Fables – A Film Opera is part-opera, part-film and invites the audience to step into the magical world of legend and folklore. These four short films have been created by some of the country’s leading composers and filmmakers working around the country with 125 Streetwise Opera performers, all of whom have experienced homelessness.

Composers Orlando Gough, Mira Calix, Paul Sartin/Andy Mellon (members of the folk band Bellowhead) and Emily Hall have teamed up with film-makers Tom Marshall, Flat-e, Gaëlle Denis, Iain Finlay and director Emma Bernard to produce truly innovative works that span the genres of opera, folk, electronica and film. The teams have created four stunning seven-minute films based on fables from the classic, The Boy who Cried Wolf; the folkloric, the legend of The Hartlepool Monkey; the literary, Oscar Wilde’s poignant The Nightingale and the Rose and the contemporary Shinishi Hoshi’s captivating Hey Come on Out!

'The Hartlepool Monkey' was created by groups in Newcastle, Hartlepool and Middlesbrough. The other three film operas will also be shown, along with a documentary 'The Making Of' giving a behind the scenes look at the project, comprising footage of the filming and recording sessions and interviews with the film-makers, composers and performaers.

Special features of this evening's event will be a Q&A session with Tom Marshall and Simon Fidler; the film maker for 'The Hartlepool Monkey' and the workshop leader from the Byker group, who meet at St Silas' church hall on Sheilds Road. There will also be a live performance by participants of the Byker workshops, and stars of the Hartlepool Monkey!

Reviews following premiere event in London, 17th December 2010:

Evening Standard (4 stars): ‘A glorious avant-garde show that was as musically interesting as it was spiritually stirring’.

Daily Telegraph (4 stars): ‘A joyful event, culminating in a thrilling rendition of a sea shanty by all four casts, lifting the church roof with exhilarating glee’.

The Times (4 stars): ‘In all these dramas the mix of skilled professionals and characterful amateurs, sturdy choruses and sophisticated backing, live performance and video, is fascinating.’

Independent on Sunday (4 stars): ‘Stories of survival, rebellion, greed and love come to life in a remarkable marriage of music and film.’