The Royal Opera House and award-winning performing arts charity Streetwise Opera are delighted to announce a lunchtime performance at the in the Paul Hamlyn Hall Friday 2 August 2019.
The free lunchtime performance entitled Carmen: Frailty, fire and freedom is the result of a seven-week residency currently taking place at the Royal Opera House. Since June 2019, the two organizations have been delivering weekly workshops at the Royal Opera House’s Linbury Theatre for 20 people aged 40–75 who have experience homelessness.
The workshops have explored Barrie Kosky's all-singing, all-dancing production of Bizet’s masterpiece Carmen, which originally opened at the Royal Opera House in February 2018 and is currently being revived for the second time.
Streetwise Opera’s relationship with the Royal Opera House began in 2000 before the homeless charity was formally established. Matt Peacock, a former homeless support worker, joined forces with residents from The Passage (a homeless night shelter in Victoria) and the Royal Opera House to run a 12-week pilot project. The result was a performance of The Little Prince in the then-newly-opened Linbury Studio Theatre (now the Linbury Theatre).
The pilot project saw many of the participants gain confidence, proving that there was an identified need for work of this kind. Following its success, Matt Peacock founded Streetwise Opera in 2002. Since then, both organizations have collaborated on numerous occasions, most notably With One Voice, which saw 300 people with experience of homelessness come together from around the UK to showcase their talents as part of the London 2012 Festival. This was the first time that an event involving homeless people was part of the official Olympic celebrations.
