At first, the thought of creating our own work felt daunting. I have never thought of myself as much of a creator and always felt more comfortable working with already written material. It has also never crossed my mind that being a creative could be something that could employ me in the future. Once we decided what our roles within the creative group would be, I found myself working within my comfort zone, as my role in Woven was to orchestrate the music and act as a Musical Director, as well as play the violin in the band.

Woven is a musical set in Leeds in 1812 during the Industrial Revolution and the riots that were happening at the time, protesting against the new machinery used in fabric making. When we started thinking about the stylistic choices we would make with our musical, we were instantly all in agreement that the music should be inspired by folk music. We also wanted to make it possible for it to be an actor-musician piece in the future, which was reflected in the instrument choices. However, for the purpose of our sharing and the resources we had at hand, I arranged four songs to be played by a violin, cello, and guitar/piano, depending on which better fit the specific songs. A Cajón acted as our percussion, and we also had a tambourine in two songs, but I didn’t write down anything in the score for either of them as I wanted to keep things simple, and the players preferred to improvise.

All of these instruments created a folky sound, but were also readily available to us, as all of our musicians were either part of the creative team or cast. If the musical were to go into production in the real world, the actor-musician aspect would be a wise financial decision, as well as it would mean that, apart from the cast, no band would be required, even though the production would have to pay extra to the actors playing, depending on how many instruments they play, and factor in additional instrument hire costs.

In the last decade, there have been many successful actor-musician shows. When working with Woven, one of my greatest inspirations was The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, created by Jethro Compton and Darren Clark, which was one of the greatest pieces of musical theatre I had ever seen (Compton & Clark, 2024). It had a successful run in London and was described by WhatsOnStage as ”The best British musical in decades.” (Hood, 2024). A huge part of its charm for me was the show’s actor-musician style, and it had clearly been written with that in mind, as the instruments and ensemble seamlessly blended into the story and set design. 

When I started arranging the opening number, I did it based on a piano/vocal score and a chord sheet which our composer Jono Chant-Stevens had sent to me. The first thing I wrote was the cello part, as I knew that because we didn’t have a bassist, the cello would have to act as one. Our cellist also requested to get the parts as soon as possible because she wanted to have enough time to rehearse before our music rehearsals. I started playing around with what the line could be and pretty soon settled on what became the final arrangement for cello. I wanted the cello to play long notes and fill up the arrangement as much as possible, as a contrast to the rhythmic melody. Once I had that down, I moved on to the piano and violin parts. The piano part is the one that needs the most attention and improvement, as I have limited experience in writing for piano. As a violinist myself, I find that writing and arranging for string instruments comes most naturally to me, but I was satisfied enough with the piano part that I passed it on to our pianist. In the future, I would definitely want to consult a pianist on how to write a better piano arrangement, as the left-hand part was very simple and quite boring. While working on all four songs, I left the violin parts for last. Mainly because I was playing the violin in the band myself and could leave them to the last minute, as I was the only one to suffer from it, but I also wanted to play with improvisation in our rehearsals, and many of the things I ended up finalising in the score came from trial and error during our sessions together. 

My favourite song to orchestrate and the one I’m most proud of was definitely “Woven Into You,” which was a song written during the project week by Sophie Mitchell. From the beginning, I had a clear idea of what I wanted the arrangement to be, and once I sat down with the initial score I got from Jono, it didn’t take me long to write everything down. The challenges in that song came from having to rewrite and change the score many times due to changes made in the rehearsal process. For example, we ended up adding a chorus and moving around a four bar long bridge from one place to another, which also changed the chord progression under it and messed up my arrangement. Once I was editing the score at home and had fixed everything, I realised my bar count was wrong and had to go over the whole song many times before I found the error and fixed it in time for the next rehearsal. 

For the future of this piece, more instruments would definitely need to be added, and all the songs rearranged. I would ideally want a double bass, accordion, flute, and clarinet to be part of the band as well as the already existing violin, cello, guitar, and piano. All of these instruments would suit the vibe of the piece, and if we take the actor musician route, I think it would be interesting to play around with how the instruments could creatively be used as a part of the staging and action. This is obviously something of a directorial choice, but I think it would be fun to have the instruments form the machines at the factory, especially in a low-budget production. The instruments could also be used in the sound design; how could a guitar, for example, create the sounds of a machine?

Apart from orchestration, I was also the Musical Director of the show, which I found very challenging due to a couple of reasons. Firstly, trying to teach the cast material, which in this case had been written the day before, as someone who wasn’t involved in the composition process, was very difficult. How am I supposed to accurately teach other people a song I don’t know myself? With my limited piano playing skills and sight reading abilities, the session would have been very long and very painful if our composer hadn’t been in the room and able to take over the teaching of the material. In the future, I will insist on getting all the material beforehand so I can familiarise myself with it before any rehearsals. Secondly, as I was part of the band and playing the violin, I found communicating and giving the cast cues when I also had to concentrate on my own playing very difficult. As an experience, it was definitely interesting, but I understand now why Musical Directors tend to be pianists, as they are most well equipped to teach material and are better at sight reading, even if they’re not completely familiar with the music themselves. Most of my work as a Musical Director was leading vocal warmups and counting in the songs, and in a number called Riot, I had to lead the cast and band out of two vamps, which I put in as those moments were underscoring a monologue, but the band and cast had to move onto the chorus of the song straight after the pieces of text had finished.

I always find it satisfying when I can use the other skills I have acquired over the years working as a musician. Getting to be a part of a band and play the violin for a week was a welcome change, as it’s unfortunately something I haven’t had much time for while I’ve been in training. The next step would have been to incorporate the band with the ensemble, but unfortunately, we didn’t have time to do that, and I would have had to stay seated anyway, as I’m currently recovering from a knee injury and using crutches at the time. I think the reason I enjoyed this project as much as I did was also down to the fact that while I was immobile, I didn’t feel like I was missing out on anything. I was able to do all of my work either at home or comfortably sitting down, and minimal adjustments had to be made on my account. 

I would definitely like to continue working on this project in the future, and I feel like I have a good understanding of what needs to be done to make Woven into a show that could potentially be developed into a full-length piece of theatre. Stylistically, the musical is something that could be successful if the story is interesting enough that it appeals to audiences. As a traditional love story as well as a period piece, I understand that it might not be the most original or inspiring piece of work you have ever seen, but I believe that with some adjustments to the story, it could become a marketable show. Modern audiences seem to love anything Regency era related, like Bridgerton (Bridgerton, 2020), and most recently, the new BBC drama The Other Bennet Sister (The Other Bennet Sister, 2026). Paired with folky music, and the actor musician aspect could create an appealing combination. People love a tragic love story, and in my opinion, setting it in the Regency period would enhance the romantic aspects of the story. While Woven isn’t set in lavish ballrooms and doesn’t have opportunities for overly elaborate costuming, I think it would have enough of those Austenesque elements to thrive and attract audiences. More importantly, the story was always meant to be anti-AI, and I think the audience would be able to relate to that as well as the themes of workers’ rights and class divide. An article from 2022 in the Guardian titled ”A look under the bonnet: why are we still so obsessed with the Regency era?” written by Charlotte Higgins explains:

Historical adaptations are like science fiction films: they tell us more about the concerns of the time they’re made in than the future (or past) they’re depicting. It’s quite rare that a historical piece is only interested in what the past actually felt like. (Higgins, 2022)

My job as an orchestrator would be to make sure the arrangements make sense dramaturgically and how I could enhance the storytelling with them. A key part, in my opinion, would be to keep the score as acoustic as possible to keep it historically accurate and enhance the anti-AI and machinery themes of our show.  

Overall, my time working on Woven was more fun and productive than I ever thought it would be. I think the biggest takeaway from the project for me was that I can be a part of creating a new piece of theatre, and I might even be good at it. Creating my own work has never been something I’ve thought of as a possibility in this industry, but now I think I could do it, especially if it’s a collaboration between creatives. I’m very good at teamwork, but I also enjoy doing my own thing in the solitude of my own room. I loved rehearsing the music with people, but I equally enjoyed working on the orchestrations on my own. I look forward to the future and being a part of a creative team– be it in Woven or in something completely different.

Bibliography:

Bridgerton (2020) Netflix [Streaming Service]. Available at: https://www.netflix.com (Accessed: 22 April 2026).

Compton, J. and Clark, D. (2024) ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’. London: The Ambassador’s Theatre, 6 November.

Higgins, C. (2022) ‘A look under the bonnet: why are we still so obsessed with the Regency era?’, The Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/jul/02/why-are-jane-austen-regency-dramas-still-popular-persuasion-netflix-bridgerton (Accessed: 18 April 2026). 

Hood, A. (2024) ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button West End review – the musical is ageing beautifully’, WhatsOnStage. Available at: https://www.whatsonstage.com/news/the-curious-case-of-benjamin-button-west-end-review-the-musical-is-ageing-beautifully_1649604/ (Accessed: 18 April 2026).

The Other Bennet Sister (2026) BBCIPlayer [Streaming Service]. Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/m002qkp1/the-other-bennet-sister