Three actors in a rehearsal space holding yellow folders, standing in a line. The actor in the foreground wears a grey sweatshirt and looks intently, while the two behind follow along, with one wearing a purple jumper and another in a black top.

The Making of The Uncrackable Case: A Courtroom Musical

2025 January 31

Take a peek behind the curtain on our latest project The Uncrackable Case with Director Olivia Race - aka our Head of Creative Programme!

We’ve teamed up with West Yorkshire theatre company Front Room Productions to co-produce a brand-new comedy musical about the murder of Humpty Dumpty!

The show is currently in the research & development phase and we're having a great time creating a show packed with mystery, music, and a whole lot of fun!

Keep reading to find out more about the creation of the show from Olivia and to discover what’s next for The Uncrackable Case.

Director Olivia Race seated and smiling during a rehearsal. She is wearing a cream jumper and colourful patterned trousers, with her hair tied back and a smartwatch on her wrist. The background shows a rehearsal space with chairs and props.
Director Olivia Race in the rehearsal room

Bringing our musical from page to stage

Creating a brand-new musical isn’t just about writing a script, learning lines and performing in front of an audience. There’s so much work that happens behind the scenes from fundraising to marketing, from accessibility planning to working out the logistics of rehearsals along with so much more.

It often takes months (even years!) of research, development, testing - and even more testing - to make sure that every detail of the final show is something truly special.

It All Starts with an Idea

Every show begins with a spark of inspiration. For The Uncrackable Case, the idea came from a simple but playful question: what if Humpty Dumpty’s murder went to trial? We wanted something fun and tongue-in-cheek, but also layered with themes that resonate today - media frenzies and the dissemination of fake news, conspiracy theories, and gender politics, all set to a toe-tapping musical score.

At Front Room Productions, we love reimagining well-known stories in unexpected ways, in the past we’ve staged performances in bedrooms, on farms, and in bustling marketplaces. Music has always been a big part of what we do, so stepping up to a full-scale musical just felt like the natural next step. We love to work collaboratively and are committed to promoting the role of women in theatre, and of course we also endeavour to stage productions that showcase and celebrate the wealth of talented performers in the North.

To bring our idea to life, we’ve been working with a team of incredible Northern creatives. Writer Jamie Walsh has penned the book and the lyrics, with dramaturgy from Alice Barber, and our co-composers Claire O’Connor and Bay Bryan have developed the musical score. With such a strong creative team, we had our foundation to start building the world of The Uncrackable Case.

A lively rehearsal scene with three people seated. One person in a patterned sweatshirt is cupping their hand to their mouth, another in a cream jumper and patterned trousers is laughing, and a third person is slightly obscured in the background.
A group of five people seated in a semi-circle during a rehearsal. Two are holding scripts, one in a patterned sweatshirt and another in a cream jumper with colourful trousers, while others are watching attentively in the background.
A man in a patterned sweatshirt leans against a black pillar, focused on writing in a yellow folder. Another person is blurred in the foreground, and rehearsal props are visible in the background.
A rehearsal room with three people sitting on chairs. One is wearing a patterned sweatshirt and holding a notebook, another is smiling and gesturing while wearing a cream jumper and colourful patterned trousers, and a third person is seated, focusing on a script.

Shaping the Story and Music

One of the most important parts of making a new musical is research and development (R&D). This is where ideas are tested, reworked, and refined before they make it into the final show. Our R&D process happened in two key stages.

In March last year, we began shaping the story. Front Room gathered at Lawrence Batley Theatre and spent a week together bouncing ideas around. In the lead up to this time, we also held workshops with community groups in Kirklees. The best stories often come from collaboration and these workshops were so exciting to lead and they really did inform our creation process! The input from these sessions shaped everything from the characters to the themes in the show. By April, we had a first draft, an opening song, and a script-in-hand sharing to test the waters.

Our second, and bigger, stage started in September last year. This is where we got stuck into the nitty-gritty of honing the script, composing the full soundtrack, and designing the set and costumes. We held further co-creation workshops, in Kirklees, Rochdale, Lancaster and Cumberland, this time with a specific focus on lyric writing and ‘in character’ content creation. We also experimented with live filming and creative captions to make the show even more immersive and accessible.

Script-in-hand sharing at Lawrence Batley Theatre

By January, it was time to share all our hard work so far! We invited a small audience to the Cellar Theatre at Lawrence Batley Theatre to see an audience’s reaction. We wanted to know if our jokes would land, if the songs were catchy enough and ultimately, if the story made sense to an outsider.

Check out our brilliant cast including Riana Duce, Purvi Parmar, Claire O’Connor, and Emily Spowage in action!

Three actors in a rehearsal space holding yellow folders, standing in a line. The actor in the foreground wears a grey sweatshirt and looks intently, while the two behind follow along, with one wearing a purple jumper and another in a black top.
Three actors standing close together during a rehearsal, holding vibrant blue feather fans. They appear to be singing, with a black music stand in front of them.
Two actors in the foreground performing energetically, one wearing a crown and black jumper, while holding blue feather fans. In the background, two others stand at music stands with blue fans, engaged in the scene. A rehearsal space with chairs and props is visible.

In the early stages, sharings like these help us to refine the show into something that will entertain and connect with audiences.

What’s Next?

Now that we have a full script, new songs, and a strong vision, the next step is getting this show on stage! We’re working hard behind the scenes to secure funding and put the final pieces together. And of course (subject to funding!) we’ll be bringing The Uncrackable Case to Lawrence Batley Theatre this summer!

Join Us on the Journey

Creating a musical from scratch is no small feat, but it’s also an incredibly exciting and rewarding process. If you’re as excited about The Uncrackable Case as we are, you can support us by spreading the word, following our journey, or even donating to help make this production happen.

Stay tuned for more behind-the-scenes antics, and we can’t wait to see you in the audience when the case finally goes to trial!

An actor in a grey sweatshirt and matching trousers performs passionately during a rehearsal, holding a yellow folder in one hand and gesturing expressively with the other.
A performer wearing a crown and a black jumper with embroidered details takes centre stage during a rehearsal, gesturing expressively. In the background, two performers hold blue feather fans, standing behind music stands, as another person watches from the foreground.
Three actors during a rehearsal, each standing at music stands with scripts. The actor in the foreground, wearing a lavender jumper, gestures passionately while speaking, while the others react behind her.
An actor standing behind a black music stand holding a yellow folder, delivering lines with an animated expression.

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