A child called Brock who is displaced from her home and wonders if life might be better among the badgers underground: Garsington Opera Youth Company in Hannah Conway's Uprooted

Rehearsal for Uprooted - Garsington Opera Youth Company

On 29 July 2025, Garsington Opera Youth Company joins forces with Sinfonia Smith Square to present Uprooted, a new opera by composer Hannah Conway and librettist Hazel Gould, with 80 9-19 year olds performing alongside a professional soloist and musicians at Garsington Opera’s Opera Pavilion.

The opera deals with one of the most troubling UK social issues of our generation, the housing crisis and its effect on children. Conway and Gould have worked with Bee Squad – a community organisation in Manchester whose mission is to improve the quality of life of children affected by homelessness, and listened directly to the stories of the children whose lives have been shaped by this issue.

The original inspiration for the piece came from Jo Spurling, the director of Bee Squad who noticed the differences in the legal and legislative protections around badgers, compared to those around human beings. If a badger mother is expecting cubs, the set cannot be unsettled; you can be prosecuted for it. That protection doesn’t exist for human beings. You can rehouse a pregnant woman many miles away from her support networks and the children’s schools. Uprooted explores this idea from the perspective of a child called Brock who is displaced from her home and wonders if life might be better among the badgers underground.

The opera features Gweneth Ann Rand as Grace and Olivia Mujuru as Brock, with Garsington Opera Youth Company and musicians from Sinfonia Smith Square in a production directed by Karen Gillingham and conducted by Paul Wingfield.

Full details from Garsington Opera.