In the run up to their GCSE performance, seven teenagers discover the school’s music course is being cut, and their hopes of future studies are dashed. Set against the backdrop of austerity Britain this funny, feisty and heart-breaking new musical follows these unlikely friends as they stick two fingers up at The State Of Things.
Elliot Clay tells us what inspired him team up with Thomas Attwood and to write the music and lyrics for this new musical, which runs at The Brockley Jack Studio Theatre 7th – 23rd September 2017.
“Welcome to a day inside the town that time forgot…” goes the first line in the new musical I’m writing called The State Of Things. And, yes, as the title suggests, the show is about just that.
I grew up in a small canal town in the Midlands and, for as long as I can recall, knew I wanted to have a career in music and theatre. Like many, I’m very lucky to have parents who were willing to ferry me around to rehearsals in every part of the county and, of course, scrape together enough money to fund my expensive hobby.
But supportive parents are not the only thing needed to be successful in this highly competitive industry, and as our feeble government seem intent on powering through with their failed Austerity vision for the country – Arts spending in schools is one of the first to be guillotined. During my time at high school I saw first-hand how the effects of these economic cutbacks hit our music and drama departments the hardest. Redundancies were commonplace, our two extracurricular orchestras were disbanded, student numbers opting to take music at GCSE and A Level plummeted and, eventually, some creative courses weren’t offered to Sixth Form students at all.
Despite the proven socio-economic benefits investment in the Arts returns, we always seem to see them suffer under Conservative governments. I wonder if I had been born just a few years later whether I’d have had the same opportunities?
So, now, five years after leaving high school, my best friend, Thomas Attwood and I have written a brand new rock musical about our experiences growing up and our encounters with Austerity Britain both in school and at home. We were inspired to write the show after hearing Andrew Lloyd Webber talk so passionately about the importance of music in schools at the dress rehearsal for ‘School of Rock’ after being lucky enough to get a ticket.
The show follows a school band and their fight against the system after they discover their music course is being cut. It’s a story of rebellion against authority, the awkwardness of being teenagers and the struggles that young people and their families face when the welfare state is no longer there to support them.
We have a super-talented cast in a live rock band playing songs that sound more like an iTunes playlist than Stiles & Drewe and a story packed full of laughter, heartbreak and swearing (sorry, Mum).
With the resurgence of populism in leftist policies and for, arguably, the first time a huge increase in political activism from young people, I hope the show can become a battle cry for anyone who’s ever felt excluded from the elitist politics that serve only to help the few, not the many. No matter where you sit on the political spectrum we’d love to see you at the premiere of The State Of Things and hear our story about an age, class and subject matter that is too often left behind.
