The Elixir of Love

Every learning experience (practical or theoretical) can be enhanced by analytical thought processes. These help us navigate school, career, and daily life. They can resolve issues and challenges, identify logical gaps in reasoning, and enable greater understanding of another’s viewpoints.

Above all, critical thinking encourages a young person to question, to discuss with others, and to make informed and perceptive decisions. At a stage in their secondary education when young people are making decisions about the subjects that they will study at exam level – choices that will have a significant influence on the next phases of their lives – this project helps them explore and develop decision making and critical thinking.

While it may seem conflicting to align the ‘freeform’ artistic process of producing opera or theatre with the ‘rational’ discipline of critical analysis, a key driver of a show’s creative concept is choices that must connect the show’s many parts. These result in a through line that gives the piece authenticity from the audience’s perspective.

Opera is about making and telling stories. Our aim is to present the story to audiences in the most engaging, exciting, entertaining, relevant, inspirational, and thought-provoking way. We would like to share some the ways in which we bring together the pieces that make up this complex and fascinating art form that encompasses music, drama, visual art, and movement.

We have created a series of short films around The Elixir of Love, showing the same scenes many ways from different perspectives and creative concepts. This is a story about a poor, shy boy and a rich, confident girl. He loves her; she barely notices he is alive – or at least pretends she does. Add a dodgy travelling salesman and a swaggering sergeant, and we have recipe for love and laughter in equal amounts.

The resources are divided into two sections: Learning and Research, and Classroom Tasks.

Opera Scenes

We have chosen six key scenes from The Elixir of Love that form a narrative from start to finish. We then filmed three different dramatic concepts of these same scenes, making 18 performance scenes to analyse (only 15 are used in the music unit). Pupils can contrast and compare the different approaches and discuss how effective they are in telling the story, explaining their reasoning.

Creative team interviews

We meet the director, set and costume designers, musical director (conductor), and singers. These interviews will assist pupils in getting to grips with opera making and the choices that go into each production and interpretation.

The authors have created activities and tasks in three subject areas. Each topic has five stages that you can tailor to your own pupils.

• There is no set period for completion; it is entirely at the teacher’s discretion as to how long they wish their class to focus on a particular stage.
• Each stage involves a variety of different skills.
• Each stage showcases behind-the-scenes inserts to inspire students and explore different opportunities within the classroom.
• The resources contain everything a teacher needs to provide an in-depth learning experience, making the world of opera accessible to young people.
• Teachers have access to guide notes for each stage, presentation slides, worksheets, and full classroom arrangements with demo tracks.
• Differentiated materials provided to ensure all pupils are effectively supported.
• Each unit allows flexibility – educators can utilise the full packs or select key aspects.
• The activities include individual and collaborative designing, full class discussions, and group exhibitions to enhance confidence and creativity.
  

Art & Design

• Three units focusing on Costume Design, Prop Design, and Set Design.
• The subject area provides opportunities to collaborate with Drama, to give more scope for students and teachers interested in cross curricular links.

Drama

• One unit focusing on Character, with the ability to add Prop Design and Set Design from Art & Design.
• The subject area provides opportunities to collaborate with Art & Design, to give more scope for students and teachers interested in cross-curricular links.

Music

• Three units focusing on Composing, Musical Analysis, and Performance.
• The subject area develops students’ musical literacy and state opinions on musical interpretations, giving them the chance to think flexibly and critically.