Rock opera comes to Swaffham

A NEW dramatic rock opera about Moses and the plagues is being staged in Swaffham parish church.

A NEW dramatic rock opera about Moses and the plagues is being staged in Swaffham parish church.

The Mid Norfolk Singers will perform Exodus! in Swaffham parish church on Sunday, May 23, at 7.30pm. The previous evening it will have been performed in St Nicholas Church, Dereham, as part of the Dereham Festival.

The performance by composer Geoff Davidson, who will also conduct the performance, is an age-old story given a new and dramatic presentation with all the drama and spectacle of the burning bush, the great plagues and the parting of the Red Sea.

Steve Jones is cast in the role of the powerful leader Moses with Joe Ringer as the stubborn Pharaoh in this calamitous clash of wills. Nia Howe sings the fearsome Angel of Death and Sarah Browne is the wearied figure of Moses' wife. Pupils from the Norwich High School for Girls play the Hebrew and Egyptian children and the buzzing insects and frogs.

In composing this rock opera Geoff Davidson was drawn to the subject of Moses and Pharaoh because it offers both a large-scale community piece for adults and children but also satisfies his dramatic desires in the face-to-face confrontations of Moses and Pharaoh.

The piece was created as an opera for church performances and written for a static chorus, such as the 80-strong Mid Norfolk Singers, with the movement and costume given to the main protagonists and the children.

Tickets, at �7.50, (�4 for under-16s) are available from Ceres Bookshop in Swaffham or at the door on the night.