Now booking for 2026
| 1_production_pack_a_voice_lesson.pdf |
| 2_audience_responses_overview.pdf |
For more details email [email protected]
A new work by Britten Pears Residency Artist Anna-Helena McLean.
Combining stories of marginalised voices spanning 4, 000 years, this taster for a stunning new split-stage work of music theatre opens the way to a forgotten path.
Currently being funded by Arts Council England further to an R&D process through 2023 and 2024 (Icarus Theatre Collective, Dartington Hall Trust)
Work in progress has been shown to date at:
Dartington Hall Trust, June 2023
Centro Anidra, Italy August 2023
Britten Studio, Snape Maltings September 2023
Stables Theatre, Hastings May 2024
The feedback from industry and public audiences has informed our development plans for future touring.
Commissioning enquiries are welcomed
Voice coach Orla, meets a 12-year old called Nin. Overwhelmed by the world outside but determined to be a performer one day, Nin seeks Orla's teaching to find her authentic voice. Guided by friends, caught between the old and the new, 'A Voice Lesson' is a celebration of difference. Audiences are invited to follow Nin's light and raise a star for the future in an 'Identity Choir' of welcome strangers.
Created in collaboration with Kendell Foster (Sound/AV), Marina Hata (Actor), Sandeep Gurrapadi (Tenor), Zahra Mansouri (Design), Anna-Helena McLean (Lead artist and Composer) Liv Penny (Film maker) and Erin Nicole Washington (Actor).
This is a new, devised work that takes a departure from Chapter 3 of Virginia Woolf's 'Orlando' mapped onto an Ancient Mesopotamian poem 'The Descent of Inanna'. The R&D was funded by Arts Council England and produced in association with Icarus Theatre Collective. Other formative producing partners include Britten Pears Arts, Dartington Hall Trust, Petok Productions, St. Margaret's House, Stables Theatre Hastings, Lifesize CIC, Centro Anidra, Alef Trust and Maketank Exeter.
Listen to the director and lead actor talking about the production on Resonance FM
Combining stories of marginalised voices spanning 4, 000 years, this taster for a stunning new split-stage work of music theatre opens the way to a forgotten path.
Currently being funded by Arts Council England further to an R&D process through 2023 and 2024 (Icarus Theatre Collective, Dartington Hall Trust)
Work in progress has been shown to date at:
Dartington Hall Trust, June 2023
Centro Anidra, Italy August 2023
Britten Studio, Snape Maltings September 2023
Stables Theatre, Hastings May 2024
The feedback from industry and public audiences has informed our development plans for future touring.
Commissioning enquiries are welcomed
Voice coach Orla, meets a 12-year old called Nin. Overwhelmed by the world outside but determined to be a performer one day, Nin seeks Orla's teaching to find her authentic voice. Guided by friends, caught between the old and the new, 'A Voice Lesson' is a celebration of difference. Audiences are invited to follow Nin's light and raise a star for the future in an 'Identity Choir' of welcome strangers.
Created in collaboration with Kendell Foster (Sound/AV), Marina Hata (Actor), Sandeep Gurrapadi (Tenor), Zahra Mansouri (Design), Anna-Helena McLean (Lead artist and Composer) Liv Penny (Film maker) and Erin Nicole Washington (Actor).
This is a new, devised work that takes a departure from Chapter 3 of Virginia Woolf's 'Orlando' mapped onto an Ancient Mesopotamian poem 'The Descent of Inanna'. The R&D was funded by Arts Council England and produced in association with Icarus Theatre Collective. Other formative producing partners include Britten Pears Arts, Dartington Hall Trust, Petok Productions, St. Margaret's House, Stables Theatre Hastings, Lifesize CIC, Centro Anidra, Alef Trust and Maketank Exeter.
Listen to the director and lead actor talking about the production on Resonance FM
What our audiences and industry partners have been saying:
Glorious!
Outstanding
Electrifying!!
Exceptional..
Magical.
Captivating
"The talent from the entire team was exceptional"
"This work will do wonders internationally"
"Wonderfully sensory experience"
"A good story, structured and paced"
"The narrative was clear and moving"
"Aren’t we all looking for a voice? An inspiring story to be part of"
"Young adults will love this. It would work well for school age groups too"
"Touching multiple communities including LGBT+, multidisciplinary students as well as historians and classicists"
TESTIMONIAL
"Anna-Helena is the definition of a true artistic collaborator, and an absolute delight to work with. She is generous, passionate, organised, thoughtful, and truly unique. She keeps excellent company, surrounding herself with creatives of the highest calibre and allowing safe spaces for artists to speak freely and open their minds to what is possible. She brings multiple perspectives and voices together, encouraging deep conversation and creating work that speaks to and champions the experiences of many, particularly those within historically marginalized groups. Vital stories and lessons are being brought to the fore in her work because Anna Helena insists that care, attention, truth, patience, and precision are central to her processes, whether she is workshopping her own material, developing learning opportunities for the public, or finding new ways to bring creative minds together. Hers is inclusive, community-inspired, entirely original work that deserves a significant platform, one that will allow her vision to inspire future generations of artists".
Producing partner and funder 2023-2026
CELEBRATING DIFFERENCE
'A Voice Lesson' is a multidimensional, intersectional and layered piece. I really enjoyed it and was extremely moved by the connection and chemistry between Orla and Nin - the teacher and the student centred in the performance. The narrative between Orla and Nin brought to mind different models of viewing disability and neurodivergence... This piece has the potential to open up debate around how we, as individuals and as a society, enable or disable each other’s agency, expression and belonging'.
Audience member with experience living with a learning disabled person who is non-verbal
our project 'celebrates difference' throughout its process, production and performances. Find out more about our workshop programme DESIGNED FOR TRANS*, NON BINARY AND LGBT+ COMMUNITIES, FOR REFUGEE WOMEN AND FOR ADULTS WITH LEARNING DISABILITIES, THOSE WHO IDENTIFY AS NEURODIVERGENT AND THOSE WITH PMLD (PROFOUND AND MULTIPLE LEARNING DIFFICULTIES). currently funded by arts council england 2025:
| 3_a_stretch_your_voice_workshop_offer_1.pdf |
| 4_a_sonic_art_music_and_listening_workshop_offer_2.pdf |
| 5_old_songs_new_voices_workshop_offer_3.pdf |