Press Comments

Opera Now feature on Sowing seeds - 2007

Its name conjures up country houses and picnics, but Garden Opera also performs in car parks, caves and swimming pools as part of its mission to bring opera to the people. Olivia Rowland reports Peter Bridges is a man inspired; but perhaps unusually for someone closely associated with a small English company, he takes his inspiration from the Spanish poet Federico Garcia Lorca: "Lorca said that the artist must laugh and cry with his people", recalls Bridges. "We want to give everyone involved in our work the sense that they are artists. A lot of the creative work is left to individuals to pursue." As music and artistic director of Garden Opera, Bridges wants to make art genuinely accessible. His modern-day approach to bringing opera to the masses has called for energy and innovation. Productions are in English and are carefully designed to appeal to a wide demographic. Works are pared down to clarify some of opera's more complex scenarios, and the focus is firmly thrown on human dramas and relationships. Its name might suggest another country house opera set-up, with pastoral picnics, but Garden Opera has taken its work, quite literally, to the people, performing in town squares, car parks and school playing fields. The company's methods are highly participatory, drawing on the ideas and energy of the performers. Bridges and his artistic team use the rehearsal and performance periods to work on these ideas. He recalls how one of the singers performing Dorabella in the 2006 tour of Cosi fan tutte found a teddy bear backstage and entered a scene holding it - for a joke. But the other Dorabella and the directors took the idea further, and after some adjustments the bear became a fixed prop, symbolising Dorabella's childishness and wilfulness. "Each show changes a lot by the end. On stage you have to make it work, and that's exciting," says Bridges. "It feels alive." Garden Opera's productions make use of a small cast accompanied by a chamber group. Musical arrangements feature just the skeleton of the score, drawing the ear into the essence of the music. Of course, a simple set-up like this is bound to appeal to a company that tours extensively (including taking opera to Kenya) and often performs in Unconventional venues; but Garden opera's style is particularly apposite in view of Peter Bridges' ideals, since the scale of the company's stagings certainly adds to their approachability. Like many opera companies trying to draw on a new public, Garden Opera has looked for an innovative means of not only reaching audiences but of holding on to them. Eschewing traditional arts networks and venues, Bridges prefers to contact communities and groups directly and work with what they can offer. The company's tactic is to embed itself into these communities, staying with local people and calling on local resources wherever possible. The company also often uses performances to raise money for causes with which local people identify, or with young people as part of its education programme. "It's about connecting," says Bridges. "There are thousands communities, millions of networks out there, all buzzing. We try and tap into that". Each new venue provides new material to be built into the performance, helping the audience feel involved in their local production and offering artistic challenges for the performers and the creative team. It's all part of Bridges" plan to break down barriers, and he harks back again to Lorca's work: "We don't perform to people. We do it with them". Olivia Rowland