Northampton’s Royal and Derngate is to release the next four free videos from a new musical, On Hostile Ground, which is inspired by the stories of people “affected by the government’s hostile environment policy”.
The musical by Darren Clark (lyrics), Juliet Gilkes Romero (book), Michael Henry (music and orchestrations) and Charlotte Westenra (co-creator and director) is being released in a series of free videos on the Royal and Derngate website.
After a festival of new musical theatre was cancelled because of coronavirus, the writers developed On Hostile Ground into 14 music videos and straight-to-camera monologues filmed at home by actors during lockdown.
The musical is set in May 2013 when Prime Minister David Cameron asks department heads to find policies that will make life in the UK unbearable for illegal immigrants—a sure-fire plan to deliver his election promise of reducing net migration.
Seven videos are available to watch, with another four being released on Tuesday 13 April and the final ones on Tuesday 27 April. There is also a series of online question-and-answer sessions featuring discussions about the hostile environment policy and the creation of the musical.