Pimlico Opera is an opera company and registered charity founded in 1987 by
Wasfi Kani.
The company aims to use participation in opera to advance personal developmentparticularly with younger people and to engender a sense of community.
The most recent production from Pimlico Opera was ''Sweet Charity'' staged in
HMP Bronzefield
HMP Bronzefield is an adult and young offender female prison located on the outskirts of Ashford in Surrey, England. Bronzefield is the only purpose-built private prison
A private prison, or for-profit prison, is a place where people ar ...
in November 2018.
Olivier award
The Laurence Olivier Awards, or simply the Olivier Awards, are presented annually by the Society of London Theatre to recognise excellence in professional theatre in London at an annual ceremony in the capital. The awards were originally known a ...
-nominated actress
Laura Pitt-Pulford
Laura Pitt-Pulford is a British actress, best known for her work in musical theatre and for playing Carol Butler in ''Emmerdale''.
Early life
Pitt-Pulford grew up in Rugby, joined a local youth operatic group at age 12, and trained in drama at ...
played the leading role of Charity Hope Valentine.
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
Sir David Willoughby Pountney (born 10 September 1947) is a British-Polish theatre and opera director and librettist internationally known for his productions of rarely performed operas and new productions of classic works. He has directed over ...
and composer
Gerard McBurney to create a reduced orchestration. A documentary was made by the BBC "Another Bite of the Cherry".
In prison
Pimlico Opera has been staging productions in prisons since 1991. 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.
Prison projects since 1991:
1991:
HMP Wormwood Scrubs
HM Prison Wormwood Scrubs (nicknamed "The Scrubs") is a Category B men's local prison, located opposite Hammersmith Hospital and W12 Conferences on Du Cane Road in the White City in West London, England. The prison is operated by His Majesty's ...
''
Sweeney Todd
Sweeney Todd is a fictional character who first appeared as the villain of the penny dreadful serial '' The String of Pearls'' (1846–47). The original tale became a feature of 19th-century melodrama and London legend. A barber from Fleet Stre ...
''
1992:
HMP Wandsworth ''
West Side Story
''West Side Story'' is a musical conceived by Jerome Robbins with music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and a book by Arthur Laurents.
Inspired by William Shakespeare's play '' Romeo and Juliet'', the story is set in the mid ...
''
1993:
HMP Wandsworth ''
Guys & Dolls
''Guys and Dolls'' is a musical with music and lyrics by Frank Loesser and book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows. It is based on " The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown" (1933) and "Blood Pressure", which are two short stories by Damon Runyon, and also b ...
''
1995:
HMP Wandsworth ''
West Side Story
''West Side Story'' is a musical conceived by Jerome Robbins with music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and a book by Arthur Laurents.
Inspired by William Shakespeare's play '' Romeo and Juliet'', the story is set in the mid ...
''
1996:
Mountjoy Prison
Mountjoy Prison ( ga, Príosún Mhuinseo), founded as Mountjoy Gaol and nicknamed ''The Joy'', is a medium security men's prison located in Phibsborough in the centre of Dublin, Ireland.
The current prison Governor is Edward Mullins.
History
...
Dublin ''
West Side Story
''West Side Story'' is a musical conceived by Jerome Robbins with music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and a book by Arthur Laurents.
Inspired by William Shakespeare's play '' Romeo and Juliet'', the story is set in the mid ...
''
1997:
HMP Bullingdon, Oxfordshire ''
West Side Story
''West Side Story'' is a musical conceived by Jerome Robbins with music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and a book by Arthur Laurents.
Inspired by William Shakespeare's play '' Romeo and Juliet'', the story is set in the mid ...
''
1999:
HMP Downview
HM Prison Downview is a women's closed category prison. Downview is located on the outskirts of Banstead in Surrey, England (overlooking Banstead Downs), and is immediately adjacent to the southern boundary of Belmont in Greater London. The ...
'' Threepenny opera''.
2001:
HMP Winchester ''
Threepenny Opera''
2002:
HMP Winchester ''
West Side Story
''West Side Story'' is a musical conceived by Jerome Robbins with music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and a book by Arthur Laurents.
Inspired by William Shakespeare's play '' Romeo and Juliet'', the story is set in the mid ...
''
2003:
HMP Wormwood Scrubs
HM Prison Wormwood Scrubs (nicknamed "The Scrubs") is a Category B men's local prison, located opposite Hammersmith Hospital and W12 Conferences on Du Cane Road in the White City in West London, England. The prison is operated by His Majesty's ...
''
Guys & Dolls
''Guys and Dolls'' is a musical with music and lyrics by Frank Loesser and book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows. It is based on " The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown" (1933) and "Blood Pressure", which are two short stories by Damon Runyon, and also b ...
''
2004
HMP Ashwell
HM Prison Ashwell was a Prison security categories in the United Kingdom, Category C men's prison located in the parish of Burley, Rutland, Burley, in the county of Rutland, England. The site of the former prison is located about two miles south ...
, Leicestershire ''
Assassins
An assassin is a person who commits targeted murder.
Assassin may also refer to:
Origin of term
* Someone belonging to the medieval Persian Ismaili order of Assassins
Animals and insects
* Assassin bugs, a genus in the family ''Reduviida ...
''
2005:
HMP Coldingley, Surrey ''
Assassins
An assassin is a person who commits targeted murder.
Assassin may also refer to:
Origin of term
* Someone belonging to the medieval Persian Ismaili order of Assassins
Animals and insects
* Assassin bugs, a genus in the family ''Reduviida ...
''
2006:
HMP Bronzefield
HMP Bronzefield is an adult and young offender female prison located on the outskirts of Ashford in Surrey, England. Bronzefield is the only purpose-built private prison
A private prison, or for-profit prison, is a place where people ar ...
Middlesex ''
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name ...
''
2007:
HMP Wandsworth ''
Les Miserables''
2008:
HMP Kingston ''
Sweeney Todd
Sweeney Todd is a fictional character who first appeared as the villain of the penny dreadful serial '' The String of Pearls'' (1846–47). The original tale became a feature of 19th-century melodrama and London legend. A barber from Fleet Stre ...
'' (Project cancelled)
2009:
HMP Wandsworth ''
West Side Story
''West Side Story'' is a musical conceived by Jerome Robbins with music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and a book by Arthur Laurents.
Inspired by William Shakespeare's play '' Romeo and Juliet'', the story is set in the mid ...
''
2010: HMP Wandsworth ''Carmen - The Musical''
2011:
HMP Send, Surrey ''
Sugar''
2012:
HMP Erlestoke, Wiltshire ''
Les Miserables''
2013:
HMP Erlestoke, Wiltshire ''
West Side Story
''West Side Story'' is a musical conceived by Jerome Robbins with music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and a book by Arthur Laurents.
Inspired by William Shakespeare's play '' Romeo and Juliet'', the story is set in the mid ...
''
2014:
HMP Bronzefield
HMP Bronzefield is an adult and young offender female prison located on the outskirts of Ashford in Surrey, England. Bronzefield is the only purpose-built private prison
A private prison, or for-profit prison, is a place where people ar ...
''
Sister Act
''Sister Act'' is a 1992 American comedy film directed by Emile Ardolino and written by Paul Rudnick (as Joseph Howard). It stars Whoopi Goldberg as a lounge singer forced to join a convent after being placed in a witness protection program. I ...
''
2015:
HMP ISIS
HM Prison Isis is a Category C male Young Offenders Institution, located in the Thamesmead area of the Royal Borough of Greenwich, in south-east London, England. Isis Prison is operated by His Majesty's Prison Service, and is situated next to Be ...
''
Our House''
2017:
HMP High Down ''
Les Miserables''
2018:
HMP Bronzefield
HMP Bronzefield is an adult and young offender female prison located on the outskirts of Ashford in Surrey, England. Bronzefield is the only purpose-built private prison
A private prison, or for-profit prison, is a place where people ar ...
''
Sweet Charity''
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.
The project takes place in Hampshire, Surrey, Durham, Newcastle, and Nottingham.
References
Further reading
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
{{authority control
Opera companies
Musical groups established in 1987
1987 establishments in the United Kingdom