Interview: 'It Feels Right To Be Doing Both': Director and Choreographer Lizzi Gee on Taking on Fan Favourite RIDE THE CYCLONE

Over a decade after its world premiere, Ride the Cyclone will be making its European premiere in November at Southwark Playhouse. Written by Jacob Richmond and Brooke Maxwell, the musical tells the tale of six teenagers in a school choir who are killed on a roller coaster called The Cyclone and are given the chance to come back to life by The Amazing Karnak. 

Recently, we had the chance to speak with Lizzi Gee, who is both the director and choreographer for this production of Ride the Cyclone. We discussed what it has been like taking on both of these creative roles, how it feels to be working on the European premiere of the work and what she hopes audience members will take away from the show as a whole. 

How did you first get started in the world of theatre?

I was a performer for about five years, and trained at musical theatre college, went into Sunset Boulevard on a big UK tour, which Peter Darling was the choreographer of at the time. I made a good relationship with him, and then started doing assistant work, as well as performing and choreographing on the fringe and choreographing for third year graduation shows at ArtsEd and places like that.

My dream was always to become a choreographer - the performing was something that I needed to do to get out of my system - but I also didn't want that to be the end goal. I'm just grateful for the work and to be creating and collaborating. But I do like being on the other side of the table, rather than being the one on the stage doing the performing. And then I had opportunities where directors and choreographers that I had assisted recommended me for work. I got my first show, and went on to the next show as a choreographer, and then I went from there! So I feel very fortunate to now be twenty years in the industry as a choreographer, and it’s my third show as a director within a year! It's great to be moving and progressing into new avenues that I never expected I would go into.

And what made you want to be a part of Ride the Cyclone? Had you been familiar with the show?

I didn't know the show! The producers came to me. They had seen The Lightning Thief that I had done at The Other Palace and said, “Would you mind reading the scripts and having a listen to the soundtrack?” I didn't know, so, I spoke to other people about it, and they were like, “Oh my gosh, Ride the Cyclone is huge!” “Really? I know nothing about it!” But, sadly, that is a generational thing of where I'm at with my age and the people that I was talking to about it. And then the moment you dig deeper, you realise that this is a huge, beautiful, lovely fan base of the show, a bit like Lightning Thief does.

It has this huge cult following and an almost IP that needs protecting whilst you're recreating your vision for it. So it came to me, rather me coming to it, but it was amazing to be able to read it and sit with it and be like, “Whoa. This is so beautifully crazy, bonkers, heartfelt . . .  So many messages within the songs and the subtext of the show about our own life and the fragility of mortality! 

And for those who might be unfamiliar with Ride the Cyclone, can you tell us a bit about it? 

So it starts off with six teenagers who die in a rollercoaster, and they find themselves in this limbo because Karnak, the fortune-telling machine who lives within this fairground, was set on Family Fun mode, so when they visited Karnak, they weren't told that they were about to plummet to their death on this roller coaster that ends up breaking. He is reawakened by Virgil, this rat that is chewing his way through the cable of Karnak’s mechanical booth. And he has ninety minutes - which is the length of the show! - to do something good, to decide to bring one of these students back and have a full life again, because he feels slightly guilty that he couldn't give them the truth about their fortune. He just said, “You shall ride The Cyclone.” 

So it's an opportunity for these six candidates to come forward, and they have a series of 11 o'clock numbers where they're saying why it needs to be them to go back and to have a life well-lived. Within those six numbers, each song is uniquely different in terms of arrangement - it's got a real eclectic mix of genres! These kids have got these wild, vivid imaginations, and they get wilder as the characters are introduced! They all start to learn a bit about themselves as they're listening to each other's songs.

Time is also something that we really lean into - acceptance and how we use our time. Leaning into that is so beautiful, and that connects with theatre and how we sit and share this phenomenal, bold, colourful, creative imagination that we're rocketing everyone into within this short timeframe of this show. It's very emotional as well. We laugh, we cry and it makes us think. 

What is it like to be taking on both the roles of director and choreographer for this show?

This is similar to why I took on board Lightning Thief - it feels like quite a sung-through show. Obviously, there are scenes within it, but physically, this show feels like it's one cohesive language, so it's not big book scenes, and then the number starts. Everything is intertwined - how they move, how they react with each other physically. And it feels right to be doing it as both roles, because I can see a real journey for the movement throughout the whole show.

Each number is so different in terms of choreographic languages! They're all strong narrative stories within the numbers. It feels like it's coming from the same point of view each time with it coming from the director's POV, rather than someone else having a different angle on how it might be staged. So it feels right to be doing both.

And what is it like to be taking on a show with such a dedicated fan base?

That's something I've had in the back of my mind, even with my designer, Ryan [Dawson] Laight. We're not trying to take a show and totally twist it and make it new. I did want to make sure that we were serving the piece, but also finding a fresh way of of telling this story. It feels like being handed the keys to a really beloved rollercoaster with a new track. You've got the same ride, but you've potentially got a new journey - a new track with new twists and ups and downs within it. It feels like this show has such a beloved place in many people's hearts, so it's trying to find a way to reawaken it. It's about keeping the heart and honouring the strange beauty and humour within it. 

I like to make the audience feel like they're sat within the world, because this theatre that we're putting the show on is unlike any space it's been in before. The Southwark [Playhouse] Elephant is a big thrust, so it's about leaning into that and leaning into the space and environment that we're making the show within. How can we make the audience feel like they're on the ride with us? So the staging will be new, the choreography will be new, and we've got seven phenomenal actors that are bringing their new take to it. 

How have the rehearsals been going so far?

Really good! They've done really well, and we're in a really good place. I like to be able to get a rough shape of everything in the first couple of weeks, so then you can go back and fine-tune and find new things that you'll have discovered from getting to the end. Sometimes even just getting to the end of a book, you learn new things about your character and can then go back and start to implement from the beginning. So I'm looking forward to having a rough sketch of the whole show so we can then do the fine detail work - go back and really dig in. And you're learning something new every day!h

Do you have a favourite character so far? 

That's interesting, isn't it? I think the character that has the strongest sort of journey to make is Ocean. Baylie [Carson], they play Ocean, they're amazing. You feel like you've struck gold with casting - this cast is super special! They all do feel very suited to their roles. But Ocean has this journey of discovery of herself as well... So there's a gorgeous arc for that character. But I love them all.

It's also the songs as well, right? “Space Age Bachelor Man,” I’m so excited to get that on its feet in rehearsals! One of my favourite songs is “Sugar Cloud.” It's that whole thing of saying, “What would you say to your younger self?” It’s Constance [Robyn Gilbertson] going, “I had a good life. I had nothing to be sad about. I felt that it was a bad thing to love my parents and my town and my job because they're not cool.” It's the acceptance of going, “Everything was good. I don't need to go back. I'm very grateful for the things I did with my life.” So her song resembles such acceptance. I just love singing that song!

What do you hope audiences take away from Ride the Cyclone?

I hope that they have a little think about how we spend our time, and our busy lifestyles. The world is always turning. The clock is always ticking. But we can't outrun time. Time is the one thing we can't beat - it will always outrun us. It's what we do with our time.

And that's the thing of reflecting back on our own experiences. I wonder what might happen if we carve [out] the time to have those conversations. They say a beautiful bit of the song at the end of the show, “Just take a look around. Take a look around.” I'm going to lean a bit into the audience at that point, going, “This is for everyone to share.” If we could have a crystal ball, would that change how we live our lives? I don't want them going out crying, obviously, but there's definitely a lovely message of connecting to our own experiences.

And finally, how would you describe Ride the Cyclone in one word?

Wild! A wild ride - wildly imaginative, wildly funny, wildly bonkers.