We are excited to announce that our primary schools production, The Curse of MacCabbra Opera House, begins its sold-out tour around Scotland in February and, for the very first time, is also available for only £100 as a digital only learning and teaching experience.
A chilling tale with a good dose of comedy, The Curse of MacCabbra Opera House features music from composer Alan Penman and lyrics from writer and director Johnny McKnight. The 30-minute gothic horror opera for P5-P7 will be performed until June in schools all over Scotland, as well as in five Newcastle primaries.
Schools can take part in the project two ways: as a digital only learning and teaching experience using online resources we provide to prepare pupils for all aspects of presenting a performance to an audience, or a hybrid digital and live learning and teaching experience for up to 100 pupils. If schools choose the hybrid version, on the morning of the workshop, our team of musicians, singers and drama specialists spend four hours working with pupils to rehearse and perform a show in their school for classmates, friends and family, complete with fabulous costumes.
The online resources are available now from our website, and provide everything teachers need to prepare their pupils for a performance in their own school for family and friends. They can simply download a PDF of the lyrics and score, videos and audio files to rehearse the songs and dance moves. These include easy-to-follow teaching aids for the five songs in The Curse of MacCabbra Opera House, alongside fun curriculum-based learning activities which can be carried out in class, assigned as homework tasks or used for assessment purposes. Learning activities will cover marketing and publicity, ticket pricing, letting children try their hand at creative writing and costume design, giving them an insight into all the different work that goes on behind the scenes to bring an opera to the stage, and helping build excitement for their fabulous performance day.
The Curse of MacCabbra Opera House is designed to work in line with the Curriculum for Excellence to enhance lessons already taught in classrooms, and help staff implement some of its experiences and outcomes, using active and co-operative learning approaches.
For more details about The Curse of MacCabbra Opera, visit www.scottishopera.org.uk/join-in/opera-for-schools/the-curse-of-maccabbra-opera-house/