Girls and boys underwater in rehearsal for the modern opera Noyes Flude
Young people in the Benjamin Britten opera Noyes Fludde during the 1996 Brighton Festival It was performed in a swimming pool in sympathy with the composers original intention to stage it in an unconventional setting In 1957 Britten decided to write a work for school children to sing and play and act in a big building but not a theatre He chose to base his church parable on a Chester Miracle play a form of medieval drama based on church liturgy with the addition of dialogue and dramatic action originally performed in Latin Miracle plays which lasted from sunrise to sunset were performed by one of the Guilds on a cart known as a pageant which moved about the town The plays were given in churchyards and marketplaces on church festival days The Chester Miracle Plays so named because of the city in which they were performed dated from 1475 to 1500 Britten frequently based his work on the conflict between a simple man and corrupt society and this theme is dramatically present in Noye s Fludde where innocent children and animals contrast with the wickedness of the society God destroys in the flood
Size: 5906px × 3878px
Photo credit: © Roger Bamber / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: acting, art, bathing, bizarre, black, breath, calm, costume, drama, eyes, float, floating, gaze, hair, holding, mermaid, open, pool, quirky, reflection, swim, swimming, water, wet, white, wierd
