One of London's least favourite landmarks, the Elephant and Castle shopping centre, is slated for demolition. You might think they'd be partying in the Old Kent Road but some have affectionate memories of it, including Tansy Davies, co-creator (with Mira Calix) of the score for Elephant and Castle premiered at Aldeburgh, and director Tim Hopkins.

The narrative, devised by Hopkins, is a reworking of Hansel and Gretel. It begins outside the Maltings in a slum, moving to the reed beds for a cinematic evocation of the shopping centre - a paradise for the kids (gingerbread was served to the audience on large trays) - into the Maltings for a scene in a bingo hall ("Life is a lottery" in Blake Morrison's text, shocking only for its banality) and finally back to the reed beds, transformed by twinkling lights into a world of enchantment where the Beatles' All You Need is Love evokes an idyllic sphere with the family reunited.

The score is as brutal and uningratiating as the story, fusing aggressively amplified instruments with a harsh soundtrack of urban alienation. It builds to a powerful climax of sinister threat and a positive, if equivocal, resolution.