FAKING BAD and HALLS Come to The Turbine Theatre This Summer

The Turbine Theatre, at Battersea Power Station will bring Halls, a new musical directed by Andy Fickman (Heathers) and written by Jennifer Harrison and George Stroud, to audiences from 07 July.

Having previously been performed at MTFest 2022 in workshop form, this summer will see the production in the next stage of its development.

Centring around eight first-year, university students, from different backgrounds and upbringings, who are brought together when they're all allocated the same flat in Halls of Residence, Flat 15B.

The show follows the characters over the course of the academic year, exploring the relationships they form, as they learn to live together whilst experiencing student life.
Freshers week, exam stress, the cost of student living, and romance, are all key themes in this coming-of age-story. Laugh, and cry, as the flatmates find their feet in a world where their decisions are now entirely their own. The upbeat, contemporary, pop-rock soundtrack mirrors the sense of nostalgia that the show evokes.

What does development production mean?

The Turbine Theatre is a space for new work to be tried out. A safe space where writers and creatives have the time and environment to play. This means that the creative team will be working on the material and fine-tuning it during its run.

All production elements (sound/lighting/set/costume etc ) are there to give you an idea of what the show will be in a more realised scenario as opposed to it feeling 'finished'. Most importantly, the way our audiences engage with the show will dictate how it develops so do come along and be a crucial part of this exciting journey as Halls evolves.

Ten years after the award winning TV show, Breaking Bad, hit our screens comes: Faking Bad - The Unauthorised Parody Methsical.

Written by Rob Gathercole and directed by Andrew Beckett, the show arrives on the Turbine Theatre stage from 17 August.

Breaking Bad is widely considered one of the best TV shows of the 21st Century. Similarly this very unauthorised tribute to it, Faking Bad is (predicted) to be one of the most stupid and best pieces of musical theatre to ever grace a stage!

The production will feature actor-musicians who, against the backdrop of an old industrial tunnel, condense the epic story of a lost chemistry teacher into a one act musical comedy.

This all singing, all dancing methsical contains a ridiculous array of musical styles and theatrical tropes to speed through 62 hours of television in under 90 minutes, with the promise to keep the audiences laughing, on this joyous ride through the desert! We promise it won't be dry and there will be Mexican hats...maybe maracas!

Come jump in our RV for this chaotic and zany tribute to one of the best written binges this century.

HALLS

Jennifer Harrison (Lyrics and Book) is a writer and lyricist who is working in both the creative and corporate worlds.

She has written lyrics for adverts, production music and artists, covering a range of genres including Children's TV, Hip-Hop and more traditional styles. Most recently Jennifer's lyrics were featured on BBC's new show 'Phoenix Rise'.

With George, Jennifer co-owns Phoenix Youth Productions Ltd, a theatre school based in Guildford boasting over 80 students from ages 7-19.

As a Copywriter, Jennifer works with MPowered Mortgages producing written content including video scripts, blogs, and press articles.

George Stroud (Music and Book) is a British composer working in musical theatre, film, tv and game.

He has most recently worked on Disney's Live Action remake of The Little Mermaid as Additional Orchestrator. At the start of 2022 he worked on Netflix's We Lost Our Human, as programmer, orchestrator and assistant composer. George has written for many Production Music labels including Universal, BMG, Score and Reliable Source Music and therefore has had his music feature on television all over the world.

With Jennifer, he co-owns a youth theatre in Guildford, Surrey called Phoenix Youth Productions Ltd and acts as the Musical Director for the company.

Andy Fickman (Director) award-winning director, writer and producer, whose work spans across film, television, theater and digital.

Fickman's recent film is the romantic dramedy, One True Loves, based on the best-selling novel by Taylor Jenkins Reid.

In conjunction with Bill Kenwright Studios and Village Roadshow, Fickman recently directed and produced the stage capture of his award-winning show, Heathers the Musical for which the stage show is currently selling out at The Other Palace in London, having had two previous successful West End runs at the Theatre Royal Haymarket, receiving several West End nominations and awards, including a win for WhatsOnStage's Best New Musical. Heathers has also embarked on its second UK/Ireland tour.
Before its transfer to London, the show had a successful New York run at New World Stages, where it was nominated for multiple Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, and Lortel awards. The show first started in Los Angeles to sold out, standing room only audiences.

He directed and executive produced all episodes of The Crew for Netflix and starting Kevin James. Fickman also helmed She's The Man (Paramount - Winner of Best Comedy at the Teen Choice Awards) as well as Sony's box office hit movie, Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2, which was nominated for multiple Teen Choice Awards, including Best Comedy

Other directing credits include: Christmas Again (Disney); Playing with Fire (Paramount); Parental Guidance (Fox/Walden Media) You Again (Disney), The Game Plan (Disney) and Race to Witch Mountain (Disney).

Fickman directed and executive produced two seasons of Kevin Can Wait for Sony TV and CBS. - nominated for two People's Choice Awards.
Other television directing credits include episodes of No Good Nick, Recovery Road, The Odd Couple, Hellcats, Austin and Ally, and Aliens in America, alongside four seasons of the Emmy Award-winning Liv and Maddie for Disney Channel which he also executive produced.

He was a producer on Sony's hit film Anaconda as well as Paramount's Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse.

Further directed and produced credits include Reefer Madness: The Musical for Showtime, which premiered at Sundance and went on to win an Emmy Award (with three Emmy nominations), as well as the Premiere Award at the Deauville Film Festival. Prior to that, he'd directed the stage versions in both Los Angeles and New York, which won him Best Director awards at the Ovation Awards and Drama Critics Awards.

Fickman's other stage works include the smash hits Jewtopia and Sneaux! which won him Best Director awards from LA Weekly. Early in his career, he co-founded the critically acclaimed Fountainhead Theatre Company.

FAKING BAD

Rob Gathercole (Writter) is an actor, musician, composer and writer.

His writing credits include the previous iteration of Faking Bad, Say My Name! - The Unauthorised Parody Musical, which is available to listen to on Spotify and all other streaming platforms.

He also composes music for family musicals with Immersion Theatre. As a performer, his credits include Saul Goodman in Say My Name!, Jeremy in Dreamboats and Petticoats (UK Tour) and Bob Cratchit in A Christmas Carol (Goblin Theatre).

Andrew Beckett (Director) was Artistic Director at Above The Stag Theatre, helming a string of hits including nine critically acclaimed pantomimes (and an upcoming panto at The Charing Cross theatre, 2023), the award-winning production of Grindr: The Opera (Best New Musical, Off West End Awards) and a revival of Jonathan Harvey's Boom Bang-A-Bang. He recently directed the smash-hit Ghosted: Another F***ing Christmas Carol at The Other Palace Theatre. At Theatre Royal Windsor he directed Handbagged, Wuthering Heights and Joking Apart, and he has directed classic plays of all genres for Paul Taylor Mills' rep seasons across the UK.

Paul Taylor-Mills (He/Him) (Producer) is the Artistic Director of both The Turbine Theatre at The Battersea Power Station and The Other Palace Theatre, London. He has worked as Advisory Producer to Andrew Lloyd Webber and The Really Useful Group.

Stage credits include: At the Turbine Theatre - My Son's A Queer (But what can you do?) (The Garrick, Ambassadors Theatre - Olivier Nominated, Best Entertainment or Comedy Play); Eugenius!; But I'm A Cheerleader, My Night with Reg, MTFestUK 2021, 2022 and 2023, Cinderella: The Socially Distanced Ball, Hair (part of the Turbine on the Jetty Season), Torch Song, High Fidelity and Cat In The Hat.

Elsewhere, Heathers the Musical at the Theatre Royal Haymarket and currently running at The Other Palace (winner of the WhatsOnStage Best New Musical Award), Murder For Two at the Watermill Theatre and The Other Palace, Cake the UK Tour, The Wild Party at The Other Palace, European Premiere of Disney's Peter and the Starcatcher at the Royal & Derngate, Northampton, Side Show at Southwark Playhouse, The Last Five Years at the St. James Theatre (winner of the WhatsOnStage Award for Best Off-West End Production) End of The Rainbow on UK Tour, In The Heights at Kings Cross Theatre and Southwark Playhouse (winner of three Olivier Awards), Casa Valentina at Southwark Playhouse, Carrie The Musical at Southwark Playhouse (winner of The WhatsOnStage Off West End Award), and Associate Producer on The Importance of Being Earnest starring David Suchet on UK Tour and the Vaudeville Theatre.