviews . DSCH Journal . 15 . 50–54.
• News: Kingston . Jeremy . 9 March 2004 . Dead presidents in the firing line . The Times . 19.
• News: Portillo . Michael . Michael Portillo . 3 April 2006 . They had it coming . New Statesman . 47.
• News: Morrison . Richard . Richard Morrison (music critic) . 5 March 2007 . Prison revels in a sense of liberation . The Times . 9.
• News: Aspden . Peter . 7 March 2009 . A dramatic act of rehabilitation . The Financial Times . 13.
• Chapman . Jeremy . Fall–Winter 2013 . A place for them: Pimlico Opera takes Sondheim shows (and others) to British prisons . . 20 . 1 . 28–30.

Notes and References

1. Web site: Charity framework. apps.charitycommission.gov.uk. en. 2019-01-30.
2. Web site: OMTF Pimlico Opera profile. Opera and Musical Theatre Forum. 2019-01-30.
3. Web site: Can opera save our prisons?. Rosie. Johnston. 1 March 2007. The Guardian. 15 February 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20170510192339/https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2007/mar/01/ukcrime.prisonsandprobation. 2017-05-10. live.
4. Web site: House of Commons - Culture, Media and Sport - Written Evidence. publications.parliament.uk. 2019-01-30. https://web.archive.org/web/20161029024334/http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200405/cmselect/cmcumeds/254/2543we34.htm. 2016-10-29. live.
5. Web site: Pimlico Opera. Opera and Musical Theatre Forum. 2019-01-31. https://web.archive.org/web/20090703062153/http://www.omtf.org.uk/pub/en/pimlico/. 2009-07-03. live.
6. News: Olivier awards 2016: complete list of nominations. Stage. Guardian. 2016-02-29. The Guardian. 2019-02-14. en-GB. 0261-3077. https://web.archive.org/web/20160801060105/https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2016/feb/29/olivier-awards-2016-complete-list-of-nominations. 2016-08-01. live.
7. Web site: Musical Theatre Review. 14 February 2019.
8. Web site: OPERA / House warming: Cheryomushki - Pimlico Opera. 1994-10-22. The Independent. en. 2019-02-14.
9. Web site: Charity framework. apps.charitycommission.gov.uk. en. 2019-02-14.
10. Web site: Media: How prisoners on cell block D acted with real conviction. 1993-12-29. The Independent. en. 2019-02-14.
11. News: JAILHOUSE OPERA. Sheridan. Kathy. The Irish Times. en. 2019-02-14.
12. News: Pros and cons produce great show in Mountjoy's Prison Playhouse. Andy Pollak. The Irish Times. en. 2019-02-14.
13. News: Putting the screws on a prison opera. Billington. Michael. 1999-02-13. The Guardian. 2019-02-14. https://web.archive.org/web/20151021003032/http://www.theguardian.com/culture/1999/feb/13/artsfeatures. 2015-10-21. live. en-GB. 0261-3077.
14. Web site: Inmates to make a prison drama out of Sondheim's 'Assassins'. 2005-03-04. The Independent. en. 2019-02-19.
15. News: Women prisoners stage Chicago. Kennedy. Maev. 2006-03-06. The Guardian. 2019-02-19. en-GB. 0261-3077.
16. Web site: Musical Theatre Review.
17. Web site: Musical Theatre Review.
18. Web site: West Side Story. darragholeary.co.uk. 2019-02-19.
19. Web site: Sister Act in Prison - Pimlico Opera at HMP Bronzefield. Hugill. Robert. 2019-02-19.
20. Web site: Musical Theatre Review.
21. Web site: Musical Theatre Review.
22. Web site: Sweet Charity Success for HMP Bronzefield. Country.com HMP Bronzefield UK. en. 2019-02-19.
23. Web site: Pimlico Opera.
24. Web site: Pimlico Opera.