A House on the Moon was a collaboration between ETO and the Wolverhampton Grand Theatre, along with the Light House Media Centre, the Wolverhampton Music Service and West Midlands Refugee Arts. 5 months of workshops with 9 different groups in the community led to performances in June 2007 of a full-length new opera. Nearly 200 people – amateur and professional – from every background and of every ability took part as singers, actors, players, dancers and filmmakers. The story of A House on the Moon reflected the journey that many people make every year to the UK. Much of the narrative was based on the true story of Mohammed, a young man from Kabul, forced to leave home and parents at 14 to embark on a long journey to the West Midlands. A documentary following both the process and the performances was premiered at the Light House in September.

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Composers         Kate Pearson, Helen Chadwick

Writer/Director    Tim Yealland

Poet                     Saadi Youssef

Animator              Babis Alexiadis

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(It) couldn’t fail to move… participants whizz around in wheelchairs, all singing lustily and acting even more energetically… When the groups all come together in Space Song – “The road to the stars is ablaze with light” – the effect is powerful and illuminating. The setting for A House on the Moon seems like the whole world, the action spanning several years. Yet in this unlikely fusion of disparate performers, a universal story is brought to life through the healing and cohesive power of music.

— THE INDEPENDENT

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Take some refugees, a gang of schoolkids and a few professional musicians and what do you get? A poignant, slightly bonkers new opera… The poignant sits easily with the delightfully bonkers… To watch [musicians Zirak Hamad and Mustafa Abassi-Zadeh] play, build friendships and contribute to A House on the Moon, is to see behind the refugee label. These are musicians with breathtaking skills.

— THE GUARDIAN

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Refugees’ stories have created a remarkable opera with children… weaving together sounds that immediately evoke other environments, other histories.

— THE TIMES

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