Lockdown Musical Explores the Profound Questions: What Makes a Life Worth Living? Does a Scotch Egg Really Constitute a Substantial Meal?
Philip Roth once said that satire is “moral outrage turned into comic art”. I hope that describes pretty well our new musical, “Scotch Egg” which is running this weekend at the Drayton Theatre in London. Roth’s quote certainly encapsulates the mood in which I wrote much of the Book and the Lyrics. Kept sane mainly by Toby’s Lockdown Sceptics, in March 2020 I watched in stunned disbelief as key principles of law and democracy were destroyed – and all for a seriously over-rated virus. As an ex-lawyer (now a writer and teacher) I was baffled and angered in equal measure. I reached for my pen. However, my writing partner, Dom Hartley, as well as being a musical genius, operates very much in a comedic universe. He hates anything too preachy. So, together we spent almost two years creating a show which joyfully mocks the powerful and the tragic absurdities of lockdown. Our key aim is to be entertaining. Always. So, the show opens with an out-of-work actor driven to alcoholism and working for Deliveroo; there is a song sung by an out-of-work burglar and one from an equally bereft sex-worker. Oh, and the song “Drama” contains a rap-battle between Boris Johnson and Chris Whitty. We don’t shy away from tragedy either – one song “Fading Away” shows a dying man being forced to say goodbye to his wife of 50 years on an iPad.
We’re no strangers to musical theatre, having written two previous shows, “Crunch” (about the 2008 financial crisis) and “Vision”, which has been produced twice at the Edinburgh Fringe and many times in England and abroad. Although “Scotch Egg” is a comedy, it feels more important now than these other pieces. It’s a show that we simply had to write. It certainly seems to have sparked some interest as tickets for this short run sold out in a few days. However, there are some remaining seats for press or industry professionals so, if that’s you, please get in touch via the show’s website. We are aiming for a longer run in the summer, when I hope many other Daily Sceptic readers will get a chance to see it. In the meantime, our cast are ready to get under those lights this weekend and try valiantly to dispel our country’s stubborn mass psychosis with the most powerful tool of all: mockery.
Here’s the blurb:
It’s 2040 and a late-night news show is running a retrospective on the Pandemic. In the studio with sharp-tongued presenter, Judith Harper-Jones, is ex-PM Lord Johnson. As the Peer struggles to explain the inexplicable, a series of characters take the audience through the comic and the tragic aspects of the crisis.
This show explores all the profound questions: What makes a life worth living? Is democracy dead? Does a scotch egg really constitute a substantial meal?
With satirical numbers like, The Laws are Set in Stone and He’s Gonna Save Christmas, combined with the pathos of songs like, Fading Away and We’re All Key Workers After All, this musical romp will provide thought-provoking satire and a much-needed Covid boost – without the need for a fourth jab.
Read a review (rehearsal) here.
And here’s the poster and programme:
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Aaaargh! Someone got there before me! covid the musical has been on my to-do list for months but my wife said it ran the risk of being insensitive. Congratulations to all concerned for overcoming that moral barrier.
The ‘other side’ didn’t seem to worry about that.
Fallen Icon
https://notalotofpeopleknowthat.wordpress.com/2022/01/19/fallen-icon/#more-55016
In 2019 Netflix in conjunction with WWF broadcast Frozen Worlds, an episode in the Our Planet series and narrated by David Attenborough. The scenes it showed shocked and horrified viewers around the world. Dr Susan Crockford is a professional zoologist, who has specialised in Arctic mammals for many years, particularly polar bears and walrus. She immediately smelled a rat.
It is hard to disagree with Crockford’s conclusions:
The public’s trust in science and medicine now appears to be at an all-time low. People who had been blind to the abuse of science rampant in the climate change narrative have had their eyes opened by the pandemic response.
by Paul Homewood
Please come and join our friendly peaceful events.
Thursday 20th January 5pm
Silent lighted walk behind one simple sign
“No More Lockdown”
Bring torches, candles and other lights
Meet by the Town Hall, Market Place,
Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, RG9 2AQ
Stand in the Park Sundays 10am make friends, ignore the madness & keep sane
Wokingham Howard Palmer Gardens Cockpit Path car park Sturges Rd RG40 2HD
Henley Mills Meadows (at the bandstand) Henley-on-Thames RG9 1DS
Telegram Group
http://t.me/astandintheparkbracknell
That’s Scotch Egg the musical. John Prescott would love it…
Sounds interesting! Wish we could see a slightly longer clip.
I’m no fan of Johnson, but if he had any sense he’d paint himself as a lockdown sceptic. It was he who overruled the ‘scientists’ and didn’t lockdown this Winter – the opposition were calling for more and harder restrictions. He was perhaps sceptical at the start before his spine collapsed. Labour have always wanted more lockdown.
He should turn this into an argument about who is the most anti-lockdown. When even lockdown fanatic and camps for unvaxxed cheerleader Jeremy Vine is coming out against lockdowns, you know the argument has been won.
He could say ‘next winter the labour party would lock you down, we admit lockdown was wrong and it will never happen again’ etc
basically I’m less interested in who had a drink with who and where than I am about the narrative changing firmly to anti-lockdown, ‘never again’ and we can start talking abut lockdown harms that are coming for the next couple of decades.
I was shocked when Boris ordered the first lockdown. (You know, the three weeks to squash the sombrero.) I am very cynical yet it still seemed impossible that any British Government would do such a thing, let alone one led by a declared libertarian.
It was no further shock, then, when he ordered mask mandates despite “the science” showing masking the public to have no nett benefit. But I was, nevertheless, appalled. The government was pandering to mass hysteria, fuelled by social media, demanding “something must be done”.
Now the hysterical narrative is beginning to unravel but zealots who have invested heavily in the madness can’t accept that they got it wrong. Arguing with them will never work but humour and gentle mockery will go a very long way to moving on and getting our lives back.
Up to 76% of reported COVID-19 vaccine side effects could be imagined as part of a phenomena called the ‘nocebo effect’, study finds Some of the most common imaginary nocebo effects was that they prevented infection or severe illness.
If you die within 28 days of watching Scotch Egg The Musical, did you die of watching Scotch Egg The Musical? Answers on LFT leaflet.
Two large Scotch eggs with all the trimmings I would argue is a substantial meal. Making me hungry again!
Someone really should write a book about the most ridiculous of this nonsense. New material being added all the time.
Sounds good. I hope it’s a roaring success and it serves as a snap of the fingers to many hypnotised zombies.
Please get this play to the Salford Lowry Theatre ASAP 🙏