'Adela in London' - a fairytale in times of Brexit

Who are you? How did you meet?

We are a group of creative women who love musical theatre. We all come from different countries and moved to London for work. We met through City Academy, and we did many shows with their resident musical theatre company: Chicago, Legally Blonde, Guys and Dolls, In the Heights…

For the past year, we have not been able to perform live due to COVID-19 and we were missing it terribly. During lockdown, we have still tried to keep involved with the arts: online courses, shows on Zoom, writing plays... But we felt we wanted to do more. To say more. So at the end of March, we decided to create Alturas Theatre Company to put on our first show, a show entirely written in lockdown.

The mission of our company is to give opportunities to emerging performers and artists and help connect people with the theatre industry. It is even more important now that the theatre world has had to completely stop for a year.

What do you want to create?

We want to put on a musical theatre show called ‘Adela in London’. The play is about a Spanish girl that comes to London looking for better job opportunities. Soon after arriving she meets an English guy and it's all very exciting… until she discovers that he is a Brexiteer, and things get complicated from there…

The play will be shown on the 24th, 25th and 26th of August as part of the Camden Fringe Festival. We have been very lucky to be invited to perform by an amazing theatre, Upstairs at the Gatehouse, that is well known in the musical theatre scene.

How did you come up with the idea?

The script is inspired by real life stories of people who live and work in London. We have tried to capture some of the most colourful characters that we have encountered in the UK. The script is original, and we have incorporated songs in English and Spanish to leverage the power of music as a tool that transcends national boundaries. It’s a story that many people that have moved to the UK for work will relate to, and an opportunity to bring the voice of the EU to the stage!

And how far along are you?

We have an amazing, all-female creative team in place including direction, choreography, music direction, stage management, costume design and scenography design. We are currently in the process of casting the different roles. We will begin rehearsals in June, so that we can be ready to perform at the end of August!

What do you need funding for, specifically?

We are a non-for-profit company and all the money we raise goes into the projects that we develop and paying the people that help make them happen.

There are a lot of expenses to cover when you want to put on a show. For example we need to rehearse at least twice a week, and we will need to pay for rehearsal space where we can practice choreographies and songs. We also need to pay for the theatre hire. There are also other costs associated with hiring props, technical equipment, making set pieces and graphic design, just to cite a few examples.

Why should I support this project?

You would help bring new voices to the theatre and spread our story of immigration in times of Brexit. You would also be giving an opportunity to emerging artists to earn their first professional credits, especially at a time when opportunities are extremely limited because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Are you in?!