Here comes UCLan the Musical

Students at Preston's University of Central Lancashire are working with industry experts to create a full length musical - about student life
Richard Taylor and Douglas Maxwell are writing a musical with UCLan studentsRichard Taylor and Douglas Maxwell are writing a musical with UCLan students
Richard Taylor and Douglas Maxwell are writing a musical with UCLan students

Composer and lyricist Richard Taylor and playwright Douglas Maxwell are working with the second year BA music theatre students at the university to develop it.

The team of 20 undergraduate will work with the duo throughout their final year and perform the musical live in the spring, before they graduate.

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The plot centres around what happens when one student inherits a remote Scottish island and a group heads off, en masse, after graduation to escape normal life.

Musical theatre students at UCLan are working with creative experts to write a musicalMusical theatre students at UCLan are working with creative experts to write a musical
Musical theatre students at UCLan are working with creative experts to write a musical

Taylor and Maxwell have been holding workshops with the students to pool ideas.

Richard had written scores for a host of musicals, including the original Whistle Down the Wind.

He said: “These students enjoy student life, they enjoy being together as a group and they know what it takes to be a student nowadays. We thought it was a good idea to build on that for our new musical.”

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Douglas is one of Scotland’s most popular and produced playwrights and will develop the script over the summer while Richard composes music and lyrics.

They will get together with students in Preston in the autumn .

Douglas said: “ It’s very liberating to have the time and opportunity to come up with ideas from scratch, to talk them through with students and Richard, get feedback and go away to develop more script.”

Course leader Mike Coggins said: “ It is a huge asset to the university to attract such high calibre industry professionals” He added everyone is “so excited” to see the show.

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