The creators of a new British musical which was due to be workshopped when the Covid-19 pandemic struck have come up with an inventive way to keep developing their project by getting the stay-at-home public involved.
People across the country are being invited to get involved (virtually) as the writers of Cautionary Tale, Rebecca Atkinson-Lord and Rebecca Alpin, bring their work to life.
Over the next five weeks the duo will release sheet music and backing tracks, Tik Tok choreography, character sketches and script extracts to allow people the opportunity to stage the musical in their own homes with members of their household. People are being asked to record their performances and share them online using the hashtag #CautionaryTaleMusical. In week six the best of these recordings will be used to create a live Zoom version of the show.
Announcing the project Atkinson-Lord said: “I wrote Cautionary Tale at a time when I was really unhappy because I felt trapped in a life that didn’t feel authentic. It’s a show about finding joy in the darkest of circumstances and right now it feels like we all need a bit of help to be happy, so it seemed like the right thing to do to share it with people. The Covid-19 pandemic has meant that we can’t finish making and staging the show as we’d planned and to see years of work come to nothing has been incredibly sad for the whole team. I hope that people will help us make it happen anyway by staging bits of it in their own homes and sharing them online – and maybe we can all remember how to find a bit more joy.”
The show’s designer James Turner added: “I love the rich and detailed world Rebecca has created for Cautionary Tale, and the challenge and ambition of bringing that world to life on the stage, at least in miniature in the model-box for now. The creative outlet that working on the show has given me during lockdown has been invaluable. I’m relishing the opportunity to dive in and focus on it for a few hours each day, and be transported away into another world.”
Featuring a book and lyrics by Atkinson-Lord and music by Applin, Cautionary Tale is the story of Gloaming, a town filled with ‘perfectly ordinary, yet perfectly remarkable people’. Described as a mash-up between Roald Dahl, Tim Burton and Hilaire Belloc, choreography and additional material is by Mark Iles.
To enable people to learn the music each weekly package will concentrate on one of the Gloaming families. Further information and the downloadable material can be found HERE.
The development of Cautionary Tale has been funded by Arts Council England.
Angela Thomas
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