Opera North Reinstates Canceled Lee Hall-Harvey Brough Opera Beached

Opera North has announced that it has reversed its previously reported decision to cancel the community opera, Beached, written by Tony Award winner Lee Hall and composer Harvey Brough. The opera will be performed at Royal Hall, The Spa in Bridlington on Saturday, July 16 at 2pm and 6pm.

The piece was commissioned by Opera North, and had previously been canceled after the Bay Primary School had withdrawn the participation of approximately 400 performers, citing objections to language used within the script relating to a central gay character.

Hall, who won a Tony for his book to the musical Billy Elliot, wrote a piece in The Guardian on July 3 condemning the decision, and suggested that homophobia was involved. Opera North denied such a charge, and began what a statement on the company’s website describes as “intense negotiations behind the scenes with all parties.”

Published reports have indicated that this negotiation has included some script revisions, such as changing the word “queer” to “gay” within the lyrics, but that the gay character has remained central to the show’s narrative.

Opera North’s statement goes on to read, “At its core, Beached is not simply about sexuality, it is much more about the life and community of Bridlington, and other similar towns and communities in the UK. It is fiction, but it speaks directly, and often with humour, about the experiences of the community, its joys and its tensions.”

To read the full statement, click here.