Writing

Rooftoppers

Composer: Josh Lewis Lyricist: Grace Joy Howarth

Rooftoppers, adapted from the novel by Katherine Rundell, tells the story of a 12 year old girl, Sophie and her adventures from the streets of London to the rooftops of Paris on her quest to find her mother. On her way she is supported by her guardian Charles and the Rooftoppers, a band of orphan children who live on the rooftops of Paris. Our show questions the meaning of family, exploring the idea that it doesn’t just have to be our biological family, but also the people we choose to surround ourselves with.

The show is written for children and we imagine being potentially staged by youth theatre groups as the Rooftoppers narrate the story and this will facilitate a large ensemble if necessary.

Rooftoppers is the first musical that Grace and I have written together and is being developed with support from BML.

In May 2022 we shared an extract from the musical at the Crazy Coqs, Piccadilly Circus. Find below a video of the presentation.

Living History

Living History is a play that centres the nurses' experience of the pandemic. It was developed during a writing residency in NHS Imperial. Developed from interviews with nurses and members of the dementia care team, Living History shares a different perspective to the one that has been presented by the media over the past two years.

Multiplying stories together, using techniques derived from verbatim theatre, the play aims to honour and respect the stories that were shared, not just focussing on the crisis that was faced, but also the personalities of the individuals I spoke to.

The play was performed as a rehearsed reading, a video of which can be found below.

Fairy Tales Don't Exist Anymore

A forest. A fork in the path. A boy is lost. But then he makes a new friend who offers to show him the way. There’s a price. Should he pay up? Would you?

Fairy Tales Don’t Exist Anymore is a play for young people about autonomy and free will. It explores the way we ‘freely choose to not be free’ and surrender ourselves to meet society's expectations of us. Using live music and movement the play immerses the audience in a fairy tale forest, asking them to make key decisions that affect the outcome of the story, embodying the central theme of the piece.

The play is made for a target audience of ten and eleven year olds and has been created with a small cast in mind, in order to enable it to be toured into primary schools. The performance is complimented by a drama workshop that explores how we can take ownership of our lives through games and creative making activities.

A section of the play was performed at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in May 2022.

The Switchboard

The Switchboard is an online interactive play, created during lockdown in 2020, where the audience takes on the role of the switchboard operator and has to piece together the narrative from fragments of telephone calls. Set in the aftermath of a flood, the government slowly imposes new restrictions on people’s ability to communicate with each other, until the switchboard is flooded and communication is cut off completely.

The piece used the limitations of the time as a core part of the dramaturgy, with all of the performers recording parts remotely. It was a reminder of the ways that we will still always be in touch, no matter what the distance and the challenges we face.

To play the piece click the button below

Carrion

Carrion is a satirical play that critiques the criminal justice system and the way it underpins our society. Inspired by Animal Farm by George Orwell, the play is set in a dystopian future where humans are extinct. The animals that remain live on top of the remnants of the human world, trying to replicate our society.

The story follows the trial of a polar bear who is accused of murdering the last humans to exist, as in their new world order animals are all vegetarian. However, when the vultures, desperate for meat, get restless, the judge sentences the entire jury to “natural justice” in order to meet the quota, deeming them corrupt. The vultures get their feast, but at what cost? Will any animal be able to hold the system accountable or will the cycle perpetuate?

Clockwork

Book, Music and Lyrics: Josh Lewis Book, Direction and Choreography: Penelope Chappelhow

Clockwork is an original musical that tells the story of four clocks: the Doomsday clock (who has never ticked), Sundial (who is trapped in a dark, shady corner and yearns for a place in the sun), Wristwatch (who wants to be free to explore) and Alexa (the Amazon smart speaker). The story starts when Alexa arrives and disrupts the clocks’ mechanical way of life. Things take a turn for the worse when the humans decide to buy Doomsday culminating in the main turning point where Sundial smashes trying to stop Doomsday from being taken away. The show explores the premise ‘choice, change and action’. Dance and movement is a key part of the language of the show and we are working on integrating this into the piece from the beginning.

In July 2021 we spent a week workshopping the first act of the show and developing the central themes of the show. Find below a video with some extracts of scenes and songs we worked on during our workshop week.