Our group created a heartfelt and sombre show called After, centred on the aftereffects of life-changing events such as loss, grief and breakups. Much of the foundation for After is based on our own experiences, as we wanted to make it personal yet relatable for a modern-day audience. Throughout the creative process, our ideas evolved drastically from the beginning to the actual R&D showing itself. 

My role was lyricist and social media manager. In this portfolio, I will discuss how this process affected me and my approach to this side of the industry.

Musical Concept

Our idea came from a conversation between two of the creatives, who pitched the concept that every person will have a different threshold of pain depending on what they have experienced thus far in life. I found this very intriguing as, at the time, I had recently gone through a breakup from a long-term relationship; to me that was the worst pain I had experienced up until that point. This sparked a conversation about our personal life experiences and the aftereffects of them. We decided to focus on what happens after an event, rather than the actual event itself as, in our view, it is not the event that defines a person, but rather how they choose to respond and move on.

Originally, we wanted multiple simultaneous storylines, with each of the characters representing one or more of us and our experiences. However, quickly it became clear that this would become rather confusing for an audience. At this point we knew what we wanted each character’s journey to be, but were unsure how to link them to make a cohesive plot.

We decided to focus on the character Olive, who loses her mum, Lottie, to cancer. We found that grief was something we had all experienced; this opened a pathway through which we could link the characters. We had to cut some characters or change their journeys to link with others, as we were afraid of having a show that relentlessly covered dark taboo topics. We concluded that Noah would be Olive’s brother and that they no longer speak to each other due to unresolved family issues. Noah would still speak to Lottie before her death, but behind Olive’s back. Lottie’s death gave these characters a reason for their paths to cross again. 

Originally Noah had a separate storyline about being in a toxic relationship with a character called Archie. Linking these allowed Noah to have a reason for his avoidant behaviour within the relationship. We wanted some kind of mentor character for Olive; Mabel is a colleague from a café round the corner from Lottie and Olive’s house. We also added Willow, Olive’s best friend that had been like a sister to her throughout her life. Once we figured how all our characters linked, we then could establish the kind of dynamic each had, which was key for writing lyrics.

Lyrics

I chose to be lyricist alongside Eve for this project, as I have always been drawn to artists who use lyrics to create imagery on emotional topics. I have never written lyrics before, but I have always enjoyed writing and journaling, so it was a chance to combine that with my love for music. I was apprehensive as I did not know where to start in terms of structure or whether I should write lyrics before or after the music existed. This was the space to play around with all those concerns as I wasn’t writing alone and I knew the musical director, Darcey, had a similar music taste to me.

I listen to artists such as Lizzy McAlpine, Olivia Dean and Adele, who are known for their breakup songs. I used these as inspiration when tackling the song between Archie and Noah. The context we were given for this song was that Noah had been acting distant towards Archie, so Archie came to speak to Noah. He gets dismissed, so feels like he does not matter to Noah as much as Noah does to him. I chose to go through some of my diary entries from the past year from my breakup to see if I could use anything to put towards the lyrics when I was feeling a similar way.

We started the song from Archie’s perspective, reminiscing how the relationship used to be. We played around with the song being either a story of their relationship or Archie explaining how he felt in that moment; we settled on the latter. The structure that we landed on was verse, pre-chorus and chorus to then repeat, allowing for the song to build. I knew I wanted some kind of lyric motif in the show as a way of linking these characters together, which ended up being the chorus of this song with slightly altered lyrics each time. For this part of the process, Eve and I worked with Darcey to write the lyrics and music for this song at the same time. This worked well as we found we had to be very adaptable on both sides to complement each of our contributions. For example, I found that rhythms don’t come as naturally to me, which are obviously key to lyrics, so I had to be quick to adapt my lyrics to the melody that Darcey was creating.

In this clip of the first draft of this song, you can see we added a harmony at the end as we considered having that as the motif used throughout the show; however, this ended up changing. At the time I was very pleased with my work on the lyrics for this song, as it felt very personal to me. After speaking with the team we decided that we wanted the other half of the song to be from Noah’s perspective, so this could become their motif throughout the show.

Personal circumstances forced a hiatus in the team’s collaborative writing process, so I attempted to write by myself. I found this very difficult as I didn’t have anyone to bounce ideas off. When it came to the week of the R&D process, we concluded it would be best for the three of us to spend a couple of days doing a writing session as that’s how we worked best – we produced four songs in one day. I was particularly pleased with Mabel’s song, as initially we wanted it to be about survivor’s guilt and how much loss Mabel has experienced. It ended up being an emotional ballad, which encapsulated how life can change in an instant, so don’t wish it away. This song also felt personal as the character, Mabel, was inspired by someone who has been a mentor to me; I used some of the advice she has given me in the lyrics of this song.

Finally, we created the last part of the motif between Noah and Archie. This was the moment they mutually decided to break up. When discussing what we wanted, we looked at the idea that they could potentially get back together in the future if the world was kinder to them.

In this clip, you hear the motif is a similar tune to the first song. We went on to complete this motif with one final section, which would be sung at the very end of the show by Noah, Lottie and Olive about being together again at some point. This is my proudest moment, as when it came to the performance, it resonated as a memorable and emotional song for the audience. 

When writing lyrics I recognised where my inspirations come from and how I work most effectively. Most of the lyrics were based on personal experiences or from previous pieces of my writing; this was an amazing gateway for me. I also benefited from working directly with the composer, as it allowed for us to bounce ideas off each other and agree on an intention for the song, while adapting for musical accuracy.

Social Media

I volunteered for social media as I have photography and graphic design experience through school and work with local theatre companies. I used this as a chance to go back to something I’m very passionate about. I do not have much experience of running a social media account, other than a page for my photography, using it only as a platform to upload my work.

I created the page on Instagram with a temporary logo using a template on a free editing app, as I waited for the hand-drawn final logo from Eve. I followed as many people as possible across our course and any other theatre connections I could find to try and get the name out there. Using Snapseed, an app I’d previously used, I did a few teaser stories to keep the account active while I edited some ‘meet the team’ posts. Each of the team sent me a photo they felt confident in as I wanted to keep the theme of this musical being personal to each creative; I then created these pieces below by layering text and drop-shadows onto the photographs.

I posted these the weekend before the R&D process, before posting consistently throughout the week. This created a lot of engagement on the page as it put faces to the musical, bringing in more followers from our personal Instagram pages. I created a content plan for the week aligned with rehearsals; this helped me keep on top of what photography and editing I needed. Most of my content was uploaded to the Instagram story, as they were smaller updates of what the creatives were up to with the cast.

I shot photos using a digital camera and edited them on Snapseed, so that we had some professional looking photos to post. I chose a black and white theme as we wanted to have a very clean look to the page to contrast with the complex issues of the musical. This is a challenge I faced; I didn’t want to promote the musical as something fun-filled, but I also didn’t want it to come across as completely depressing.

I created a ‘day in the life’ reel to illustrate the cast and how much effort was going into a single preparation day. I edited using Cap Cut after taking short clips throughout the day. I added text templates to explain what the cast were up to; finally I added simple instrumental music over the top. I chose to upload a video of me, Eve and Darcey singing a snippet of one of the songs. This ended up being the post that got the most engagement as it allowed followers to experience the show’s musical style, this video is attached when talking about lyrics. Below I have attached the ‘Day in the life’ video.

I enjoyed running the social media account as I learned what posts get more engagement; it helps to keep your musical recognisable amongst other musical accounts. However, due to the nature of the piece, it was difficult to get across the themes of the show through my content. Next time, I would focus on producing more content discussing themes such as mental health, grief, and relationships.

Financial and taking the show further

In terms of developing the show, we spoke about costs and how to keep this show personal when being performed in bigger venues. We wanted to keep the cast small, as we felt an ensemble would take away from the intimacy of the story. This would be good for us financially as we wouldn’t have to pay out for a large cast and associated costs, such as costumes. Our minimal set (table, chairs and a handful of props) would keep the costs low, while also underlining our desire to focus on the story

I would use paid-for video and photo editing programs such as Premier Pro and Photoshop. Social media would be key for a show as small scale as this. We are aware that due to the challenging themes of the show, it may limit the audience to whom it appeals.

Overall, this experience has opened many doors for me through writing lyrics and working as a team. The show feels very personal and is something I am very proud to be a part of and I hope to continue to be. I am much more aware of the level of work it takes to create a piece like this, no matter how many hands you have on deck. It taught me I am more capable of writing lyrics than I had originally believed myself to be, and I hope to take this skill forward in other projects and in my personal life. Social media will now continue to be something I use to brand myself and my work, especially as I am aware of what kind of content gets engagement. I have faced a lot of challenges in this process such as struggling to write lyrics without music at the same time; however, I feel this is a skill that will come with time and experience and feel more confident to develop this in the future.