You and I: A New Musical
Music and Lyrics: Cordelia O’Driscoll, Book: Tom Williams
From the submission by Cordelia O’Driscoll:
You And I is a contemporary new comedy musical about what it really means to be human, following the story of Fran Kingsley and her new friend, Robert the Robot.
Fran is a young woman at rock bottom, out of sync with life and secluded in her room after a significant loss has affected her in ways she has been unable to overcome. That is until a robot called Robert turns up at her door, asking about karaoke, the origins of the universe and the meaning of porn. Without much choice in the matter, Fran begins to teach Robert about the world around him, discovering dressing up, the dawn of time, navigating friendships and boozy nights out with their new life-loving friend and neighbour, Ian. As Robert starts to build his identity, featuring a particular fascination with romantic comedies that star Hugh Grant, Fran begins to rediscover her own, as she is reintroduced to the positive parts of life she was reluctant to believe still existed. Together, Robert, Fran and Ian are finding the magic in the world. Yet as the story progresses, the lines between human and artificial begin to blur, with Robert becoming increasingly unpredictable as his growing intelligence starts to outrun the body he was built in. When Robert uncovers a secret that leads him to understanding the true meaning behind his existence, he must race to create the rom-com happy ending for Fran he has dreamed of, whilst also avoiding a tragic twist that threatens everything they have. You And I is a new musical about the restorative nature of friendship, how we deal with loss and the place of AI within our society. It is a combination of hilarious comedy and poignant drama, with an exciting, folk and soul inspired contemporary musical theatre score.
Produced by Colla Voce Theatre Company, we completed a successful run at the Edinburgh Fringe 2019 with Underbelly, receiving excellent reviews from audience members and critics alike. From this run we were programmed into a 3 week run in June at The Other Palace studio, and were invited into The Lowry’s Artist Development Scheme, alongside lots of interest from audiences in the future of the show. Both our planned research and development period with The Lowry in May and our run at The Other Palace have been postponed, alongside a weeks research and development on the new script we were going to have in the last week of March alongside rehearsing for BEAM which would’ve been invaluable. We also had plans to record a live cast album in May for our June run, which again has of course been postponed. Safe to say, like everyone in the industry, all our plans have been blown out of the water!
Colla Voce Theatre are the producers and Elin Schofield is the director.
@collavoceshef @cordeliaodisco @tom_o_williams @e_schofield27