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| Select committee – the musical: Kids Company hearings set for the stage | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| One of the most passionate, bruising and watchable select committee hearings in recent memory is to be turned into a musical, a leading theatre company has said. | One of the most passionate, bruising and watchable select committee hearings in recent memory is to be turned into a musical, a leading theatre company has said. |
| The Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee Takes Oral Evidence on Whitehall’s Relationship with Kids Company, which takes its name from the parliamentary evidence session, will be a highlight of the Donmar Warehouse’s 2017 spring season. | The Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee Takes Oral Evidence on Whitehall’s Relationship with Kids Company, which takes its name from the parliamentary evidence session, will be a highlight of the Donmar Warehouse’s 2017 spring season. |
| Some eyebrows might be raised. It is not the snappiest of titles. And there will be surprise at seeing the select committee’s chairman, Bernard Jenkin, as a major character in a musical. But the endeavour is completely serious. | Some eyebrows might be raised. It is not the snappiest of titles. And there will be surprise at seeing the select committee’s chairman, Bernard Jenkin, as a major character in a musical. But the endeavour is completely serious. |
| “I am a little bit of a politics geek,” said the Donmar’s artistic director, Josie Rourke. “And I think select committees are a very important way of looking at how civil society holds itself to account.” | “I am a little bit of a politics geek,” said the Donmar’s artistic director, Josie Rourke. “And I think select committees are a very important way of looking at how civil society holds itself to account.” |
| Rourke was drawn to the drama of the three-and-half-hour hearing, in which politicians questioned and clashed with the founder of Kids Company, Camila Batmanghelidjh. | Rourke was drawn to the drama of the three-and-half-hour hearing, in which politicians questioned and clashed with the founder of Kids Company, Camila Batmanghelidjh. |
| Batmanghelidjh and Alan Yentob, the BBC’s creative director and chair of trustees at Kids Company for 20 years, both denied that there had been any mismanagement or failure of governance at the charity which was put into receivership in the summer of 2015. | Batmanghelidjh and Alan Yentob, the BBC’s creative director and chair of trustees at Kids Company for 20 years, both denied that there had been any mismanagement or failure of governance at the charity which was put into receivership in the summer of 2015. |
| Rourke said she had long been interested in parliamentary processes, with select committee hearings being “deeply watchable, deeply theatrical”. | Rourke said she had long been interested in parliamentary processes, with select committee hearings being “deeply watchable, deeply theatrical”. |
| The Kids Company hearing raised a number of issues, including accountability and child poverty. | The Kids Company hearing raised a number of issues, including accountability and child poverty. |
| Rourke is collaborating with the actor Hadley Fraser and the composer Tom Deering for the musical, which will be edited from the transcript. It will be directed by Adam Penford. | Rourke is collaborating with the actor Hadley Fraser and the composer Tom Deering for the musical, which will be edited from the transcript. It will be directed by Adam Penford. |
| Rourke said the passion and the clash of understandings made the session great musical material. “Music is one of our oldest forms of helping us to understand and make sense of the world, it just felt a fascinating thing that we could try.” | Rourke said the passion and the clash of understandings made the session great musical material. “Music is one of our oldest forms of helping us to understand and make sense of the world, it just felt a fascinating thing that we could try.” |
| Perceptions of what makes a good musical changed a long time ago. There have been musicals tackling political scandal (Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Stephen Ward), capitalism and corporate greed (Urinetown, where toilets are privatised) and the National Theatre’s gripping and thrilling London Road, based on interviews with residents of the area in Ipswich where a serial killer preyed on prostitutes. | Perceptions of what makes a good musical changed a long time ago. There have been musicals tackling political scandal (Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Stephen Ward), capitalism and corporate greed (Urinetown, where toilets are privatised) and the National Theatre’s gripping and thrilling London Road, based on interviews with residents of the area in Ipswich where a serial killer preyed on prostitutes. |
| Rourke said theatres had a duty to try new things. “In these extraordinary and interesting times in which we are living, one of the responsibilities theatres have is to push at the boundaries of expression and look for new forms. This something we are trying to do.” | Rourke said theatres had a duty to try new things. “In these extraordinary and interesting times in which we are living, one of the responsibilities theatres have is to push at the boundaries of expression and look for new forms. This something we are trying to do.” |
| The musical will be part of a power-themed season at the Covent Garden theatre. | The musical will be part of a power-themed season at the Covent Garden theatre. |
| Also featuring will be a new play by Steve Waters examining the 1981 split in the Labour party. Called Limehouse, it will be set in David and Debbie Owen’s house as the “gang of four” gathered to plot their breakaway Social Democratic party. | Also featuring will be a new play by Steve Waters examining the 1981 split in the Labour party. Called Limehouse, it will be set in David and Debbie Owen’s house as the “gang of four” gathered to plot their breakaway Social Democratic party. |
| It is a historical play but also a prism to look at the problems facing today’s Labour party, the Donmar said. | It is a historical play but also a prism to look at the problems facing today’s Labour party, the Donmar said. |
| The third play will be a revival of Brecht’s The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, starring Lenny Henry. | The third play will be a revival of Brecht’s The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, starring Lenny Henry. |
| It is a play that has parallels to political events in the US. Rourke said: “About three or four months ago I thought maybe we should get the rights to Arturo Ui, because it is about the rise of a demagogue. I wish I wasn’t right.” | It is a play that has parallels to political events in the US. Rourke said: “About three or four months ago I thought maybe we should get the rights to Arturo Ui, because it is about the rise of a demagogue. I wish I wasn’t right.” |