Westminster Academy explores Doctor Atomic

In spring 2009, ENO presented the UK premiere of John Adams’s Doctor Atomic. It’s a contemporary opera about a seminal moment in modern history: the creation of the atomic bomb. With a compelling score, powerful themes, original designs by Julian Crouch Satyagraha and striking moving images by Fifty-Nine Productions Ltd, the production was the perfect starting point for a creative project with young people at Westminster Academy. 

A group of year nine students joined us at the London Coliseum for the opening night of the opera. We then worked together with two visual artists to devise and produce creative responses to the opera using film and visual media. We reflected on the agonising tension the opera invokes in its nerve-racking final scene. Over six weekly, after-school sessions we created slides, video and audio footage inspired by the theme of tension. We also visited the Altermodern exhibition at Tate Britain to gain inspiration from other contemporary artists’ work. The project culminated in an installation at Westminster Academy that drew together the material we’d created. We were delighted to be joined by students, teachers, guests from the wider school community and across Westminster. The final installation was quirky, striking and a touch disconcerting.