Stephen Keeling
Composer
@keeling_stephen
Book and lyrics by Michelle Magorian
Music by Stephen Keeling
Musical arrangements by George Venner
March 2024: Updated piano and orchestral score and libretto with fresh new layout
This musical is about five people who are stuck, or at an impasse in their lives. The experience of living together on a yacht and being stranded in a life raft forces them to wake up and to open up. And it changes them.
September 1998. The Hamble. Guy, the skipper of a wooden sloop, is taking four holiday-makers for a week's sailing. His mixed ability crew, all strangers, who normally would not give each other five minutes of their time find themselves stranded in a life raft after their boat is mown down by another vessel. While they wait for a gadget called the EPIRB to give the coast guards their position, the five of them open up to one another as they wait to be rescued.
CHARACTERS
GUY: Late thirties. Down to earth. Middle class. Ex-Navy. Relaxed, but a dynamo when in action.
ANTONIA: Mid thirties. Middle class. Emotional. Energetic.
MARCUS: University educated working class. Late twenties. Quick witted. An optimist.
BRENDA: Upper middle class. Anxious. Apologetic. Early fifties.
JOHN: Lugubrious. Acerbic. Northern. Working class. Forties. A depressive.
ABOUT THE SHOW
This new musical has book and lyrics by Michelle Magorian, the award-winning author of Goodnight Mister Tom.
The first ever complete reading took place at The Actors Centre in London on November 30th 2016.
Several of the songs were recorded in February 2017 at Goldsmiths Music Studios by Meredith Braun as Antonia,
Lewis Rae as John, Marilyn Cutts as Brenda, Benjamin Froehlich as Guy and Daniel Lillie as Marcus. The original
demo was recorded by Lana Green, Heather Cairncross, Rob Kearley, Russell Wilcox and Laurence Wythe and can be heard on SoundCloud via the link above.
Sound engineers - John Milner, and Sean Woodlock at Goldsmiths Music Studios.
Listen to The Man In My Life (John and Brenda) and Love You (Guy and Antonia).
RECORDING THE DEMO WITH MEREDITH BRAUN AND BENJAMIN FROEHLICH
