This project represented a number of firsts for me – my first foray into writing music for a musical, and first time working with York’s Six Lips Theatre. The brief from director Roxanna Klimaszewska was clear and focussed – a dark, industrial, steampunk take on Christopher Marlowe’s classic tale.
The script by Rebecca Thomson was terrific, punchy and tight and it was wonderful to be able to work closely with her to ensure I did justice to her words – especially as the play had been successfully taken to the stage previously.
It was a lot of work – as you would expect, and there were brand new challenges in having to write melodies to match the registers of the actors and pace each song to fit the timings and choreography on stage. Luckily, our Dr John Faustus (Peter Birkinshaw) was also an accomplished musician as well as actor, and he helped arrange the pieces in the rehearsal room and acted as a conduit between the frenetic rehearsals and my studio.
The end result was fantastic, and the Six Lips crew successfully performed the play at the Edinburgh Fringe, sadly I couldn’t accompany them up to Scotland but all reports were excellent, with large audiences and great feedback.
All in all, a terrific experience and once again I was stunned by the dedication and pure hard work involved in getting a piece of original theatre to the stage.