Guest Blog: Charles Hazlewood On Audience Participation in Kneehigh's UBU! A SINGALONG SATIRE

Charles Hazlewood, co-conceiver of Kneehigh's Ubu! A Singalong Satire, has created scores for many iconic Kneehigh shows, including Dead Dog in a Suitcase (and other love songs) and The Tin Drum. He has also founded the world's first large-scale professional ensemble of virtuoso musicians with disabilities, The British Paraorchestra, and conducted many of the world's other greatest orchestras.

I have long dreamed of a show where the audience would truly fulfil their side of the contract. Rather than simply sit in rapt gratitude/boredom/bafflement as it plays out in front of them, they could take their fulsome part in actually generating the action, and driving it forwards, through SONG!

The whole point of Kneehigh's Ubu is to rub away the fourth wall so that audience and storytellers become one. In this show, the audience plays an absolutely vital part of the narrative drive in pushing the story of the crazed despot Pa Ubu (played by the brilliant firebrand Katy Owen) forward.

It was immediately clear when we were creating Ubu that systemic wraparound tunes were needed - to advance and propel the story with a vital energy, and put the audience right at the centre as a catalyst to move things along. It's simple, really. What's not to like about, at regular points throughout the action, a spirited, lively and rampant audience crooning out a love ballad ("You Sexy Thing"), a war inciter ("For Those About To Rock, We Salute You"), an exercise in self-aggrandisement ("I'm Too Sexy For My Shirt") or a vomit of vanity ("I Did It My Way")?

A show with songs chosen specifically for maximum lung release, as well as for their function in driving the drama... and with an exquisite live band giving the crowd all the uplift and support they need.

This is our new show: it should be as satisfying as Massaoke, and eminently more useful. First and foremost, music is the most universal language that we have, way beyond any spoken dialect. For example, you can sing a tune to a child in Beijing and the same tune to a child in Cape Town - and no matter their different cultural background, they will hear some of the same truth in that melody. That's how universal it is.

Of course, it's something that on an animalistic level human beings can do and, in a way, feel compelled to do. We love music festivals (even in a country with a lot of rain) because it's something very basic we need to do; a big part of that is the mass singing along, this act of collective solidarity and love which generates a unity of joyous sound. We don't often have moments of connection where we can come together and really create an ocean of sound.

We love to sing at the football too. It helps the drama of the game! It certainly helps the team win, if our fans have the bigger vocal firepower. It's great cardiovascular exercise. But, more than that, it's about being part of the ultimate team, the ultimate democracy, where no one is more - or less - important than anyone else. It's healthy, generous, ebullient and communal; I genuinely believe that if all parliaments had to sing together in harmony before commencing the day's business, we'd have more flow, more consonance in our world. I can but dream.

When Ubu is really rocking, it feels like the roof is about to lift off. Every single person is totally and utterly connected, driving that story forward, making that chorus even bigger than the previous one. It's just a delight, isn't it? Pure great bacchanalian celebration. Sing the pants off, Ubu! You will feel amazing. And it'll make the show great too.

Find dates and venues for Ubu! A Singalong Satire here

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