Northampton’s Royal & Derngate have announced that four new musicals will feature as part of its Made in Northampton 2021 season.

The venue has supported 150 artists in nurturing new musical theatre writing over the last three years, with the finished products being shown in the form of three live musicals and one online.

Digital musical On Hostile Ground will initially be released as a series of 14 music videos from 16 February. Inspired by the stories of the people affected by the government’s ‘hostile environment’ policy, the musical is by Darren Clark (lyrics), Juliet Gilkes Romero (book) and Michael Henry (music and orchestrations) and is co-created and directed by Charlotte Westenra. 

Premiering in Northampton from 19-27 March, An Improbable Musical creates a brand new musical each night, based on information from the audience that evening. Improbable have been masters of improvised theatre for 30 years and have captivated audiences across the world from Broadway to the National Theatre. Hilarious and heart-breaking, anarchic and agile, their first ever improvised musical will spin theatrical magic out of thin air.

The production is directed by co-artistic director of Improbable Lee Simpson (The Paper Man, Lifegame) with music devised and directed by Yshani Perinpanayagam (Emilia, Showstopper!).

From 19 June - 3 July, April de Angelis and Lucy Rivers’ Gin Craze! will take to the stage; a booze-soaked love ballad from the women of Gin Lane.

Two lovers, each with hidden secrets, struggle to prosper as gin hawkers. At a time in the 18th century when the average Briton drank 1.5 litres of gin every day, women were being locked up in cells to sober up and disorder was breaking out on every street corner, panic spreads among the upper classes who look to the magistrates, the Church and even their tipsy Queen to restore sobriety.

This raucous satire takes audiences on a journey through the joyous excesses of Hogarth’s Britain in an ingenious and irreverent new musical, directed by Michael Oakley (Romeo and Juliet at Shakespeare’s Globe, The Life and Times of Fanny Hill).

Concert performances of Scot Free will premiere on 1 & 2 October. Unable to catch a break in the exclusive world of Hip Hop, three friends from Aberdeen come up with a brazen scheme to make it in the music industry. Astonishingly it pays off, scoring them a lucrative record deal and carving them a path to the high life. But when their elaborate deception begins to wear them down, they discover the perils of living a lie...

With book and lyrics by Jonny Wright (Up North) and music and lyrics by Tim Gilvin (Unfortunate, Stay Awake Jake), the production is directed by Tinuke Craig (The Color Purple, Vassa).

Royal & Derngate Artistic Director James Dacre said: “Over five years up to 2017 Royal & Derngate welcomed an audience of more than 200,000 to 50 visiting musicals. Only one of them was a new work. Almost all of these 50 shows had played in our larger Derngate auditorium with little midscale musical theatre available to play in our Royal auditorium. So we set out to change this. Since then, we have collaborated with six consortium partners and over a hundred inspiring artists to champion new musical theatre voices. Together we will have premiered at least six entirely original musicals by 2021.

“Having already staged Fox-Tot! and The Season, and streamed our digital musical #ZoologicalSociety to over 130,000, today we can announce that in 2021 we will premiere four completely original musicals, showcasing some of the best new talent in British musical theatre. At the end of such a devastating year for our sector, I’m thrilled that as our theatre begins to emerge from the pandemic, we’ll do so alongside this inspiring range of artists who have reminded us of the importance of remaining ambitious, relevant and determined to create original work." 

Tickets will go on general sale for the live musicals on Friday 18 December. For more information and to book, please click here.