Guest Blog: Steven Dexter Discusses His Do-It-Yourself Musical, SAVING CHRISTMAS

"Out of the box" thinking has become a mantra that many - including myself - have adopted during these COVID times.

I have spent a lot of my career working with young people and students. During the first lockdown in March, all I could think about were students at drama schools who had spent three years studying their craft and would graduate in 2020 into a world with no industry. I wanted to try and instil hope.

When the UK government announced in July that we could perform outdoor theatre, I called a producer friend and suggested we find a beer garden in London to mount a show. A few weeks later we created the new pop-up Garden Theatre at the Eagle Pub in Vauxhall and performed the musical Fanny and Stella.

This was followed by the world premiere of a 6-player version of Pippin. Returning to the South Bank and performing in a pub courtyard felt like a welcome return to the days of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre. Minimal set and props were used, and performers and audience were distanced.

The pieces also were both "shows within shows", players telling a tale, this enabled direct address to the audience and interaction, but fundamentally it was a return to simple storytelling, and it personally felt very rewarding.

Towards the end of September, after one of the performances of Pippin, Ryan Anderson, who played Pippin approached me and asked if I would direct him in a one-person play. The answer was "yes", and within a few days we found a play and acquired the rights but it got me thinking about one-person shows in general.

It is a style of performance that has been with us for generations, developing from travelling storytellers through to theatrical people such as the Greek Monologists, strolling minstrels in Medieval England and the French troubadours.

I had directed a production of Willy Russel's one-woman play, Shirley Valentine, and had loved the one-on-one experience. Like the stripped-back style of the Pippin and Fanny and Stella productions, it again felt like a personal welcome return to basics.

Around the same time, I was thinking about creating a Christmas show. I knew that it was going to be a challenging time of the year for the arts and wanted to bring some joy to what would become a new kind of Christmas.

I have a fanciful notion that ideas are floating around in the ether waiting to be plucked. I also was once told that every idea/show is made up of two ideas - so the idea of a one-person Christmas show to be performed at home was born.

Things then fell into place for me quite quickly. As I kid, I put on shows for family and friends at home. Making cardboard props and scenery from old newspapers and using desk Anglepoise lamps as spotlights. I wanted that kind of "homemade" feel to it.

Again, I wanted very few props so anyone could do the show. I imagined it to be about 20 -30 minutes long, and I wanted it to be non-gender or age-specific. I started thinking about the magic kit I was bought as a kid and while 'Out of the Box' was constantly on my mind, the idea of creating a musical 'In A Box' or on a 'Folder' in this electronic age, seemed like a fun idea.

The story again came to me quickly. "Santa is not well and calls upon his only child, Junior to fulfil his annual duties". There are naturally twists, turns, challenges, surprises and revelations along the way but being a show that was going to run off tracks the idea of having someone stuck in their bedroom, spending a lot of time online and unwilling to help Dad gave me the electronic device needed to operate the tracks needed for the show.

It also gave SJ (Santa Junior) someone to interact with. Like in Shirley Valentine, she talks to the wall in Act 1 and rock in Act 2, here SJ could talk to Dad and also to an Alexa-style computer voice.

Early October I typed up a three-page treatment and sent it over to my long-time friend, collaborator and sounding board, Elliot Davis. He totally got the idea and agreed to write the show with me. Time was not on our side, with Christmas only two months away we needed to move fast as it very much felt like a project intended for this year.

We decided to approach Jon Bromwich at British Youth Music Theatre (BYMT) where 'Loserville' (which I directed and developed with Elliot and James Bourne) started, before making its way to the West End. Jon agreed and suggested Jimmy Jewell write the score.

During the first Lockdown in March, I had also returned to refresh my fall-back trade (which my father insisted I had before paying for me to study theatre) and that was video editing. I knew we would need to keep costs down so the editing of all the tracks, which the performer interacts with, would be something I could do.

Joe Hood was approached to orchestrate and produce the musical tracks, and I was going to put it all together. Writing began in haste. Elliot and I developed the treatment and story and started writing the book together. Elliot fired lyrics over to Jimmy, who composed and then sent them to Joe who arranged and produced the musical tracks.

Simon Callow joined as the voice of Santa as did Luke Bayer and Kayleigh McKnight to provide Guide Vocals so the performer could hear the 4 songs and 1 reprise written for the show. Performance tracks would also be provided without the vocals.

Tracks were fired back to me, and I edited it all together. I also created videos, karaoke-style so that the performer could read the dialogue/lyrics off the screen. The whole show has been produced in two different keys - a higher and lower - depending on the vocal range of the performer. During this whole process, we never actually met, and it was all done remotely.

The show was finally completed on 7 December. Saving Christmas is a solo musical that can be performed by anyone, of any age, anywhere.

As a director who's norm is working in a rehearsal room with actors and creatives, it was a totally different, challenging and rewarding experience creating this show. It brought a lot of joy to us in creating it, and we hope it will bring some joy and hope to those performing and seeing it.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Saving Christmas is now available to order and download online

To post a comment, you must register and login.