Arts

Flashmob - The Opera

A flashmob is a spontaneous gathering, organised secretively by email or text message and subject to meticulous timing.

For the first time ever, opera comes live to BBC THREE with the aid of a flashmob.

Flashmob - The Opera has all the ingredients to cause a stir: football fans, a broken engagement and a potential love-triangle - taking place amongst commuters in one of Britain's busiest railway stations.

Adding their voices to the excitement, members of the public will be sent a text message on the day of the live broadcast, asking them to form a flashmob.

They will be directed to arrive at a particular station (that will remain secret until the day) at a certain time and to be prepared to sing alongside the professional singers.

Flashmob - The Opera is a contemporary take on the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice in which engaged couple Mike and Sally come unstuck over Mike's obsession with football.

The train station forms the backdrop to the action as Sally decides whether or not to run away with the traditional handsome stranger, or stay with old flame Mike.

The opera is a new take on well known music from popular operas such as Madam Butterfly, Don Giovanni and La Traviata, set to a new story by Stephen Powell and with newly written English lyrics.

The music will be arranged by Robert Ziegler who will conduct the BBC Concert Orchestra live at the event.

BBC Classical Music TV and Comedy Entertainment will combine their expertise to produce the opera, a first for BBC Television.

SD

End Of Story

So how does it work out for Alexei Sayle's imaginary lady, Ian Rankin's Edinburgh lowlife with possible psychic powers or Joanne Harris' woman with the hots for a tree?

End Of Story, the UK's biggest ever short story competition, reaches its climax as presenter Claudia Winkleman reveals how members of the public have pushed their imagination to the limit to finish stories that were started by eight top authors.

The eight winners receive the ultimate accolade of seeing their work published and possibly showcased on Radio 4.

Launched in spring 2004, 20,000 End Of Story books were distributed across the UK, with clues on the web as to their whereabouts.

Wannabe writers scrabbled to get their hands on a copy before the competition went live on the website.

Literally thousands of entries have now been whittled down and assessed by a panel of judges including Muriel Gray, Giles Coren, Kwame Kwei-Armah and literary agent Carole Blake.

HM

Slam Poets

Showcasing the very best in underground talent, Slam Poets champions the artist of the spoken word.

Merging hip hop, poetry and stand-up, the Slam tracks down the best eight wordsmiths in the UK and brings them together in a poetry showdown.

Recorded in front of a 600 strong crowd in the capital, the eight get just three minutes in which to make their impression on both audience and judges.

Hosted by top poet Lemn Sissay, the Slam offers one performer the chance to be crowned BBC THREE Slam Poet 2004.

Poetry Slams evolved from the jazz and hip hop scene in New York in the late Eighties where the stand-up skills of comedy merged with the lyrical dexterity of rap.

Arriving in the UK in the early Nineties to instant success, the Slam scene on both sides of the Atlantic has challenged perceptions of poetry and revitalised the trade of the wordsmith.

A Baby Cow Production.

EH

Top Spot
A film by Tracey Emin

Love it or hate it, Tracey Emin's critically acclaimed art has made her a household name across the world.

Renowned for creating highly emotional and autobiographical works of art, such as the Turner-Prize nominated My Bed, Emin is today regarded as one of the most successful and popular young British artists.

For her debut as a film director, Emin returns to her childhood home of Margate to draw on her teenage experiences growing up in the seaside town.

Featuring six girls all with their own stories to tell, the film captures the beauty of Margate, its surrounding beaches and its funfair, Dreamland.

Shot on DV and Super 8, Top Spot - named after a Margate night club where Emin hung out as a teenager - is a highly personal exploration of youth from the ever popular enfant terrible of British art.

IM