MADE IN LDN to Return to The Cockpit This Sunday

Sunday May 8th marks the return of Interval Productions' MADE IN LDN season, which launched at The Cockpit last month. On the second Sunday of every month, Interval Productions' Creative Director Tori Allen-Martin will present an evening of brand new British Musical Theatre writing supported using public funding by Arts Council England.

Featured composer, Kara Taylor Albert will see her piece Second Hand's Gone come to life in a twenty minute excerpt, with book and direction being added by Interval Productions' Creative Director Tori Allen-Martin,

"I met with Kara and it became clear that she was happy writing the songs, but wanted to find a book writer and also find out how some of the themes in the piece could be brought to life on stage. So I suggested we play with that and discover what works, see what theatrical devises could be used to explore some of the other worlds she wanted to tap into. That's the beauty of this season; that we can tailor it to the artist where possible, which means that each week offers something different for the audience."

Choreography for Second Hand's Gone will be provided by Paris Green, with Natalie Green (Wicked - UK Tour, Parade - Southwark Playhouse), EJ Martin (In Lipstick - Arcola, A Midsummer Nights Dream - Arts Theatre, Casualty - BBC) and Andrew Hawley (Cuffs - BBC, The History Boys - West End and UK Tour) also joining the cast.

Interval Productions will also be sharing another excerpt from their multi-award nominated musical Another Way, which they have since re-developed and updated, featuring music by up and coming singer/songwriter 'Benedict', now part of band X&Y and book by Sarah Henley, with Direction from Jamie Jackson (Wink - Theatre503, Offie Nominated Best Director 2015, The Natives: A Musical -Old Vic Workshop). Joining the cast will be Alex Austin (Yen - The Royal Court/Royal Exchange), Aretha Ayeh (Doctors - BBC), Suzie McAdam (Legally Blonde - West End) and Patrick Harper (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels - UK Tour).

Completing the line up is singer-songwriter Luka Anthony Bjelis who will be performing some of his new material.

Explaining her decision to launch MADE IN LDN, Interval's founder and Creative Director Tori Allen-Martin said, "We wanted to create a collaborative environment where artists can thrive, and we are especially interested in work that sounds modern and commercial and that is set in the UK today. A lot of musical theatre fits a mould, and we're interested in seeing work that defies that. It's all tick boxes nowadays, but so few of us in 2016 fit into one, simple box. We want to find honest, raw, work that represents all shades, shapes, sizes and sexualities. We still have a long way to go ourselves but we're on the right path now and we want to invite some more likeminded individuals along for the ride. I'm so grateful to the Arts Council for backing this and also to the Cockpit who have always championed new work and offered us the platform to put on ours. I wish more venues and schemes would do the same, but I hope this venture will open some doors and shine a light on some of the incredible and diverse talent we have in this country, both on and off stage, particularly talent that might not look, act or sound like everybody or everything else."

Show date - Sunday 8th May at 5pm with tickets priced at £10 early bird and £15 standard/on the door and available now at: http://www.thecockpit.org.uk/show/made_in_ldn

Pictured: Suzie McAdam