British Youth Music Theatre (BYMT), the UK’s leading musical theatre company for young people, has announced its 2021 season of summer performances: live in-person productions of 11 musicals presented across the country from 5-29 August 2021.
The line-up includes brand new pieces about the earliest known female football team in England and the baby simulators experiment in a British school, plus musical adaptations of well-known titles such as Peter Pan, Why the Whales Came by Michael Morpurgo and Goblin Market by Christina Rossetti.
The season opens with a modern musical adaptation of J.M. Barrie’s classic Peter Pan at beautiful historic Powderham Castle in Devon (parts of which date back to the 14th century), and the brand new Babies, a comedy, pop-rock musical about a class of children given simulator babies to keep alive for three weeks presented at Ipswich’s New Wolsey Theatre.
Charlotte Westenra and Vikki Stone combine forces on Our Girls Our Game, a new musical about the women munition workers turned into the leading lights of female footballers during the First World War.
Why The Whales Came is an exciting historical adventure from War Horse author and former Children’s Laureate Michael Morpurgo which takes us to the Isles of Scilly in 1914, whilst The Night The War Ended sees teenage Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret sneak out of the palace to celebrate the end of the Second World War.
Part of BYMT’s Dance Connection series, Ministry of Truth is a bold new dance show that explores real-world questions about freedom, truth and technology and features a genre-bending original score, complex vocal soundscapes and improvisation, coming to The Drum in Plymouth.
In London BYMT is getting mysterious and magical, presenting Cabaret Macabre MC’ed by Joan of Arc, telling the true stories of the most mistreated women in the last seven centuries, featuring guest appearances from Marie Antoinette, Marilyn Monroe and Mata Hari, and Nightshade, a comic-book musical about superheroes set in a gothic metropolis and exploring the story of a team of herbalists with vigilante agenda and the fight between darkness and light, good and bad, revenge and redemption.
And finally, a spectacular revival of Goblin Market plays the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre in Guildford, combining opera, fairy tale and musical theatre. This production, a BYMT original, was last seen at the George Square Theatre, Edinburgh in 2005 and features music by Conor Mitchell and book and lyrics by Kath Burlinson.
Executive producer Jon Bromwich said:
“BYMT’s Summer Season 2021 is both the most exciting and the most challenging season that we have had in all 18 years of our history. It’s been a long wait due to the pandemic, but we have had enough planning time to make this summer programme a real spectacle, bringing to life the most breath-taking, controversial and thought-provoking stories.
“Additionally, we are experiencing the highest ever demand from the young people who have been waiting for so long to release their creativity. Overall, this season will be driven by exceptionally talented creative teams and fuelled by the blasting energy of the musical theatre stars of tomorrow.”
British Youth Music Theatre is the leading musical theatre company for young people, working across the UK and Ireland with West End professionals to offer unique opportunities and high-quality training. Since 2003 they have trained over 8,000 young people, with alumni including Ed Sheeran, Sam Smith, Lauren Samuels, Charlotte Ritchie, Jack Bence, Lucy Griffiths, Luke McCall and Bradley Jaden.
British Youth Music Theatre’s Summer Season 2021
Babies
New Wolsey Theatre, Ipswich (6-7 August 2021; Full price: £14, Aged under 26: £10)
Summer is over. But for Year Ten at St Mary’s School, the fun is just beginning. Every student has been given a brand-new simulator baby to keep alive for three weeks. Their excitement to show off their new toys is palpable. Quickly though, the school descends into chaos. As rivalries emerge and friendships are tested, the teenagers must decide: What kind of parents are they? What kind of people do they want to be?
Featuring a large ensemble cast, babies is a new comedy, pop-rock musical about what happens when you’re forced to be a child and an adult all at once.
Creative team: Writer: Martha Geelan; Composer: Jack Godfrey; Director: Ellie Jones; Musical Director: Joe Beighton.
Cabaret Macabre
Bridewell Theatre, London (6-7 August 2021; Full price £20, Concessions £15)
Welcome to the darkest party in town, in which emcee and soldier Joan of Arc invites you all to kick up a storm on behalf 
of the most maligned and mistreated women of the last seven centuries.
On our international bill tonight, some of our special guests include Queen Marie Antoinette, all the way from France, actress Marilyn Monroe from the States, and Mata Hari – Holland’s favourite spy. Tonight, and together for the first time, these stars of nobility, stage, screen and subterfuge share the stage with a host of other wonderful women, all cut down before their time, and all taking back their stories in a night of powerful cabaret. Brace yourselves for the truth behind the beheadings, drugging and persecution that led to their untimely deaths.
Featured a 30-strong, fabulous cast. Expect daring movement and spectacular harmonies and ensemble work.
Creative team: Composer and musical director Joseph Atkins; Bookwriter and director Jessica Walker; Choreographer Steven Harris.
Peter Pan
Powderham Castle, Exeter (5-8 August 2021; Full price £16, Concessions £12, Family tickets £48)
Peter Pan is back bigger and more raucous than ever! This summer, British Youth Music Theatre brings to the stage a 
terrifically modern musical adaptation of J.M.Barrie’s classic tale at the beautiful and historic Powderham Castle.
Embark on a journey to Neverland with the boy who never grew up, his trusty sidekick Tinker Bell, his unlikely partners Great White Panther and the Red Indians, and the cunning, cowardly Captain Hook with his motley crew of pirates.
This truly memorable family show by Jimmy Jewell and Nick Stimson combines a fabulous pop-rock score and features the stunning ensemble work for which BYMT has become renowned. Songs include ‘An Awfully Big Adventure’, ‘You Must Believe in Magic’ and many more – we guarantee you’ll be humming these tunes all the way home!
Creative Team: Book and lyrics Nick Stimson; Music/Additional book and lyrics Jimmy Jewell; Additional book by Christian Durham; Arrangements by Jimmy Jewell and Mark Dougherty; Orchestrations by Tom Curran, Mark Dougherty and Dean Austin; Director Tiffany King; Musical director Cillian Donaghy; Choreographer Nicola Mac; Designer Sarah Oxley.
Ministry of Truth
The Drum, Theatre Royal Plymouth (13-14 August 2021; Full price £13.50; Concessions £10.50)
How far are you willing to go to find the truth? In a world afflicted by collective amnesia where events are continually erased and rewritten, a group of young people find themselves trapped in limbo between past and present. This is the beginning of a frenetic race against time for our heroes, trying to discover the truth before everyone’s memories are erased again.
Director and choreographer Rachel Birch-Lawson creates a vivid and thought-provoking show, in which real-world questions about freedom, truth and technology are freely explored.
Part of BYMT’s boundary-pushing Dance Connection series, this new contemporary dance show features a genre-bending original new score and powerful movement.
Creative team: Writer, director and choreographer Rachel Birch-Lawson; Co-choreographer and rehearsal director Charlie Brittain; Composer and musical director Jake Dorfman.
Nightshade
Bridewell Theatre, London (13-14 August 2021, Full price £20, Concessions £15)
Embark with us on an epic adventure to the gothic metropolis of Valeria. By day a thriving centre of commerce. By night a city of shadows.
Nestled amongst the backstreets, taverns and alleyways in the downtown district of Disturbia, stands a small apothecary on Wolf-Bane Lane. A herbal sanctuary and workplace to a team of young herbalists… with a vigilante agenda. Can their light fight the ever-growing darkness infiltrating the city? What are the strange afflictions hitting its people? Who is the White Wiccan? And who is the silhouetted figure on the rooftops?
A comic-book musical about darkness and light, good and bad, revenge and redemption… and one girl’s fight to uncover her true identity. In this epic new show you can expect strong roles, spectacular harmonies and dazzling choreography.
Creative team: Book and lyrics Ellis Kerkhoven; Composer Adam Gerber; Director Ellis Kerkhoven; Musical director Jan Winstone.
Why The Whales Came
The Drum, Theatre Royal Plymouth (19-21 August 2021; Full price £13.50, Concessions £10.50)
This summer, BYMT invites you on an exciting adventure full of mystery from War Horse author Michael Morpurgo!
Twenty-eight miles off the coast of Cornwall lies a very different way of life. A series of 145 islands make up the Isles of Scilly, where jagged rocks and harsh, choppy seas surround the people of the land. This brand-new musical, taking inspiration from Michael Morpurgo’s novel Why The Whales Came, places us right at the heart of an ocean-embracing community in 1914, who live cheek by jowl with ghostly tales from their past.
Faced with the backdrop of the First World War, the insular residents of Bryher can no longer escape the realities of life beyond the islands. It takes the innocence of youth – in the shape of plucky young Gracie Jenkins, and her sailing companion and confidant Daniel Pender – to try to blow apart the fear and hatred that threatens to destroy their community, lifting a powerful curse in the process.
This new show is filled with the music of the sea as it charts our young heroes through their rite of passage.
The work is adapted by writer Nikki Racklin with music by Bella Barlow and directed by Simon Kane (the Olivier Award winning In The Heights, American Idiot, The Diary of Adrian Mole, West End). Choreography is by Head of Dance at Guildford School of Acting, Phyllida Crowley-Smith.
Creative team: Original book Michael Morpurgo; Composer and musical director Bella Barlow; Book and lyrics Nikki Racklin; Director Simon Kane; Choreographer Phyllida Crowley-Smith.
Our Girls Our Game
The Studio Venue, Bradford Theatres (20-22 August 2021; Full price £16, Concessions £12)
Set in Preston, Lancashire against the backdrop of The Great War, this powerful new musical will explore the triumphs, heartbreaks and sacrifices of the amazing women behind the Dick, Kerr Ladies Football Club. Drawing crowds of 60,000 people to their matches, this group of First World War ammunition workers were not only the leading lights of women’s English football but were also pioneers of social change during and after the conflict.
From an exceptional young company of emerging talent, comes an empowering new musical featuring an intrepid all-female cast. Directed by Charlotte Westenra, expect daring movement, spectacular harmonies and ensemble work.
Creative Team: Writer Victoria Saxton; Composer and musical director Vikki Stone; Director Charlotte Westenra; Choreographer Jane McMurtrie).
Goblin Market
Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Guildford (26-28 August 2021; Full price: £27, Concessions: £22, Child/Students/Under 25s: £15, Family ticket: £65)
“Goblin Market is a chamber opera like no other that stands out from other BYMT shows. With complex musical harmonies, it reveals the unlimited imagination and enthusiasm of its young cast, who will at last unleash their incredible talent after many months of confinement. It promises to be a truly spectacular show” – Zoë Wanamaker, BYMT patron.
A chamber opera of high energy physical theatre and complex musical harmonies based on Christina Rossetti’s famous tale. With music by renowned composer Conor Mitchell and book and lyrics by Kath Burlinson, this enchanting production charts the story of two sisters who are tempted by goblin merchant men. Unmissable, tempting, controversial, seductive… can you hear the Goblin call?
Opera, fairy-tale, musical theatre combine in this spectacular production last seen at the George Square Theatre, Edinburgh in 2005. The poem has been controversial since it was first written in 1862 but this production has been hailed by press and public alike as a huge success, the production setting new standards of excellence in youth theatre.
“A brilliant production… energetic, dynamic, exciting, superb… Conor Mitchell has excelled here with a demanding and ambitious score… phenomenal” – Irish News
“Magical… Burlinson and Mitchell have created the ideal vehicle for such a versatile and talented company of performers” – Belfast Telegraph
Creative team: Original score: Conor Mitchell; Book and lyrics: Kath Burlinson; Director: Gerard Jones; Musical director: Adam Gerber; Movement director: Danni Meehan.
The Night The War Ended
Theatre Royal Margate (26-29 August 2021; Full price: £15, Concessions: £13, Groups of four-plus: £11 per ticket)
London 8 May 1945 – the biggest party in history begins on a night that will be remembered forever: the night the war ended.
The city is buzzing with excitement as people hear the news. The streets fill up with people from all over the world singing and celebrating. Fascinated by the crowds, teenage Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret cannot bear to watch from afar. Disguised, they sneak out of the palace, blending in with the crowds and embark on an incredible journey filled with danger, decisions and new experiences on one glorious night that will change them forever.
Written by acclaimed writing team Stephanie Jayne Amies and Teddy Clements (Tomorrow, Maybe) and directed by international director Steven Dexter (Loserville, Paperboy and Closer To Heaven). With soaring harmonies, powerful narrative this new original musical promises to sweep the audience along the streets of London and into the most magical night in London’s history.
Creative team: Music and lyrics Stephanie Jayne Amies; Additional music and arrangements Teddy Clements; Book Nicholas Scrivens and Steven Dexter; Director Steven Dexter; Musical director Teddy Clements; Choreographer Julia Cave.
The Curious Case of Katie’s Hysteria
Boundary Oak School (14-15 August 2021)
An innovative piece of devised musical theatre about the relationship between the individual and the group, about alienation, rebellion and finding your inner strength.
It was a normal day, perhaps a little boring, but otherwise just like any other, when suddenly Katie Kember felt her body twitch. It twitched again – she couldn’t control it. The twitching continued, it grew and grew and wouldn’t stop. Across town her friend Maeve fainted, then one by one more young women began to spasm, twitch and faint. What was happening to them?
The Curious Case of Katie’s Hysteria is based on a real incident in Le Roy USA in 2011 and inspired by other suspected cases of mass psychogenic illness dating back to the Salem witch trials. What causes these curious outbreaks amongst young women?
Creative team: Director and deviser Helen Tennison; Musical director Stephanie Singer; Choreographer Vanessa Cook.
The Legend of White Bear Lake
Theatre Severn, Shrewsbury (28-29 August 2021; Full price £15, Child – under 16 – £12)
The Legend of White Bear Lake is a haunting musical based on a Native American tale from Minnesota.
Two teenagers from rival tribes fall in love and must fight to keep their relationship a secret, rowing to the middle of the lake each night to meet each other. The legend of the white bear is passed down to each generation and warns that the two tribes must not mix or a giant bear will wake from his slumber and attack the tribes. When the secret relationship is discovered, a battle breaks out. One night when the lake is frozen over, the bear appears and viciously attacks the young lovers. The tribes must decide if they can come together to defeat the mysterious white bear.
Dark and atmospheric, The Legend of White Bear Lake draws inspiration from traditional Native American musical styles, combining breathtaking movement with on-stage instrumentation to bring the legend to life.
Creative team: Writer and composer Caroline Wigmore and Jen Green; Musical director Ben Cox.
www.britishyouthmusictheatre.org
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