SOAP would like to thank....

Jonathan Lo, Muscial Director

...all of the volunteers and performers who put in the hard work and trust to make the project such a success.

We would also like to thank all of the people involved in the planning and delivery of the project: Neil Alexander and all of the staff at Contact, Dominic Gray, Danny Fahey, David Fraser and The Broughton Trust, Kate Pattison and the Royal Northern College of Music, Carole Foster and Salford Youth Service, Richard Milton and Salford Music and Performing Arts Service, Rebecca Walsh and Opera North, Martin Maris and Charlotte Speirs at BBC Philharmonic Education, and countless other personal thanks...

...and of course our generous funders and private sponsors The Paul Hamlyn Foundation, O2 Think Big, Vera Wilde and Muriel McLean.

SOAP The Wedding Feast: Let us live in happiness so that all men may envy us...

Dancers Hester Glock, Susannah Dirckze-Taylor, Laura Broome and Elly Beamen-Brinklow "A swan neck'd maiden in the sea was bathing, washing there her Sunday dress"

In the fourth scene the wedding celebrations are in full swing as the bride is handed over to the bridegroom’s family. The wedding guests are full of advice for the young couple: ‘you must feed her and clothe her and bid her work’ and ‘shake her like a pear tree and love her’.

The dancers have played with the balance between control and support within a relationship, exploring the traditional roles of male and female in society.

Laura Broome and Elly Beamen-Brinklow

The opera ends as the married couple go off to the bed which has been warmed for them by two of the wedding guests, with the final words spoken by the young husband to his wife: “Let us live in happiness so that all men may envy us”.

SOAP authors...

Andrew Beaton performs True Love Ways

Two of SOAP's volunteers created their own monologue based on their response to the opera: The Reluctant Bride written by Marion Redmond and True Love Ways written by Andrew Beaton. These were performed in between the scenes of the opera.

SOAP The Bride's Departure: As the hops entwine together...

Just as the bride’s family and friends discuss their hopes and fears for the marriage in the third scene, we explored our own hopes and fears for the community of Broughton, particularly the issues of division and unity.

An area that has seen a rapid change in its cultural make-up, with large Czech and Polish communities moving into what has been a predominantly White working class neighbourhood, there has been much tension and hostility. Our community volunteers expressed a wish for people to see past their differences and to work together to create a better place for all to live…

…on stage we see a mother and a daughter, a father and a son, both families from different cultural backgrounds. The young couple are clearly reaching out for each other, but are held back by their parents’ strong sense of cultural identity and desire to see their children grow up in their own mould. The ribbons entwine together to create a shared sense of hope for the future…

Kirsty Leigh, Andrew Beaton, Marion Redmund, Kirsty Kilkelly (Community Volunteers)

…in the final section of this scene the mothers are left alone on stage as they are not allowed to attend the wedding ceremony. This is represented by a solo dance choreographed by Elly Beamen-Brinklow exploring feelings of emptiness and fear.

SOAP The Bride Groom: Proudly goes against the strong wall of stone to break it down...

Dancers and actors (community volunteers) perform the sequence 'Drills for Life'

In the second scene we meet the bridegroom as he oils his locks and prepares to become a husband.

We thought about the advice that we would want to pass on to young men growing up in the local area and created our own sequence of movement: learn from your mistakes; create your own opportunities; have a dream and respect yourself...

...intrigued by the pull of the army cadets that so many young men and women from the local area are part of, we developed our movements into a drill sequence or 'drills for life' to performed in waves - just as an army would progress across the stage.

SOAP The Bride: Cruel, heartless came the match maker...

Andrew Beaton, Marion Redmund and Mark Lucas

(Community Volunteers)

In the opening scene of the opera the bride is distraught. She must have her hair torn from two plaits into one in preparation for the wedding, and so losing the symbol of her virginity.

We explored stories where hair is at the centre of a ritual or a tradition...

...each sequence of movement, action and freeze tells the story of a parade of characters: the prisoner who must forcibly have his head shaved (symbol of identity), the reluctant bride who refuses to have her hair done for her wedding (symbol of rebellion), the young girlfriend who tortures herself to look like the images in a magazine (symbol of obsession), the young man who proudly shaves his head in order to be accepted into the society around him (symbol of conformity)...

...the society around us has so many pressures, traditions and rituals, and we are faced with a myriad of decisions about the way in which we will interact with them. The way we wear our hair can be symbolic of our attitudes and choices, and was certainly a fantastic starting point for some fascinating discussions about the experience of living in today's society.

SOAP on stage...

We had our performance of The Wedding on Wednesday 1st December at Manchester's Contact theatre.

The sense of achievement and sheer joy was somewhat increased by the fact that our original performance date was cancelled: a power cut struck at the venue one hour before we were due to go on. Thank you so much to Contact and all of the performers for rallying together to reschedule.

The actors assure me that all went to plan, although I am yet to watch the footage as I was singing in the choir, so I am going to take their word for it! More photos to follow....

SOAP in countdown...

We are into our final run of rehearsals as the countdown to our performance of The Wedding begins...

Community volunteers and a professional cast will come together to present our exploration of Stravinsky's ballet-cantata The Wedding on Wednesday 24th November at 8pm at Contact, Oxford Road, Manchester.

Tickets are FREE but should be reserved by calling Contact's box-office on 01612740660 or through the website www.contact-theatre.org.

We look forward to seeing you there.

The SOAP entwines....

SOAP have been working on the third scene of The Wedding where the bride departs for her wedding day...

...and as the bride's family and friends share their hopes and fears about the wedding, we explore our hopes and fears for the community of Broughton....

...as the hops entwine together we too...

...we too...

...we too....

...we too...

...we too... ...we too...

...we too... ...we too...

SOAP opportunities...

SOAP are looking for…

….DANCERS and ACTORS….

…for a performance of Stravinsky’s ballet-opera Les Noces (The Wedding).

The performance will be on Wednesday 24^th November on the main stage at Manchester’s Contact, and will be the outcome of a project bringing together community volunteers with a young professional cast from the Royal Northern College of Music.

This is a chance to perform in a new interpretation of one of the twentieth century’s most exciting and rarely performed works in a professional venue. It is also chance to contribute your talents to an ambitious project aiming to break down barriers to opera, and give voice to the community of Salford.

What we need…

We would like you to perform in a short section of the piece that has been devised specifically for this special performance.

You will need to be able to commit to the following rehearsal and performance times:

• Tuesday 23^rd November, 6-9pm
• Wednesday 24^th November, 2pm – 5pm
• Performance 24^th November, 8pm

Interested?

If you would like to take part or find out further information then please contact Katherine Wilde, Project Manager, by email katherine.soap@gmail.com or by phone 07971845840

The SOAP thickens...

There will be a change of venue for this week's workshop, which will be held at The Outreach and Well being Centre, Mocha Parade, Lower Broughton.

The workshop starts at 6pm, and all are welcome - bring a friend if you like.

For a map to the venue please click here.

For more information please contact Katherine (Project Manager) on 07971845840 or at katherine.soap@gmail.com

SOAP develops...

SOAP workshops continue as we explore the music and develop our own material for the performance. Last week we welcomed new members and their ideas, and we all left in search of stories about Salford linked to the idea of community.

If you have anything you want to share (stories, pictures, poems....) about Salford and its community please do get in touch, as we would love to include them in our work.

We would still like to welcome new members to the next workshop this Wednesday 20th October. Please do get in contact if you are interested or simply turn up!

We look forward to seeing you there...

SOAP on hair...

SOAP workshops have opened with success - we have been working on the opening of Stravinsky's opera The Wedding where a young bride is distraught because she is forced to have her hair changed from two plaits to one. In Russian culture these two plaits were the symbol of a girl's virginity.

In the workshop we explored events where hair is at the centre of a ritual or tradition. Watch the clip to see a short section of the outcome...

SOAP's next workshop is on Wednesday 13th October - all are welcome to come along, just contact Katherine on 07971845840 or email katherine.soap@gmail.com

Stars wanted for new Salford SOAP opera....

Interested in performing arts?

Living in Salford?

Free on a Wednesday evening?

Then come and take part in the SOAP project 2010...

...SOAP is the opportunity to work with professional artists in weekly workshops to create your own performance material and showcase it at the Contact Theatre on November 24th...

...workshops kick off at 6pm this Wednesday 6th October at North Salford Youth Centre.

Please do get in touch if you want to book a place or find out any more information. Contact Katherine (Project Manager) on 07971845840 or by email katherine.soap@gmail.com

For North Salford Youth Centre head North out of Manchester City Centre for 5 minutes down Bury New Road. The centre is on the corner of Devonshire Street and Leicester Road, next to the Trampolining Centre. For a map to the venue please click here.

SOAP in action...

Last night we met at the Outreach and Wellbeing Centre for our first taster workshop, where we got involved with lots of movement and music, shared stories about hair, and generally had a lot of fun.

Massive thanks must go to David Fraser and all the wonderful people who came along to the session to make it a success.

We are looking for more young people to join us, and the next opportunity will be a second taster workshop at 5.30pm this Wednesday 29th September at the North Salford Youth Centre...

...and if you can't make that time then there is a second workshop that evening at 7.30pm at the same place. No excuses - come with a friend and find out what SOAP is all about.

North Salford Youth Centre is off Bury New Road on the corner of Leicester Street and Devonshire Street, just next to the City of Salford Trampoline and Gymnastics Centre of Excellence. For a map to the venue click here.

Come and get your hair 'done'...

SOAP's first taster session starts tonight, Monday 27th September, at 6.30pm in the Outreach and Wellbeing Centre on Mocha Parade.

Come along if you want to get involved in some music, dance and drama activities and have the chance to act out your very own crazy hair stories.

Tonight's session is all about having fun and finding out what it would be like to take part in the SOAP project 2010...

...and don't worry if you can't be there tonight. Other opportunities to get involved are:

• Wednesday 29th September, 5.30 - North Salford Youth Centre (Taster)
• Wednesday 29th September, 7.30 - North Salford Youth Centre (Taster)
• Wednesday 6th October, 6 - 9 - North Salford Youth Centre (Workshop 1)

Any questions contact katherine.soap@gmail.com or David Fraser on 07785252391.

We look forward to seeing you there, and the more the merrier, so bring your friends along.

Outreach and Wellbeing Centre

2-3 Mocha Parade

Lower Broughton

Salford

M7 1QE

For a map click here

Interested?

We have finalised our design for the flyer started to get this out to organisations across Salford: The Outreach and Wellbeing Centre, Salford Youth Offending Team, Albion High School, Salford City College.

We have loads of other organisations in mind, but let me know if you if can think of one that we definitely shouldn't miss...

O2 Think Big

SOAP is funded as part of O2's 'Think Big' which aims to support young people between 13-25 to make a positive impact within their own community. We have our own cloud which you can check out on the Think Big website...

Maybe some Russian dancers?

The opera that I have chosen for this project is Stravinsky's Les Noces (The Wedding) which looks at the rituals involved in a traditional Russian pagan wedding.

I chose Stravinsky's 'The Wedding' because I feel it has some really rich material to explore with young people: rituals, tradition, the relationship of the individual to society, and the transition from childhood to adult life.