Atmosphere and Across the Sky: A portfolio of interconnected work by
Miranda Walker
- Submitting institution
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University of Gloucestershire
- Unit of assessment
- 27 - English Language and Literature
- Output identifier
- 700
- Type
- T - Other
- DOI
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- Location
- Iris Theatre, Covent Garden, London [Atmosphere] and 75th Cheltenham Music Festival, Cheltenham, Glos [Across the Sky]
- Brief description of type
- Multicomponent output
- Open access status
- Out of scope for open access requirements
- Month
- September
- Year
- 2018
- URL
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- Supplementary information
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- Request cross-referral to
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- Output has been delayed by COVID-19
- No
- COVID-19 affected output statement
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- Forensic science
- No
- Criminology
- No
- Interdisciplinary
- No
- Number of additional authors
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- Research group(s)
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- Proposed double-weighted
- No
- Reserve for an output with double weighting
- No
- Additional information
- This portfolio consists of two outputs: the librettos Atmosphere and Across The Sky, and contextual information.
The libretto for the musical Atmosphere explores what happens when a dangerous charismatic leader denies the existence of climate change. The resulting narrative examines systematic suffering that cannot be relieved without a spreading protest movement and the ultimate overthrow of a leader who refuses to backdown. Atmosphere was performed at the Iris Theatre,
Covent Garden on 21st September 2018.
Success with Atmosphere inspired me to push further into the arena of opera.
Across The Sky is a community opera, partly co-created with residents of a low socio-economic area of Cheltenham. It is a story of immigration, featuring a family in turmoil relocating to Cheltenham from Poland. The process explored an inter-generational approach to developing narrative, and the preconceptions locals felt were held about their community. I created a story framework that centred on three generations of one family – a grandparent, mother and siblings (a teenager and child). I presented a storyboard to three separate workshop groups split according to generational age. Participants worked with me to further develop specific story strands, focusing on the character/s closest to their own age. I then reworked the final libretto, informed by the development discussions, weaving the generational story strands to create a cohesive piece.
Across The Sky was performed as part of the Cheltenham Music Festival in Cheltenham Town Hall on 14th July 2019 and was shortlisted for a 2020 Royal Philharmonic Society Award, in the Impact category.
In both outputs, parallels to significant current real world issues give an intensely relevant edge. Issues of morality, courage and home are raised and seek to provoke new perceptions from the audience. Both works address questions of citizenship of the world, answered within the subtext of cautionary tales.
- Author contribution statement
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- Non-English
- No
- English abstract
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