EDINBURGH 2016: BWW Q&A - The Miserables

BWW speaks to writer Nicola Masters about her new musical The Miserables ahead of its run at the 2016 Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

What can you tell us about The Miserables?

It's a parody of Les Miserables, which is set in an office where the employees hate their jobs and everybody is miserable. It's basically a very elaborate pun, really. I bloody love a pun.

What inspired you to write it?

I wrote one of the songs, which was a version of "I Dreamed a Dream", when I was working as a receptionist and hating life a few years ago. I was planning to use it as part of a standup set, but I never got around to it. And then once I'd had a few more office jobs I realised that there were lots of similarities between workplaces, even though the environments themselves were so different. That got me thinking an office would be a great setting for a Fringe show. As soon as I started writing it all came pouring out. I became the worst kind of person as I'd be walking around tube stations with a notebook in my hand at rush hour, suddenly stopping to write down lyrics. I have since embraced Voice Notes on my phone and I'm sure London thanks me.

What kind of songs can we expect to hear?

Well, there's the aforementioned version of "I Dreamed a Dream", which is from the point of view of someone who got stuck working in admin because she didn't really know what she wanted to do with her life, and then there's loads of other very familiar tunes that run the gamut of subjects from bad managers to workplace arguments and even online dating. And these are all being performed by an insanely talented group of people who have made them sound a thousand times better than when I first came up with them (and I was pretty proud of them when I first came up with them, if I'm honest).

Is this your first time at the Fringe?

It is. I've been going to Edinburgh for years as an audience member and loving every second of it, but I've always had friends who've been up with shows and I've been incredibly jealous of them, in a nice, supportive, "Oh my god I secretly want to be you, why aren't you more worried about paying the bills?" kind of a way. Every time I go I come back with vague ideas about my own show, but for some reason last year I really stuck to it. I promised myself I was coming back with a show next time, and I started writing as soon as I got home. I suddenly had no question at all that 2016 was going to be my year, and here we are.

Who would you recommend The Miserables to?

Anybody who's ever had a job, basically. In previews we had everyone from people who work in super-hip startups, to NHS employees, to bankers coming up to us and saying "Oh my god, I can't believe you've written a show about my workplace", so what we're doing is really universal. People seem to like sharing their stories after the show and I love that. I like to think I'm running a small musical theatre-based support group now.

Ticket information and timings for The Miserables is available on the edfringe website.

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