Last Updated on 22 May 2021 by Showcall Editorial Team
Ben Barrow and Lucy Ireland’s new musical, From Here, will have its world premiere in London with a cast including Grace Mouat and Andrew Patrick-Walker
New British musical From Here will have its world premiere at London’s Chiswick Playhouse this summer, starring Grace Mouat and Andrew Patrick-Walker.
Billed as a “contemporary song-cycle”, it has been created by new writers Ben Barrow and Lucy Ireland, two actor-musicians who have formed a writing partnership. It will run in Chiswick from 1 to 31 July.
It is directed by Annabelle Hollingdale who was resident director on Spring Awakening at Manchester’s Hope Mill Theatre and assistant director on Heathers The Musical at The Other Palace in London.
Mouat has appeared in Six at the Arts Theatre and & Juliet at the Shaftesbury Theatre as well as Hair at the Turbine Theatre in Battersea while Patrick-Walker was in Bat Out of Hell at the London Coliseum, Brooklyn at Greenwich Theatre and Hair at Hope Mill Theatre.
They will be joined by Nicola Espallardo, whose credits include The Pirate Queen at the London Coliseum and Les Misérables at the Gielgud Theatre, and Aidan Harkins who was also in The Pirate Queen as well as The Importance of Being Earnest at Cirencester’s Barn Theatre and the Turbine Theatre and Closer to Heaven at Above The Stag.
From Here: A New British Musical explores how reaching for the end of one chapter, or the beginning of the next, may not always provide us with the results we expect, asking the question: Do we long more for a happy ending or for a new beginning?
From struggling to find friends in a school playground, to first dates, to learning to live again after finding yourself alone, the show’s often musically-interwoven stories tell of characters trying to decide whether to run headfirst into trying again or whether to stay put and hold fast.
The song-cycle is described as a “poetically conversational guide”, offering the perfect opportunity for audiences to reflect on where they are and where they’re going – and, as we navigate out of a pandemic, it offers a chance to appreciate the middle of a moment too.
Lucy Ireland said: “The characters and the themes in the show all look at different situations and how the characters deal with them personally. We go on a journey with each individual and see how they process their situation and decide to act upon it.
“This show is timely and relevant to our current situation, but will be timeless in the years to come and therefore suitable for all.”
