EDDIE & JENNY Debuts at Exeter Phoenix in June

A new and original musical theatre production debuts with two performances at Exeter Phoenix in June, with a 12-strong cast, fantastic live blues band and an award-winning creative team.

Written by Danny McAvoy and directed by Leah Townley, Eddie & Jenny: The Blues Musical is a captivating love story that explores themes of homelessness, substance dependency and mental health issues.

The story follows Eddie (Lawrence Ballard) and Jenny (Alexandra Brown), whose paths cross after unfortunate circumstances leave them both lonely and afraid, surrounded by other 'shadow people' who, like them, have lost their way. An early version of Eddie & Jenny was broadcast as a serialised radio drama in 2022 to 200,000 listeners per episode across the UK and Ireland.

To ensure the story's themes are presented accurately and sensitively, the team are working in partnership with three charities - Together Drug & Alcohol Services, The Amber Foundation and Julian House - whose mission it is to support the real shadow people struggling everyday with addiction issues, homelessness and poor mental health.

In addition to the charities, the team behind Eddie & Jenny are also working with students from the University of Exeter, University of Plymouth and Exeter College, with performing arts students from all three organisations contributing to the show, either as cast members, or as assistants to the creative team, which includes Choreographer Lee Rath, Designer Belle Mundi, Stage Manager Imogen Jones, and Comedy Writer Peter Kelly.

Supported by Arts Council England National Lottery funding, Eddie and Jenny: The Blues Musical blends music, acting, dance and comedy in a way that is entertaining, engaging and educational. Guaranteed to get audiences dancing and singing along, whilst highlighting the issues and challenges faced by the Shadow People in the real world.

Danny McAvoy, Writer, Producer, Composer and Musical Director: "When I first created Eddie & Jenny, I was simply combining two passions of mine - blues music and musical theatre. But as the story unfolded, I felt a deep need to better understand the lives of the characters I'd imagined. I connected with Together Drug and Alcohol Services, Julian House and The Amber Foundation, and heard stories from the people they support that moved me profoundly, and inspired a major rewrite of the Eddie & Jenny script, adding 10 new characters drawn from the lives of the Shadow People.

Leah Townley, Director: "Having read lots of real-life, first person accounts of homelessness and addiction, I was taken aback by the truthfulness of the script, with many of the incidents I've read about being so accurately represented in the piece."

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