Interval Productions and The Cockpit Present MADE IN LDN

On the second Sunday of every month from March until June, Interval Productions and The Cockpit, will present an evening of brand new British musical theatre writing supported using public funding by Arts Council England.

The season will be curated and presented by Interval Productions Creative Director Tori Allen-Martin who founded the company in 2009. Each week will feature a One Act showcase performance or highlights from brand new musicals in development, and also a 'spotlight on' for at least one composer or song-writing duo. Meaning that each event features brand new work from at least two exciting new London based writing talents, resulting in a varied and dynamic evening of entertainment.

Interval Productions and The Cockpit are now beginning their search for new talent in order to programme this exciting season. Not only will writers have their work performed at The Cockpit, a brilliant 170 seater theatre and creative hub in Central London; they will also receive mentoring, advice and feedback from multi-award nominated Interval Productions, who will be on hand from start to finish in order to help the writers shape their work into something performance ready.

Interval are accepting submissions for the next month and all details are on their website - www.madeinldn.net. All writers who apply (regardless of whether their work is picked) will have the opportunity to attend an Interval Productions Masterclass, where they will receive advice and Q&A sessions from Arts Council England and OffWestEnd.com, with more to be announced.

As well as providing writers with a platform, Interval plan to stick to their usual approach of mixing established West End talent with up and coming performers when casting each show, find out how to apply via their website. Already true to their word and always keen to diversify musical theatre, acts confirmed for the launch are Vince Kidd, a finalist in the first season of the BBC's The Voice, newcomer Liberty Buckland, pegged as 'One to Watch' after her debut performance in 'Yarico' at The London Theatre Workshop last year left her with a Broadway World nominated for 'Best Leading Actress in a Musical' and West End favourite Sabrina Aloueche (We Will Rock You, Les Miserables), with many, many more to be announced.

"It's so hard to actually get work on, particularly in this country. There are a lot of gatekeepers who aren't keen on change, and theatre is expensive so the risks venues and producers are prepared to take on new work is (for that reason, understandably) low. That's why revivals, familiar names and Broadway smash hits are favoured. But, there is so much exciting new talent waiting to be discovered in this country, we just aren't getting to hear it. When it comes to producing your own work, the costs mount up alarmingly, yet funding keeps getting cut. And that's if you can even get a look in; even with five shows under our belt we struggle to get a simple reply from a lot of venues after constant chasing! It's a bit of a catch 22. With all of this in mind, we appreciate how daunting it is to do it yourself, but it feels like at the moment, it may be the only way, and so we really want to help other young creatives in any way that we can and if possible, give them a heads up on some of the things we had to learn the hard way. We want to create a collaborative environment where artists can thrive, and we are especially interested in work that sounds modern and commercial and that is set in the UK today. A lot of musical theatre fits a mould, and we're interested in seeing work that defies that. It's all tick boxes nowadays, but so few of us in 2016 fit into one, simple box. We want to find honest, raw, work that represents all shades, shapes, sizes and sexualities. We still have a long way to go ourselves but we're on the right path now and we want to invite some more likeminded individuals along for the ride. I'm so grateful to the Arts Council for backing this and also to the Cockpit who have always championed new work and offered us the platform to put on ours. I wish more venues and schemes would do the same, but I hope this venture will open some doors and shine a light on some of the incredible and diverse talent we have in this country, both on and off stage, particularly talent that might not look, act or sound like everybody or everything else." Says Interval Productions founder and Creative Director Tori Allen-Martin.

The season kicks off at The Cockpit on Sunday 13th March with the launch party, featuring music from a whole host of composers, including Interval's own Tori Allen-Martin and Tim Prottey-Jones, Luke Bateman and Mary Evans, Sam Cassidy, James Fox and Sarah Henley, Tim Gilvin, Aaron Lee Lambert and Scott Morgan. Performers include Sabrina Aloueche, Liberty Buckland, Matthew Pennington and Vince Kidd, with many more to be announced.

Show dates will be - Sunday 13th March, Sunday 10th April, Sunday 8th May, Sunday 12th June with tickets priced at £10 early bird and £15 standard/on the door and are available now at http://www.thecockpit.org.uk/show/made_in_ldn.

Photo Credit: The Cockpit's website

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