Former winners of the award includes Jack Godfrey and Martha Geelan whose musical Babies just played a series of concerts in the Lyric Theatre in the West End, and Lewis Cornay, whose Harry and Greta saw its first fully realised staged production with BYMT last summer in the New Wolsey Theatre in Ipswich.
It has been announced Glasgow based writing duo Bethany Tennick and Iona Ramsay have won the British Youth Music Theatre’s annual music theatre commission with mentorship, dramaturgy, development and a fully staged production for their show Welcome to Serene, (The Town with the Machine), a surreal story of a town continually covered by sand.
The musical is the story of a small coastal town facing extinction; due to rising tides the town has begun to expect a daily avalanche of sand to bury everything at ground level. The residents who still live there have built houses on stilts and invested the last of their savings in building and maintaining ‘The Machine’ – sucking in sand from the beach, and spitting it back into the ocean. The show is loosely based on a real seaside town on the outer banks of North Carolina and a real programme the wealthy residents have put together to stop sand burying their gardens.
The New Music Theatre Award aims to find and support new voices in UK musical theatre giving them a platform to develop a brand-new piece to full production with the young people of the BYMT company. It is open to writers, lyricists, composers, music producers and creators under the age of 30 and based in the UK or Ireland, who were asked to send in a synopsis, outline or concept with supporting music, script, or recordings.
Award Winner Iona Ramsay said “I am honoured to have been chosen for the NMTA. As someone who grew up in youth theatre, I feel privileged to be creating something for an incredible and talented group of young artists. Bethany and I are so excited to see a fully realised production of our show, and for the process of bringing it to life.”
Award Winner Bethany Tennick said “I am over the moon to have been chosen for the NMTA with my collaborator Iona, and as an alumnus it feels like a proper full-circle moment!”
Since 2003 the British Youth Music Theatre (BYMT) has been working across the UK and Ireland with West End professionals to offer unique opportunities and high-quality training for young people looking to get into musical theatre. Alumni includes Ed Sheeran, Sam Smith, Lauren Samuels, Charlotte Ritchie, Dean Johnson, Grace Mouat, Lucy Griffiths, Luke McCall, and Bradley Jaden.
Welcome to Serene will be presented in a full production as part of the BYMT Summer Season 2024 at the New Wolsey Theatre in Ipswich. To find out more about the BYMT visit: https://britishyouthmusictheatre.org/