From Narnia to the Jazz Age

My relationship with the Rose has spanned almost my whole professional career, and, now that I think of it, the theatre’s too. Back in 2008, when the building first opened and I was a jobbing actor-musician, I arranged the music and played piano onstage in Stephen Unwin’s production of A Christmas Carol, the Rose’s very first Christmas show.

Since then I’ve written scores for 12 more shows at the Rose, including two more Christmas Carols!

"My relationship with the Rose has spanned almost my whole professional career"

The thing I love about starting work on any score is finding the musical sound to match the world of the story. For something like The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2014), that meant creating my own otherworldly Narnian folk-music, all strange rhythms and angular intervals, and for The Lion Inside (2024) it was blending traditional African sounds with 1950s rock 'n' roll to make a colourful and accessible world for our young audience.

I'm particularly excited about the score I'm working on for Never Let Me Go, coming to the Rose in September. The show is set in a slightly dystopian version of the 1990s, and follows a group of young people navigating a dark and difficult future. The score will need to have all the energy and hope of youth, but also a keen sense of longing and emotion. There's also a title song 'Never Let Me Go' which isn't performed in the show, but which the main character Kathy listens to on repeat. It's an American-style jazz 'standard', and my great hope is that, unless they've read this, people will hear it and wonder why they've heard it before!

Photo by Ben Wulf
Follow Eamonn on Instagram: @EamonnODwyer
First published in August 2024