Curtain rises on Lisa the folk opera

Published: 28 May 2010
by PETER GRUNER

CAMPAIGNER Lisa Pontecorvo is to be celebrated in a new folk opera being performed at her beloved Edward Square in King’s Cross next month.

Veteran musical writer Rob Inglis has penned the hour-and-a-half show, with music and songs, described as a moving tribute to the life of his “inspirational” friend Lisa.

The opera will be performed at Edward Square at 4pm on Tuesday, June 8, and then at 7pm on Tuesday, June 15, at The Assembly Hall, opposite Islington town hall in Upper Street. Other dates are being arranged.

The part of Lisa is to be played by Cezanne Tegelberg, a community activist and actress, who will be joined by a cast of five, with musical accompaniment by members of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment.

Lisa, from Thornhill Square, Barnsbury, a keen cyclist, died at the age of 64 in an accident involving a lorry in Holloway three years ago. She is remembered in Islington as a conservationist, in particular for her part in the battle to save semi-derelict Edward Square, off Copenhagen Street, from falling into the hands of developers in the 1990s. Thanks to her it is now a popular community garden, opened by former Poet Laureate Andrew Motion in 1999.

Cezanne, 23, who took over the part after Sophie Talbot had to drop out due to other commitments, plays Lisa as a young woman and later in middle age.

She said: “I never met Lisa but just by talking to her friends and family I realised what an extraordinary woman she was. She was very strong-willed and very direct. She inspired people to do things just by her strength of will.

“She didn’t have a partner, at least not in the latter years, and I suspect put all her passion into her campaigns. I think she was terrified of not making history.”

Other roles will be performed by Laura Amy Meakin, from Thornhill Square, who will play Lisa’s Swiss mother, Leonore, and Jeannie, a conservationist. 

Cathy McMannaman will play Sadie, another conservationist, with Clive Greenwood as Guido Pontecorvo, the brilliant geneticist who was Lisa’s father.

Mr Inglis said: “Lisa was not always an easy person to get on with but was an inspirational figure. 

“She wasn’t interested in the mundane or the frivolous. It seemed she devoted every waking hour to her campaigns, mainly about the environment where she lived.”

Both shows are free. To get tickets for The Assembly Hall on June 15, email lisatickets@clear-group.co.uk