Casting has been announced for the world premiere here at York Theatre Royal of the new musical Mayflies, written and composed by award-winning composer, lyricist and songwriter Gus Gowland, who is a resident artist at the theatre.
The musical stars Nuno Queimado (Alternate Alexander Hamilton in the London West End production of Hamilton, Jesus Christ Superstar), Rumi Sutton (Hex, Heathers) and Emma Thornett (War Horse, Bedknobs and Broomsticks).
Gus’s first full-length musical Pieces of String was named The Stage’s Best Regional Musical of the Year and nominated for the UK Theatre Best Musical Production award. Gus won The Stage Debut Award for Best Composer/Lyricist, and nominated for the inaugural Writer’s Guild of Great Britain Award for Best Musical Theatre Bookwriting.
Gus Gowland said about Mayflies: “I was really excited by the challenge of writing something that could be played by pretty much anyone, regardless of age, race, gender, sexuality.
“As an audience, we bring so much of ourselves and our understanding of the world to the things we see so I wanted to explore what happens when we see the exact same love story told by different people – how would the dynamics change? Which moments would hit harder in each telling?
“I know how much an actor brings to a role too and so I wanted to create people that the actors cast would be able to really imbue with their own sense of identity. We’ve seen some rotating casts before but I really wanted to write the flexibility of casting into the material, rather than just have it as a production idea layered on top.
“It’s a real challenge to avoid signifiers of characteristics (like age and gender) but I’ve adored finding ways to create rounded specific characters without those to lean back on. One way I’ve done that is to write the parts in different time signatures, which makes them musically very distinct.
“I’m over the moon with the extraordinary cast of actors we have for this first ever production of Mayflies, and am so excited to see what they each bring to the characters.”
Songs by Gus, who lives in York, have already been heard on the YTR stage in showcases for local talent. For Love Bites he wrote a song for diarist Anne Lister (aka Gentleman Jack) and for Green Shoots, he used James Herriot quotes for a song about the vet and his relationship with North Yorkshire.
Mayflies tells the story of a romantic relationship between May and Fly. After swiping right, left, up and down across the dating apps, May and Fly match. They begin a tentative conversation. Over time their romance grows into something real, something special. Then they meet…
Mayflies explores the different versions of themselves that people become during relationships and how – in the blink of an eye – it can all come crashing down. In this production, the three actors will alternate the roles of May and Fly with each pairing providing a different perspective on the relationships within this compelling contemporary love story.
Director Tania Azevedo said: “When I first read Mayflies, one of the aspects of the work that immediately grabbed me was the flexibility with which MAY and FLY have been written. It allows them to be played by any actor, regardless of age, gender or any other identifiers. This has led to a rich and thought-provoking casting process. It truly became about pairing actors and learning about their shared humour, approach to vulnerable conversations and chemistry with one another. Finding three actors who bring very different things to the table and who have the craft to tackle this idea of “multiple configurations” has been a joyous process and a unique approach to musical theatre casting. We’re looking forward to making this piece with this incredible cast.”
Tania specialises in developing new work. Tania is currently Resident Director on & Juliet (West End) and recently received Best Director nominations for Off West End Awards and Broadway World Awards for her work on the world premiere of But I’m a Cheerleader (Turbine Theatre), based on the cult LGBTQ+ film. The show recently won best off-West End production at the WhatsOnStage Awards.
Recent credits for designer T K Hay include Constellations (Stephen Joseph Theatre Scarborough), Making of a Monster (Wales Millennium Centre) and The Apology (New Earth Theatre).
