In its new POWER season of politically charged productions for spring 2017, the Donmar Warehouse will premiere a new musical based on the 2015 collapse of controversial charity KIDS COMPANY and its 'relationship with Whitehall'. Who's accountable when something goes wrong? Consider the evidence...
Actor Hadley Fraser, Donmar Artistic Director Josie Rourke and composer Tom Deering have teamed up to create a new musical, edited from the transcript of a House of Commons Select Committee evidence session on Whitehall’s Relationship with Kids Company. The Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee Takes Oral Evidence on Whitehall’s Relationship with Kids Company. It will be directed by newly-appointed Artistic Director of Nottingham Playhouse, Adam Penford. It runs 24 June to 12 August 2017, with a press night on 3 July.
Commenting on the musical, Artistic Director Josie Rourke said:
“Finally in the Power Season, I have teamed up with Hadley Fraser, an actor I have had the immense pleasure of directing in several shows at the Donmar, including my current production of Saint Joan, along with the dazzling young composer Tom Deering. These two young artists are part of musical theatre’s future. Together, we are creating a new musical based on a House of Commons Select Committee evidence session about Whitehall’s Relationship with Kids Company. Directed by the brilliant Adam Penford, newly-appointed Artistic Director of Nottingham Playhouse, The Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee Takes Oral Evidence on Whitehall’s Relationship with Kids Company examines how civil society holds itself to account.”
“The objective of this session is not to conduct a show trial.
We want to learn some lessons.”
What happens when something goes wrong? Who holds us accountable? On 15 October 2015, as part of an inquiry into ‘The collapse of Kids Company’, Camila Batmanghelidjh and Alan Yentob gave evidence to The Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee. Hadley Fraser, Josie Rourke and composer Tom Deering have transformed that evidence session into a new musical.
This production has not been authorised by any participant or Parliament. We present it to you – the public – to consider how civic life in the UK is really governed. It is based on the Parliamentary transcript of the oral evidence session on 15 October 2015 and the words spoken by those participating in the Inquiry.
Creative bios
Tom Deering (Composer) makes his Donmar Warehouse debut as composer for The Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee Takes Oral Evidence on Whitehall’s Relationship with Kids Company. His recent theatre work as Music Supervisor includes The Grinning Man (Bristol Old Vic), Jesus Christ Superstar (Regents Park), and the Oliver Award winning In the Heights (King’s Cross Theatre). He was named as an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music in the 2016 honours list.
Hadley Fraser (Book and lyrics) returns to the Donmar having appeared in James Graham’s play for stage and television The Vote, and Josie Rourke’s productions of Saint Joan, City of Angels and Coriolanus. He also appeared in The Machine, also directed by Rourke, for the Donmar co-production with the Manchester International Festival and Park Avenue Armory, New York. His recent theatre credits include A Long Days Journey into Night (Bristol Old Vic), as well as The Winter’s Tale and Harlequinade (The Kenneth Branagh Company at the Garrick Theatre). He has played Marius and, later, Javert in the West End production of Les Misérables and appeared in Tom Hooper’s acclaimed film adaptation. In 2012, Fraser played Raoul in the 25th Anniversary Concert of The Phantom of the Opera, which was broadcast around the world. Other theatre credits include The Pajama Game (Chichester Festival Theatre), The Fantasticks (Duchess Theatre) and Assassins (Sheffield Crucible). For TV he has recently starred in Decline and Fall for the BBC and Him for ITV. Film credits include The Legend of Tarzan. Together with Ramin Karimloo, he writes, records and performs music as SHEYTOONS and recently released his first solo recording Just Let Go. Fraser is a patron of the Performance Preparation Academy in Guildford and is an Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music.
Josie Rourke (Book and lyrics) is the Artistic Director of the Donmar Warehouse where she is currently directing Saint Joan. For the Donmar Josie’s productions include the world premiere of Nick Payne’s new play Elegy; Les Liaisons Dangereuses, which was broadcast live in cinemas around the world in partnership with National Theatre Live, nominated for the Olivier Award for Best Revival and is currently running at the Booth Theatre, New York, until January 2017; The Vote, which was broadcast live nationwide on television on the night of the 2015 UK election to an audience of half a million and nominated for a BAFTA; City of Angels, which received the Olivier Award for Best Musical Revival; Privacy, a new play created by James Graham and Josie Rourke; Coriolanus, which was broadcast live in cinemas in partnership with National Theatre Live and for which Tom Hiddleston won the Evening Standard Award for Best Actor; The Weir, which transferred to Wyndham’s Theatre; The Machine at Manchester International Festival and at Park Avenue Armory, New York; Berenice; The Physicists; The Recruiting Officer; Frame 312; World Music; and The Cryptogram. A new production of Privacy, written by James Graham and created by James Graham and Josie Rourke, featuring Daniel Radcliffe, played at The Public Theater, New York this summer. Her additional theatre credits include Much Ado About Nothing at Wyndham’s Theatre, nominated for the Olivier Award for Best Revival; Men Should Weep at the National Theatre; Twelfth Night at Chicago Shakespeare; Crazyblackmuthafuckin’self, Loyal Women at the Royal Court; King John at the Royal Shakespeare Company; and The Long and the Short and the Tall and Kick for Touch at Sheffield Theatres. Rourke was previously Artistic Director of the Bush Theatre, which was named Theatre of the Year under her leadership. At the Bush Theatre, her credits include the premiere of If There Is I Haven’t Found it Yet by Nick Payne.
Adam Penford (Director) makes his Donmar Warehouse debut as director for The Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee Takes Oral Evidence on Whitehall’s Relationship with Kids Company. He has recently been appointed Artistic Director of the Nottingham Playhouse. He was Revival Director on One Man Two Guvnors (West End/ NY and Tour) and Associate Director of the NT 50th Anniversary Gala (NT and BBC). His theatre credits include The Boys in the Band (Park Theatre and UK Tour); A Small Family Business, Is There Wi-Fi in Heaven and Island (National Theatre), Platinum (Hampstead) and Unfaithful (Found111). Other theatre credits include Watership Down (Watermill Theatre), Deathtrap (Salisbury Playhouse), Ghost The Musical (ETF), Stepping Out (Salisbury Playhouse), The Machine Gunners and Run! (Polka Theatre), The Hostage (Southwark Playhouse), Young Woody and Tea and Sympathy (Finborough Theatre).
