Acorn Young People’s Theatre
(now Nottingham Youth Theatre)
at Nottingham Playhouse
Somehow, I came to the attention of Alistair Conquer, who ran Nottingham Education Authority’s youth theatre company. He was looking to commission a musical about local luminary William Booth, who founded the Salvation Army. It was not a subject dear to my heart, as I was not, and am not, religious. Still, it was an opportunity to write a whole work for a large group of people, so, reservations notwithstanding, when Alistair came through with the offer, I accepted.
After a lengthy period of research, I started writing, gradually coming to look upon the project as a piece of municipal art, like a memorial statue or a mural in honour of a notable of the city. This resulted in a mainly celebratory piece, which was appropriate for the young participants and the energy they brought to it, but the approach lacked light and shade. Not really understanding Booth’s faith, I took it seriously rather than critically. On the one hand, this gave birth to many a chorus and chorale, which kept the large cast busy. On the other hand, there was precious little critique in my dialogue scenes. In retrospect, I can see I didn’t dive deep enough.
I delivered a vocal score (i.e. with piano accompaniment) rather than composing directly for a band, knowing that Nottingham Education Authority had many willing music teachers on standby to provide arrangements. I was grateful for this, as it was one less task for me to have to deal with. The downside was that a couple of the arrangements went off in unexpected directions. For example, I”d not anticipated anyone would consider any song in the show needed a rock beat from a drum kit. But by and large it worked out ok. At least, the powers-that-were at the Authority didn’t express any unhappiness about the piece to me. Perhaps among themselves, the conversations were more pointed…
During the rehearsal period, Alistair showed me a copy of a children’s book he thought would adapt well for the stage. It was called The Great Blueness by Arnold Lobel. I loved it, and was keen to work on it, although in my view it was too slight dramatically to make a musical, which is what Alistair leaned towards. He looked into purchasing the rights to adapt, but they were quoted at too high a price, so the project went no further. But I never quite let go of the idea….
