Throughout this project, I have learned many valuable lessons and developed skills around being a creative, and what it means to take part in a show from concept to delivery. There were a number of challenges that I had to face whilst being a part of the creative team, such as time management, creative disputes, and handling logistics & organisation.

Conceptualisation

My initial idea for the project was to produce a musical that tackled serious issues in a way that was appropriate for most ages. Having recently watched the Netflix drama “Adolescence”, which is a commentary on knife crime in young people as well as the rise of misogyny in young men, I thought this topic would be challenging but could be rewarding if done well. My initial idea centred on a schoolgirl who presents herself as a put-together student living in an ideal world but under the surface, this is the opposite of the truth.  In reality, she is struggling with her self-esteem and feels like the world is against her. These feelings manifest themselves as aggressive (and occasionally actually violent) outbursts. Although she never visibly causes anyone any real harm, the intention is there throughout the show, and the audience is left guessing whether she commits any crimes.

When discussing ideas with the rest of the creative team, we eventually decided not to take this idea any further. The other creatives presented their own ideas which we believed would be easier to translate into a stage production. Ultimately, I think that my idea would be difficult to develop into a musical due to the nature of the themes. Whilst I still think it would be possible to do, it would take much more time than we had to properly cover the seriousness of the topic. I would consider trying to develop this idea further in the future, perhaps with the help of other creatives who also think the theme is worth exploring.

Making The Vampire Musical

The idea of producing a vampire musical loosely based on the TV show “What We Do In the Shadows” was an interesting one. On one hand, I have always loved the idea of vampires. On the other, I had never watched the show, so I was initially unsure of what tone the musical was going to hit. Since this was the concept we settled on as a team, I knew I would have to watch a few episodes of the show to make sure I understood the direction we were taking. I ended up really enjoying the show. This led to me wanting to be on Book and Main Director for the show, which the rest of the team allowed me to do.

Alongside these roles, I also had the opportunity to co-write the show with Katie. I thought this would help with my direction because it would mean that I had a better grasp on the storyline. As a company, we shared our initial thoughts on what a ‘vampire musical’ would look like; we all wanted it to be a dramedy (leaning more into the comedic side of things). I liked this idea, but I did want to make sure there was still a strong emotional storyline throughout the show to tie everything together and to keep the audience engaged.

My co-writer and I were set on the idea of having a single villain in this story alongside an ensemble of vampires. We wanted to do this to subvert expectations, as most people would expect the vampires to be the villains of any show – we wanted them to be more sympathetic characters. This, in itself, presented a challenge as vampires are often seen as amoral at best, which is a tough position for any person to sympathise with.

The next challenge we faced was choosing the names of the vampires. We wanted them to be generally recognisable as vampires without them being too “stereotypically vampire”. When Katie and I had decided on the names, I began to write the first draft of the show. In retrospect, I would not have chosen the names first as this delayed the rest of the creative process. I think we were so excited at the thought of writing our own musical that we jumped in headfirst without much planning. We had discussed some plot points but hadn’t decided how we were going to move between them. Originally, we wanted the show to take place in Transylvania, where our antagonist would try to kill our vampire ensemble. However, we could not decide on the reason why the villain would be doing this – every idea we had led to more plot holes that became too large to fill.

Katie and I discarded a lot of ideas through the writing process – both our own and ideas that others tried to contribute whilst we were writing the script. A lot of the ideas given to us either didn’t fit in with what was already written or couldn’t be adapted to fit the direction the story was taking. The lesson I would take from this is to be more open to ideas early in the production process but to be stricter with the team on when it is no longer helpful for productivity for them to contribute new ideas. Whilst I don’t necessarily think taking ideas in is bad, constant new ideas can confuse the writing and make a story incoherent at times.

During production, Katie and I asked Matt Bugg for advice – who, in this situation, was in kind support. In our discussions, he advised that our characters were too passive for the entirety of the show. He believed that they didn’t really impact the show; the story was happening to them rather than because of them. We made the decision to base the show around a small ensemble cast. This is because we wanted the audience to become emotionally invested in the characters and story; we felt this was easier for them to do with a smaller cast of characters. Part of the difficulty with this is that it is difficult for people to build emotional connections to amoral characters (as previously discussed).

Directing

Alongside being on the writing team for this show, I was also given the opportunity to be the main director. I had a lot of ideas about how I wanted to look but also had to make some tough decisions through the process of directing the show. I very quickly learnt that I had to be very organised and ensure that all sessions were structured to create a positive environment for the rest of the cast and crew.

At the beginning of the project, following the script writing, I organised meetings. The first of these took place before our Research & Development week. The initial rehearsals/pre-production meetings were in place to check where the rest of the crew were at in their process. For my own peace of mind, I thought it would be important to ensure that everyone was on track to complete their tasks prior to our first official rehearsal of the show. I also planned a read through of the script with the cast before rehearsals so the cast could get a feel for the show and try to develop their characters. We had a second read through that included listening to the songs, again so the cast had more of an idea about the tone of the show and knew how to better connect with the characters. I wanted to make sure that the cast understood the tension in some of their scenes so they were able to play their characters seriously rather than allowing the production to become too camp.

As previously mentioned, there were some difficulties throughout the preparation of the show that had to be dealt with. One major example was the fact that one of our cast members had some trouble in their personal life outside of the show. During this time, I took it upon myself to check in with them and confirm whether they were okay and still capable of playing one of our lead roles. I also offered the option of them taking a smaller role within the show. Ultimately, the cast member agreed to take the ensemble role. At this time, I had to decide which of our cast would fill their place. I made the decision to ask Freya, a first year, if she would like to take the role. This would be a large commitment on her part, so I left the decision up to her. I also asked Matt Bugg for more advice to be sure I was making the correct choice. We did have a plan in place for if Freya turned this down, in which case Katie would have filled the role.  

Finance

When directing the show, I didn’t think about the finances until the performance week was over. I was so focussed on creating the scenes and workshopping different ideas that the finances of a show weren’t at the forefront of my mind. It wasn’t until after the event that I looked back at my notes and realised that I had used a lot of props. For example, we stacked chairs to represent a doorway. In a professional production, I would want an actual doorway which would cost between £250-1000 to source online. We also used a sturdy wooden table and chairs in some of our scenes and dances, which would also be an added cost.

For the song “I Want to Fuck My Vampire Wife”, we had a piano on stage. I believe that buying a piano for the show would be far too expensive, so it would likely be more cost effective to rent one. If the show were running for a longer period of time, then the cost of renting long term vs buying would have to be considered.

If the show was to become a touring production, we would have to factor in the cost of transporting the set, props, and cast between venues. In larger scale productions, this is often done with the assistance of multiple trucks. For a production of this size, one van would likely be enough. For example, I have investigated van hire and have found that the cost of hiring a Luton Van with a tail lift from Nationwide Hire would start at £266.51 for a single day. [1][2] This cost may fluctuate based on how long we hired for and whether we had the vehicle hired for the entire run or on multiple occasions for transfer times.

A major cost that would need to be factored into the show would be the wages of the cast and crew. We had eleven people involved in our production. A number of these people were both cast and crew, with two being crew only and two being cast only. Everyone else performed both cast and crew roles. Realistically, in a touring performance, these would be entirely different teams and would command different rates of pay. These rates could be found on Equity.

During the performance, we had some in kind support from Rebecca Snowden [3], who photographed the performance. In this case, that cost would not have been added into the finances for the show however this would be something we’d have to consider if we developed the show further. Photographer’s rates would likely vary based on the type of work they were asked to do. We would need promotional shots alongside shots from rehearsals or actual performances.

Conclusion

To summarise, this project came with challenges, but it taught me how to work as part of a creative team whilst not being in the cast. It was a true effort from a group of people to produce this show from scratch to a standard that we were all happy with.

On reflection, I have found that I need to practice more patience to be more creative. I have learnt that ideas cannot be forced but rather developed. It was a challenge to get everyone on the same wavelength, especially when writing the script but seeing the pieces fall into place was rewarding.

If I were to start this project again, one thing I would put more effort into would be social media integrations. It would be nice to produce more content for social media throughout the project to gain more engagement and interest in the show.

Overall, I enjoyed the entire process of producing a show from scratch. I have found that directing is something I have a passion for and this is something I would like to explore further in the future.

Bibliography

[1] Nationwide Hire, online https://www.nationwidehireuk.co.uk/?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=27795698&gbraid=0AAAAAD6w7n4RELgRB8qBHc9CGkLxHS6lG&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIxMS1gOP-kwMVMJNQBh0SoQP7EAAYASAAEgIa1vD_BwE

[2] Nationwide Hire, online https://www.nationwidehireuk.co.uk/vans-for-hire/ford-luton-box-tail-lift/

[3] Snowden Snaps, online https://www.instagram.com/snowden_snaps/