FLOTSAM to Tour UK Autumn 2024 With OperaUpClose

Adapting David Wiesner's best-selling picture book into a new opera for children aged 2–5, Flotsam combines the book's essence of curiosity and wonder with music, movement and storytelling to explore connection and imagination. Young Pip discovers a mysterious camera washed up on the beach that reveals pictures of a chain of children linked across time and space, and fantastical creatures that almost don't seem real. These images unlock Pip's imagination – who took the pictures, who are these creatures, and what stories might they tell? Through the old camera, Pip discovers a world beyond their own and the courage to connect with other children and make new friends.

Winner of four British Composer Awards Kerry Andrew has written both music and libretto, for a production directed by OperaUpClose Artistic Director Flora McIntosh. It was developed and created in collaboration with reception and year 1 students on the Isle of Wight, in partnership with Southampton and IOW Music, and will tour to eleven venues, starting at Mayflower Studios, Southampton, the home venue of OperaUpClose. Performances will run 24th October – 15th November.

Flora McIntosh said, “Flotsam has a timeless quality and we realised there was a real opportunity to animate this beautiful story with words and music. This is work made with and for very young people, and for many, this may be their first experience of opera - we wanted to make sure it's one that stays with them''

OperaUpClose is a national touring opera company with a mission to bring the power, immediacy and joy of musical storytelling to diverse audiences across the UK. Part of the Arts Council National Portfolio since 2023, OperaUpClose was born out of a belief that opera could be experienced differently, evolving from its first award-winning production of La Bohème in a 35-seater pub in 2009, to becoming a trailblazer for London's fringe opera scene, to a nationally touring company championing a new model for creating and producing operatic work. Recent projects include The Flying Dutchman (National Tour, 2023), Riders to the Sea (National Tour 2025), Gianni Schicchi (or Where There's A Will) (Tour, 2026) and an opera for 3 – 5 year olds based on the picture book by Jill Murphy. Peace At Last, (Tour, 2023).

Half Moon is the UK's leading small-scale young people's venue and touring company. It is a local organisation with a national remit, committed to supporting artists and young people at every stage of their creative development. Working from their base in East London, they specialise in new writing and artform development, acting as a gateway organisation that provides pathways for progression and experimentation. Their wide-ranging programme reaches around 50,000 annually and engages those who are often excluded from arts activity. Activity includes a season of professional plays for young audiences, national touring productions and an extensive creative learning programme, including eight youth theatres. Half Moon is a National Portfolio Organisation of Arts Council England.

Kerry Andrew is a West Yorkshire-based composer, author and performer/producer. The winner of four British Composer Awards, they've created chamber and community operas for Wigmore Hall, Mahogany Opera and Tete a Tete Opera. They've been commissioned by Art on the Underground, London Sinfonietta, BBC Ten Pieces/BBC Proms, Ligeti Quartet and The National Theatre. They co-founded Juice Vocal Ensemble and make alt-folk as You Are Wolf. They've written three novels (published by Jonathan Cape and Atlantic Books) and have been twice shortlisted for the BBC National Short Story Award. They won the Edinburgh Short Story Award 2024 and the New Writing North Fiction Award 2025.

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