By Chloe Setter, ECPAT UK Information Officer


Live near Manchester or Liverpool? If you do, you should certainly consider buying tickets to see Anya17 – an opera about sex trafficking into the UK.

The opera’s creators have consulted with caseworkers and 10 supporting charities, including ECPAT UK, to make sure their tale is grounded in the harsh realities of trafficking in this country.

The show describes itself as ‘a highly dramatic interpretation of the lives of four young women trafficked from Eastern Europe and sold into sexual slavery’. It will feature deception, secrecy, betrayal, violence and hopelessness as it charts how, even in this day and age, human beings can be sold and treated as commodities.

Behind the scenes is a stellar line-up of acclaimed and renowned musicians and writers. Its director, Caroline Clegg, has produced a number of award-winning shows with her theatre company recently winning the Pete Postlethwaite Best New Play Award following a premiere at the Lowry.

Ben Kaye is an established poet and librettist who wrote the opera, which will be performed the award-winning music group, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra Ensemble 10/10, which is regularly featured on BBC Radio 3. The group’s artistic director Clark Rundell is also a well-know guest conductor, working with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra and the London Symphony Orchestra among many others.

Anya17’s musical composer is Professor Adam Gorb, a long-established composer who has been recorded worldwide. Adam is head of the School of Composition at the Royal Northern College of Music, from where all of the show’s talented cast come.

It’s an impressive behind the scenes team and is guaranteed to ensure a top-quality dramatic production that will keep audiences on the edge of their seats.

But above all, Anya17 promises to be a hard-hitting, gritty tale about women sold to be sexual objects. Its creators want to make an impact and they want to make a difference.

Ben Kaye says he wrote the opera in order to raise awareness of the secret world of sex trafficking, where up to 800,000 young women and children are trafficked into the EU each year. Ben and all of the cast and team of volunteers have worked hard to ensure Anya17 is a success and reaches as many people as possible. ECPAT UK is proud to support Anya17 and its aim to share the story of affected women in the UK.

Anya17 will have its premiere on Wednesday 6 March 2012 at The Epstein Theatre in Hanover Street, Liverpool (Tel: 0151 233 3000) as part of its Music Theatre Night. Tickets cost £10.

A second showing will take place on Friday 9 March at the RNCM Concert Hall in Manchester (Tel: 0161 907 5200) as part of the New Music North West: Ensemble 10/10 concert. Tickets cost £10.

For more information about Anya17 and how to get tickets, visit http://anya17.co.uk/anya17-venues-tickets.htm.

For more information on the trafficking of children into the UK, read ECPAT UK’s Snapshot report.