CAUTIONARY TALE
A new musical about growing up and growing glum
Welcome to Gloaming!
Cautionary Tale is the story of Gloaming, a town filled with perfectly ordinary, yet perfectly remarkable people. The inhabitants of Gloaming all have special talents and interests; the Hamingtons, for example, know the answer to any question you can think of, the Bittingworth sisters are so strong they can lift an elephant and the Trockles can make pretty much anything you like out of knotted string.
Some talents can be pretty dangerous and it can be tricky to manage a town filled with such interesting people. One day, in the mists of time, the town elders decided that the best way to keep the town safe was to forbid anything that might be a bit too dangerous. The adults of the town have to suppress their talents and conform but it’s hard to live a life of stifled potential. There is one place where they can go to remember what it’s like to feel human - The Black Dog, an ordinary pub where it’s OK to be extraordinary.
But there are consequences to breaking the rules and there are consequences to living lives without fun. One day, the children of Gloaming wake up to discover that all the adults have turned to dust and blown away overnight; there just wasn’t enough joy left in them to hold them together. The children set off on a quest to find all the joy and talent and curiosity that was forbidden for so long so that they can rebuild their town with joy at its heart.
Request a copy of the script & demos.
If you’d like to read the full script, listen to the show demos or watch a recording of our online reading, just drop us a line here and we’ll be happy to send you everything you need.
Cautionary Tale Model box by James Turner
Tour the set model
Our brilliant set designer, James Turner, has spent most of his lockdown crafting a perfect scale model of the set of our dreams.
In this video, he gives us an informal glimpse of the set and the world of Cautionary Tale as we imagine it.
Rebecca Atkinson-Lord
Book & Lyrics
Rebecca Atkinson-Lord is an award-winning director and writer for theatre and film. She works across a wide range of performance genres and has directed extensively across the UK and internationally.
In 2008, she founded Arch 468, a theatre production and development hub dedicated to transforming the theatre landscape, and from 2010–2016 she was Director of Theatre at Ovalhouse (now Brixton House), a National Portfolio Theatre in South London. Since 2021, she has been Artistic Director and Chief Executive of An Tobar & Mull Theatre, a multi-artform creative hub and Creative Scotland RFO on the Hebridean island of Mull.
Writing includes, Stage: Cautionary Tale , How To Live Dangerously, The Class Project, and Snowballing. TV & film: The Idiot’s Guide to Polyamory, Out of the Frying Pan, and Chiaroscuro. Audio: The Idiot’s Guide to Polyamory.
Directing includes, Stage: Our Carnal Hearts by Rachel Mars (An Tobar & Mull Theatre & UK tour), In The Weeds by Joseph Wilde (An Tobar & Mull Theatre & UK tour), Inheritance by Belle Jones (Play, Pie & Pint / Oran Mor), Every Brilliant Thing by Duncan Macmillan (An Tobar & Mull Theatre & UK tour), Cuddles (Arch 468 & 59East59 Theatres, New York), Dead and Breathing, MilkMilkLemonade, and The Sluts of Sutton Drive (Arch 468), Fosterling, Work/Play (Ovalhouse), Yvette (China Plate), and The Crunch (LookLeftLookRight). Film: Mediocre White Male, The Class Project, and Domesticity.
Jennifer Whyte
Music
Jennifer Whyte is a London-based composer, music director, and arranger who works across theatre, film, and television.
Composing and arranging credits include: Shehallion, Chasing Fate, The Famished Land, and Underworld (musicals), as well as work for BBC’s Radio 2 Piano Room, Can’t Sing Singers, Children in Need, Tsunami Prayers, and Vet Safari.
As Music Supervisor, Jennifer’s credits include Cabaret (West End & Broadway), La Cage Aux Folles (Regent’s Park), 42nd Street (Leicester Curve/Sadler’s Wells/Toronto), and Avenue Q (Charlotte, Seoul).
As Music Director, she has worked on The Midnight Gang (Chichester Festival Theatre), Avenue Q (Noël Coward Theatre), Les Misérables (Queen’s Theatre), The Threepenny Opera (National Theatre), Sunset Boulevard (UK Tour), and Follies (BBC SSO, Glasgow).
As Associate Music Director, she has worked on Follies (National Theatre), Caroline, or Change (Chichester/Hampstead/Playhouse, London), The Magistrate (National Theatre), and Betty Blue Eyes (Novello).
Film and television work includes on-set pianist for Les Misérables (Working Title) and The Phantom of the Opera (Really Useful Films), as well as contributions to The Crown (Netflix), Pop Idol II (ITV), Hit Me Baby One More Time (ITV), Soapstar Superstar (ITV), and Children in Need (BBC).
Mark Iles
Choreographer
Mark trained at The Central Ballet School and Arts Ed London, and has worked as a performer and choreographer for the last fourteen years. Performing credits include: Original West End cast of Elf the Musical (Dominion Theatre), Original cast of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Theatre Royal, Drury Lane): Lord Battersby in Me and My Girl (Kilworth House Theatre), The Diction Teacher in Singin’ in the Rain (UK tour), Angel in Rent (English Theatre, Frankfurt), Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (UK tour), Oliver! (London Palladium). Choreographic credits include: The Last Five Years and Tin Pan Alley (Cosson’s Performing Arts), Milk Milk Lemonade (Arch468/Ovalhouse), Romeo & Juliet (Arch468).
James Turner
Designer
Designs: Dan and Phil: Interactive Introverts (Hammersmith Apollo/World Tour), Clybourne Park, End of The Pier (Park Theatre), Great Expectations (Malvern Theatres/UK Tour), Blush (Soho Theatre/UK Tour), Before The Party (Salisbury Playhouse), Home Truths (Cardboard Citizens), Educating Rita (Hull Truck), Dan and Phil: The Amazing Tour Is Not On Fire(London Palladium/World Tour), Toast (Park Theatre/UK Tour/59E59 New York), A Further Education, State Red(Hampstead Theatre), Brenda (Hightide Festival/The Yard), Cuddles (Arch468/Ovalhouse/UK Tour/59E59 New York), MilkMilkLemonade (Arch468/Ovalhouse).
Cautionary Tale Covid-19 online workshop
After work on Cautionary Tale was cut short by the Covid-19 pandemic we asked the general public for help in workshopping the show during lockdown. We published the script and score online and asked folk to help us make it happen by acting it out in their own homes and sharing it on social media using #CautionaryTaleMusical. Check out some of the responses on our social media feeds or find out more about the project here…
