Programme Announced For BEAM2018 The Biennial Industry Showcase Of New British Musical Theatre

Musical Theatre Network and Mercury Musical Developments today announce the programme selected from their pitching days held around the UK between September and November for BEAM2018. Fifty-eight of the new British musicals pitched at these days have been selected to be shared at the biennial industry showcase which will next year be held at Theatre Royal Stratford East on 1 and 2 March. BEAM is designed for anyone in a position to help develop and stage new British musicals to attend, bringing the most exciting musical theatre projects together from around the UK for industry professionals to grab the opportunity to become involved from the early stages of development.

The pitching days, spanning 250 miles across the UK, saw 298 applications, more than double the applications for BEAM2016. Writers have been selected for BEAM2018's 58 slots at the showcase in March, made up of fifty 10-minute pitches and eight 25-minute extracts from new musicals, constituting the largest national showcase of new British musicals in development. BEAM is presenting a programme consisting of 50% gender split/parity and 20% writers of BAME heritage. Of the work shared at BEAM2016, 60% have since received further development or been fully staged.

Each writing team has created a short video about their piece which have just gone live on twitter - and you can see using the hashtag #BEAM2018

A few examples are:

https://twitter.com/twitter/statuses/942728735819788288

https://twitter.com/ajayhq/status/942730458118459394

https://twitter.com/ttj1/status/942730668479582208

https://twitter.com/cocombassi/status/942725289884487680

https://twitter.com/naomistirrat/status/942721025829195776

Executive Director of Musical Theatre Network, James Hadley and Executive Director of Mercury Musical Developments, Victoria Saxton said today "Having travelled across the UK we can say with certainty that there is a renaissance of talent and confidence and craft in new British musical theatre writing. The overall rise in level of quality in the pitches we saw were evidence that we are no longer in the shadow of the American Broadway tradition. Artists around the UK are developing their own distinct voices as writers of original musical theatre. The pitches we saw were significantly more diverse compared to two years ago, both in terms of artists' cultural heritage and in terms of the musical styles pitched. The work that grass root organisations such as ours are doing, along with the increase in artistic directors and producers putting long term investment into the development of new musical theatre, is paying off. We cannot wait to share the work of the writers we have discovered with the industry at BEAM2018."

The programme consists of 58 new British musicals in development: announced 'Bollywood Rose' by Sumerah Srivastav and Ajay Srivastav, 'Christmas Already' by Jim Barne and Kit Buchan, 'The Wind Singer' by Teresa Howard and Sarah Llewellyn, 'Lucky Petra' by Christopher Ash and Carl Miller, 'The Bow' by Finn Anderson, 'F**ked in Marrakech' by Alex Young and Kate Marlais, 'Mammoth' by Matthew Herbert and Alexandra Wood, 'My Marcello' by Rosabella Gregory, Dina Gregory, and Corey Burnish, and fifty new musicals pitched by their writers: Dylan Wynford, Sevan K Greene, John Victor, Emily Rose Simons, Emily ClaireSchmitt, Natasha Hodgson, Zoe Roberts, Harry Blake, Amir Shoenfeld, Stan Hodgson, Meghan Doyle, Getrude Veremu, Mark Powell, Ben Occhipinti, Gavin Brock, Nichola Rivers, Dom James, Tom Rylls, Stephanie Singer, Laurel Haines, Rebecca Applin, Pete Ashmore, Coco Mbassi, Greg Davidson, Chris Coxon, Sonali Bhattacharyya, Theo Jamieson, Firdos Ali, Izo Fitzroy, Matt Borgatti, Mary Erskine, Will Dollard, Ross Millard, Maria Crocker, Katherine Gotts, Maureen Chadwick, Donald Rice, Eva Rice, Craig Adams, Lee Whitelock, Gabriela Garcia, Jack Murray, Shonagh Murray, Kirsty Findlay, Naomi Stirrat, Mike Scott-Harding, Rob Castell, Francine Morgan, Cordelia O'Driscoll, Tom Williams, Paul Montgomery, Graeme Cameron, Stephen Smith, Paul Milligan, Mark Aspinall, Tasha Taylor-Johnson, Phil Cornwell, Adam Taylor, Dillie Keane, Julie Clare, Carol Russell, Christian Czornyi, Rebecca Grant, Giles Fernando, Sara Eker, Shane Solanki, Tim Connor, Sue Pearse, Liam O'Rafferty, Andrew Dyer, Hannah Jarret-Scott, Shona White, Lisbee Stainton, Benjamin Till, Jay Cameron, Emily Aboud, Dougal Irvine, Elizabeth Carter, Josef Pitura-Riley, Shuang Teng, Matthew Lim, Mingyu Lin, Barnaby Hallam, Tamara Saringer, David Tse, Chris Chan, Gus Rowland, David Kent, Darren Clarke, Rhys Jennings and Eamonn O'Dwyer.

Musical Theatre Network brings people and resources together to improve infrastructure and opportunities for new musical theatre in the UK. Its membership is a national network of venues, producers, colleges, organisations and individuals. In partnership with its members, MTN works to strengthen and diversify the new musical theatre sector nationwide, and so support development of the artform.

Mercury Musical Developments is the UK's only membership organisation dedicated to developing new musical theatre writing. We nurture and support the work of bookwriters, lyricists and composers through a series of initiatives including workshops, masterclasses and showcasing opportunities. Join our growing community of over 400 members and be part of the conversation shaping the future of musical theatre writing.

Tickets to BEAM2018 are now available via Theatre Royal Stratford East's website: www.stratfordeast.com