The Writers
The writing
team for Remember! Remember! consists of three people: Jasper Kent, Robert
Piatt and Robert Starr. This is their second musical collaboration together
and certainly will not be their last.
They became friends nearly a decade ago as members of Brighton Theatre Group.
It was while performing in various musicals with BTG that they discovered a
common interest in writing and a common aspiration: to write musicals that would
be performed in London's West End and around the world. All had previously worked
separately on their own shows, but they teamed when, in 1996, they were asked
to write a piece of musical theatre to be performed as the finale to the Jerusalem
3000 festivals in Sussex, celebrating the 3000th anniversary of the arrival
of the Jews in Jerusalem. The show they came up with was The Promised Land,
a one act musical that told the 3000 year history of Jerusalem in just over
an hour. This was performed with a full cast and orchestra at a sold out venue
in Brighton, and five years on is still discussed by many theatregoers who hope
for the opportunity of one day seeing and hearing the show again.
For the next few years, Rob, Rob and Jasper remained close friends, whilst
working apart on various writing projects, but before too long they decided
that it was time to once again work together and create another new musical.
This was when Remember! Remember! was conceived. After six months of
exploring and developing various stories and ideas, they found that one kept
coming back to them - the story of Guy Fawkes and the Gunpowder Plot. It is
easy to see why, as this is such a fascinating piece of English History; a subject
that is widely known, but not widely understood. Over the following months,
the writers researched the history of the plot, separating fact from folklore,
then turning this into a story and the story into the musical you hear today.
The latest addition to the team is the renowned director, Roger Redfarn, whose
West End credits include Song of Singapore, Brief Encounter
and Barry Manilow’s Copacabana. Roger’s help and advice
have been invaluable in polishing the script and adding a new sparkle to every
one of the characters in Remember! Remember! Roger already has grand
plans for what he’s going to do with the full scale production of the
show and it looks like he’s the final piece in the creative jigsaw that
will make Remember! Remember! a surefire hit.
Now with such a great show in hand, the writers are another step closer to
realising the ambition they have shared throughout their lives. But it certainly
will not stop there. The writing team of Kent, Piatt & Starr have plenty more
musicals in them, so watch this space.
