22 Feb February’s Writers’ Playground at the Union Theatre

I couldn’t even begin to count the number of times I’ve said, been told, or overheard someone saying ”ooh I wish there were more new British musicals being put on.” The sad truth of the matter is that a revival of a tried and tested show feels safe for any producer, a warm, fuzzy glow that can stave off the pangs of the anxiety that the process inevitably invites. And in a city where shows have to go hell-for-leather just to break even, it’s a temptation that you can understand them succumbing to. But without new writing, we’ll end up with a stale musical theatre scene, the same tunes reverberating around and around, growing tired and dated, with fresh blood arriving only intermittently from across the pond.

It’s something that John Kristian and Kayleigh McKnight felt sufficiently strongly about to create the Fairground Theatre Company, a company dedicated to exploring and supporting new musical theatre talent in this country. Their Songs from the Playground programme selects one writer each year, provides mentoring, constructive feedback, the opportunity to put on a concert of a selection of work, and finally the chance to take a piece to full development. An undoubtedly exciting programme, this year’s writer is Rebecca Applin, whose work was included in the evening and which shows exactly why she was selected.

Having studied music at the University of Cambridge, and continued her studies at the Royal College of Music, Applin’s academic credentials are undeniable. But she also has some practical recognition to her name. Her musical Sex and the Village has been licensed to Perfect Pitch, and she recently won a commission from the George Bernard Shaw estate with Kate Ferguson to adapt The Devil’s Disciple into a musical, as well as being highly commended in the S&S Awards for Musical Theatre for Jaberwocky written with Susannah Pearse.

For the Writers’ Playground, Applin presented three very different songs from three very different shows, starting with “Do Not Linger from A Song Cycle for Soho. Set in 1800s London, the protagonists list out the victims of an ongoing cholera outbreak, mapping the spread through Soho and searching for the source, in a devastatingly to-the-point song. Hear it here:

From a personal perspective, I love musical theatre that shows us things that are a bit uncomfortable, and that through fiction shows us something we didn’t already know, which is probably why Do Not Linger really resounds for me, and why I enjoyed hearing the haunting finale to The Devil’s Disciple so much. But Applin (with a little help from lyricist Susannah Pearse) also shows herself more than capable of creating fun, irony and a little bit of silliness with musical Sex and the Village. Pitching in on bongos for the performance of “Steam, we were treated to two hopeless gossips in the village of Chatterley, putting their resourcefulness to…err…good use, steaming open envelopes.

But, of course, the evening was about showcasing a series of musical theatre writers and not just Rebecca Applin. On his evening off from being a West End Mormon (how multi-talented is this dude!?), Dan Looney presented two songs from his musical, The Confession Room, predicated on the notion of an “AA”- esque place that people go to, to tell their deepest secrets. Songs ”Excalibur93” and ”Ditsy Blonde” unashamedly embrace stereotypes, to give us the story of a computer game escapist, and a wannabe Legally Blonde Elle Woods, in a really warm, funny and forgiving environment. You can hear the first recordings of these songs on the SoundCloud module below.

Following this up, Looney himself sang the titular song from another of his musicals, ”Swear Our Love (written in collaboration with Jake Brunger). ”Swear Our Love takes a Tourette’s sufferer as the main character, following his story as he negotiates his way through his first serious relationship, looking at how he finds his way around the quite unique challenges he’s presented with, and at how his condition can be a source of as much hilarity as social discomfort. As Looney comments, only about 7% of Tourette’s sufferers actually swear, so it’s really exciting to see this less well known side of Tourette’s being presented and being talked about. My personal favourite of all the songs Looney presented, it’s funny, endearing and heartbreaking all wrapped into one, and I for one will be keeping more than one eye out for news of “Swear Our Love being staged.

Following Looney came singer-songwriter Miracle Chance. Ever the professional, she stepped in for the billed Sophie Reid at less than 24 hours notice, as she was unable to perform due to illness. Soon to be a cast member of Loserville at the Union Theatre, she came straight from the studio where she’s been busy recording her upcoming EP. Chance played a gorgeous, folky set that highlighted her talent both as a musician and a performer. With a breathtakingly beautiful, effortless voice, Chance’s music really does calm the soul. Here’s a little treat for your ears…

Tim Gilvin, who now has five musicals to his name, gave us a taste of his S&S Award-winning musical that’ll be workshopped at the Leicester Curve later this month, “Stay Awake, Jake”, a show that boldly uses only one actor, and one act, for the entire show, following the eponymous character on his 315 mile drive from London to Carlisle. As he drives, he looks back on a relationship that recently broke down, with, “How About Tomorrow?” an awkwardly funny memoire of their first encounters.

Gilvin also presented numbers from “Kate and the Devil” which recently workshopped at the King’s Head Theatre, a musical set in London about a girl trying to get ahead in the music industry. More than just a fluffy rom com, the highlight was “Ghosts”, a catchy, upbeat number that’s devastating in its relatability, about a couple on the edge, living together but failing to communicate, each hurting, each stubborn and neither wanting to acknowledge the inevitable.

The aching relatability continued with the works of Smith and Williams, which have this wonderful sense that they could be accompanied by a hashtag without it feeling out of place. Take, for example, “Drunk Dial,” a hilarious depiction of the all-too-familiar scene of an inebriated ex-girlfriend calling his disinterested ex-boyfriend and leaving him a…shall we say…cringeworthy voicemail. Let’s say that even Bridget Jones would be ashamed of this one. Another song aimed at the Twitter generation, “First World Problems” takes high-maintenance 21st century culture and pokes fun at it, satirising modern priorities in a funny, memorable, and sometimes shocking, way.

The final writer of the showcase was Dougal Irvine, a composer with numerous awards to his name for his musical “Departure Lounge,” and whose show, “The Busker’s Opera” is forthcoming. Presenting his whole section in verse, Irvine performed three songs accompanying himself on guitar – despite the fact that “The Tale of the Rat” is written to be performed by nine (!) people. From “The Busker’s Opera,” it takes a comical slant on consumerism, a story about a rat that eats rubbish, feeding off the greed of the population and eventually becoming so huge that it eclipses the Earth.

Closing The Writers’ Playground, Irvine treated us to the finale of “Departure Lounge,” a song called “Left Spain,” a beautiful, melodic reflection that served as the perfect ending to the event.

Showcases like The Writers’ Playground have a really important, and exciting, role to play in the development of musical theatre. For composers that often write alone, it’s an opportunity to sit back and listen to their music, to tweak and improve, and get feedback from other talented composers, performers, and musicians. And for those in the audience, it’s a chance to hear the musicals of the future, as well as some amazing voices. On a personal note, it’s events like this that get me excited, that remind me of why I fell in love with musical theatre in the first place.

For information about the Writers’ Playground: fairgroundtheatre.com