Scene in Beached, written by Billy Elliot author Lee Hall and involving 300 primary school children, deemed 'inappropriate'
What began as a promising and non-controversial community project between the writer of Billy Elliot, Opera North and the people of Bridlington has become a bitter row over whether explicit references by a gay character to his sexuality can be included in a work that involves primary school children.
The plug was pulled at the weekend on the opera Beached after months of rehearsal involving 400 residents of Bridlington. The writer and playwright Lee Hall, who wrote the libretto, said he was asked by Opera North to remove explicit references to the sexuality of one character. He refused.
The demand to cut the references came from the primary school, which had nearly 300 children involved. The school felt it was age-inappropriate for a production involving children aged from four to 11.
Opera North, which commissioned the work from Hall, does not contest that it asked Hall to cut lines. It says it was acting as "mediator" between the two parties.
Hall, who also wrote the hugely successful play The Pitmen Painters, said: "I have done a lot of work in education and I've never come across such an intractable situation. I've tried and tried and tried to find a way through this thicket but there's just been the most fierce opposition."
The central problem is a scene ? which does not involve any children ? when the main character is confronted by a group of lads. He reveals: "Of course I'm queer/That's why I left here/So if you infer/That I prefer/A lad to a lass/ And I'm working class/ I'd have to concur."
Hall's account of the affair is published in an article for the Guardian. Hall writes: "The request seemed to come from a completely different era. I thought there must be some mistake and that Opera North would support me by finding a way round this completely outdated hysteria. I was amazed when they accepted the school's position. I was repeatedly asked to excise these references to the adult character being gay."
There are still hopes that a resolution may be found. A spokeswoman for Opera North said it had been trying to act as a mediator between the school and Hall and had not taken a side. "The school has said that the work is inappropriate," she said.
Because the school had withdrawn, the work could not now go ahead, she said, although there will still be a gala performance later this month "different to the one that was planned".
She added: "If the school has withdrawn we can't continue the project and the school has the backing of the local education authority.
"We aren't on anybody's side, we've done a whole lot of work for the last two years and want to do something that the community is excited about and will benefit from and they will ? that will happen.
"This a community project and it has to be decided by the community. We've been placed in the middle."
East Riding council said the school's staff, governing body and the council's schools music service had all had concerns about the scene. They felt the tone and language used was "inappropriate for a performance featuring young children, with pupils participating aged four to 11".
A spokeswoman for the council said it had not given up all hope that a resolution could still be reached.
Mike Furbank, East Riding council's head of improvement and learning, said: "The council supports the school in its concerns about the language and representation of certain issues in the planned community opera Beached and also feel that this can be resolved through judicious and sensitive reworking of elements of the scene in question.
"The concerns are not fundamentally about the equality issues the author is trying to raise but the way in which they are represented with children as young as four being involved in the production."
Hall said he had been working on the libretto for the past year to music composed by Harvey Brough.
The affair will undoubtedly open up a debate about where society really is when it comes to gay equality.
Hall writes: "No one will countenance the idea that there could be homophobia at play. The argument is that everyone is just worried about other people's sensitivities. It amounts to the same thing. Effectively, I feel I am not being allowed to represent a gay person."
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