Folk opera is a feast of song

The dynamic Lisa Pontecorvo is described as ‘a meteor with attitude’ in the song opening ‘Lisa – a folk opera’, presented in the hall of Copenhagen Primary School, Treaty Street, London N1 on Tuesday 8th June, and in the Assembly Room, Islington Town Hall, on Tuesday June 15th.  
Click here for the programme
Click here for responses to the performance on 15th June

Cezanne Tegelberg sings and acts the role of Lisa.  Rob Inglis, artistic director of Musical Flying Squad has set words to tunes from Scotland (where Lisa was born), Italy (from where the Pontecorvos hailed) and Switzerland (from where her mother came and Lisa enjoyed the family chalet). Lisa’s untimely death, crushed with her bicycle in Holloway Road is mourned in ‘Webside Tidings’ set to an eighteenth century arrangement of London street cries, and her achievements are celebrated in ‘As a Campaigner’ based on John Bunyan’s lyric ‘To Be a Pilgrim’.

The battle to save and enhance Edward Square, for which Lisa is remembered, starts with ‘All our Green Spaces’ set to an Irish tune sung by Islington actress Cathy McMannaman portraying Sadie who alerted her community that the square was under threat of ‘development’.. The fight is taken up by Lisa in ‘Maybe it’s not the Leafy Side of Barnsbury’ and in ‘Petitions, Petitions’ backed by 150 students from Copenhagen and Blessed Sacrament Schools, who also sing ‘Edward Square – Hub o’ the World’. Sympathetic council leader Derek is portrayed by actor Kai Simmons in ‘Siege’, describing the disturbance caused by successive cross channel rail plans and contrasting this with the ‘wild and wise’ campaign for Edward Square.  Caroline Granneu as Johanna Gibbons, landscape architect, sings ‘Consultation’ about incorporating community ideas into the planning of Edward Square.

Islington actor Clive Greenwood is Lisa’s brilliant geneticist father Guido.  Laura Amy Meakin of Thornhill Square where Lisa lived, plays Lisa’s mother Leonore, and doubles as Jeannie, a conservationist who with Lisa and others campaigns successfully for the preservation of Victorian factories and dwellings in the  Regent’s Quarter, retaining its distinctive character and charm. As well as Sadie, Cathy McManaman plays a cameo role as Anna, Lisa’s aunt.

Music is played by two violinists and a cellist from The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment who knew Lisa from their work in schools which Lisa encouraged, and by three singing ukulele players – Luke Guilford, Kate Ward (who also plays Lisa’s friend Ruth) and Caroline Granneau.

The production is supported by Friends of Edward Square and funded by Cripplegate Foundation. For information: Rob Inglis 020 7387 4942 or artsxchange@btinternbet,com

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Responses to the performance on 15th June at Islington Town Hall

Lisa was very passionate about everything she did and cared for and the opera was a true tribute to her. It was absolutely brilliant and very moving.
Councillor Catherine West
Leader of Islington Council

The show beautifully caught the essence of Lisa's life and was moving and funny in turn. It showed the true commitment of Lisa and her fellow community activists to changing their neighbourhood for the better, whilst underlining Lisa's essential humanity.
Derek Sawyer
Former Islington Council Leader, who supported Lisa’s fight for Edward Square

The performance was one that Lisa would have certainly been embarrassed by, but also rather pleased with. Her life was extraordinary and fascinating and the opera was full of the same energy and uniqueness that emitted from Lisa herself when she was alive, through bright energetic performances including the children of Copenhagen and Blessed Sacrament Schools.
Sensitively produced with significant research behind the lyrics of every song and narration, the opera has great charm and character, just like its artistic director, in championing the drive, tenacity, and savvy of a local campaigner.
Johanna Gibbons
Landscape Architect for Edward Square

Rob, I congratulate you on 'Lisa - A folk opera'. As a memorial to Lisa and her life's work it struck me as an entirely appropriate format, allowing her passion to come through in voice while telling the story of her own experiences and life. It also creates a tool by which the issues, disappointments and triumphs that drove her along can be preserved and remembered - giving future generations of school children the opportunity to actively learn about the culture and society of our times. 
Peter Shaw of RHWL Architects
Involved in The Regent Quarter after agitation by Lisa and others

I thoroughly enjoyed ‘Lisa – A folk opera’. I am a folk music 'fan', but I never knew what a 'folk opera' is! And, I never thought a theme of protest against environmental anarchy could be so well presented via an opera.
Tushar Sarkar
Lok Sanskriti Mancha and British South Asian Solidarity Forum

Thanks for the invite to your opera. I thought it was great and I could certainly hear all your harmony and counterpoint skills at work! What great performers you had too! I'm sure Lisa would have been grinning from ear to ear if she knew what a wonderful wonderful homage you had paid her.
Selena Kay
Rob Inglis’s music tutor at Morley College

Rob - such a touching and moving piece you wrote for Lisa.
It was very engaging to see former councillors in the audience react to your staged version of real life political events played out before them. I think you may have stumbled on a "local political theatre" genre here? I wondered if you had any other recent local events worth treating similarly. Tell us what you are planning next.
Congratulations on such a warm and engaging work.
Chris Mellor
Senior Arts Development Officer, London Borough of Camden

I was in a production of Beggars Opera when I was a kid and had been reminded of this earlier in the day watching "Rude Britannia" on the BBC discussing the form of Ballad Opera - and then there it was in the evening, a 21st century example! I think you have a talent for setting what might be called lyrical recitative and the inclusion of the ukuleles was be no means token - I particularly enjoyed them (with the keyboard) providing continuo for the singers, not a trivial skill for the players. The string players were obviously great but the ensemble, whether by arrangements and/or direction, did not feel contrived.

The challenge with these things I suppose is to navigate the inevitable poles of earnest worthiness, a CV set to music and hagiography, to find a path through that hopefully includes entertainment and enlightenment - there were plenty of moments of both. 
I thought the cast were great.
Nick Browning
Ukulele player and teacher

The folk opera was thoroughly enjoyable. I hope it will have many performances in the future, especially in north London as the story is set there. The children from local schools could get involved and the story of Lisa is a very inspiring one for young and old alike. I think it would be wonderful to see it in The Round House with the orchestra for the Age of Enlightenment and hundreds of schoolchildren in the chorus. The owner of the Roundhouse was on Radio 4 Libby Purves slot (9-9.30am ) this morning and he sounded just the person to approach. Go for it!
Caroline Blunden
Art dealer who supplied her friends Lisa and Guido Pontecorvo with Asian art

The gratifying responses above compliment the work and the cast, including children. But everyone I spoke to after the performance considered the playing of Cezanne Tegelberg as Lisa to be brilliant – even to physical mannerisms – when Cezanne had never met Lisa. Cezanne, with great diplomacy, said: ‘It was all in the writing’. But it was in the fortunate casting. When I auditioned Cezanne she told me of heading a junior UN survey of the Congo when she was in high school – and envisaged the Lisa character putting the world to rights there and elsewhere. She spoke with a fire which convinced me she shared Lisa’s principles.
I – and the audience – particularly Lisa’s friends – are deeply indebted to her.
Rob Inglis
Artistic director, Musical Flying Squad
artsxchange@btinternet.com
020-7387 4942