The Camden Fringe Interviews
CUMTS confess all about The Chaplain
The Cambridge University Musical Theatre Society (CUMTS) seem to bring a new musical to Camden Fringe every year. 2024 is no different, with The Chaplain set to play at Lion and Unicorn Theatre from 13 – 17 August.
We managed to catch up with producer and assistant director Em Sparkes whilst she waited for her flight back to the UK from Auckland Airport, which is undoubtably the furtest we’ve ever travelled (honest, we did go to do the interview in person!) and Gabriel Owens, who we didn’t have to travel so far for!
Let’s start with some introductions – over to you.
Hi I’m Em Sparkes, I’m the producer and assistant director of The Chaplain, and I also asked Gabriel Owens, the writer-composer, to join us.
Where are you playing then?
Em: We are playing at the Lion and Unicorn Theatre, August 13th-17th. We particularly love the intimate nature of L&U as a venue, and cannot wait to return there this year!
What can audiences expect from the show?
Em: The Chaplain is a gritty musical about the dark secrets of a Victorian Prison Chaplain, which force themselves into view as the Chaplain condemns souls to death.
In 1850s Victorian England, a prison chaplain is tasked with cleansing the souls of those sentenced to death for the most heinous crimes. In a dirty prison cell, the Chaplain meets three convicts: Edie, a young woman from the inner-city slums forced into prostitution in order to survive, John, a coachman for a wealthy family who killed his master after his love was taken from him, and Jennie, a young girl forced to steal for her starving family. The Chaplain is also plagued by the voice of a mysterious woman who lurks in the cell’s shadows, and the Chaplain is certain he has met her somewhere before. As the musical unfolds and the Chaplain’s mental state deteriorates, it becomes clear that he too has sins he must confess…
What was the inspiration behind the show?
GABRIEL: The victorian concept of the prison chaplain is an extraordinary and bizarrely hypocritical one. He is employed to provide support: a smooth transition from life to afterlife for those condemned. He is figure of absolute christian morality, and yet he allows people to be murdered by the state. He was complicit in the barbaric practice of state executions which continued into the 1960s. He absolves the state more than he absolves the criminal: you can hang as many people as you like as long as you make sure they’re praying while you do it.
I wrote The Chaplain with this idea of hypocrisy as the driving force. We have seen an extraordinary level of political hypocrisy in the UK in recent times (one could make a very convincing argument for the level increasing dramatically over the last fourteen years). The Chaplain began as a musical to lay bare the injustice of today by transposing them onto the backdrop of bloodthirsty Victorian England, but I’m happy to say that the show became much more than this. The Chaplain hopes to be a story of love, hate, charity and the place of faith in society today. It has been a pleasure to work with an incredible cast and production team to bring the show to the stage. Our fantastic director Catherine McIean and Em Sparkes have developed a brilliant vision for the show which has made it into a moving, captivating and unique piece of theatre. Our fabulous cast have also shown the utmost dedication to the show, putting so much time (alongside their Cambridge degrees) into the production to produce a musical you won’t forget. With just three months until The Chaplain opens at the Lion and Unicorn Theatre, we can’t wait to show you the story of mystery and murder we’ve created…
Is the version coming to Camden Fringe how you originally envisioned it or has it changed drastically since you first put pen to paper?
GABRIEL: The Chaplain has been through a wonderful development process. We started out with a read-through preview in the ADC Bar in Cambridge, and since then have put on two more performances of the show, one in the Christs College Chapel (having received the approval and praise of college Chaplain Helen Orchard!) and one in the Judith E Wilson Theatre in the Cambridge University English Faculty. What will make this version of the production truly striking is that we feel the show has now truly flourished into its best version, fully staged and developed. We’ve had the opportunity across the three previous performances to truly perfect actors character work, the flow between song and speech, and the actual logistics of how actor-musicians can actually work!
Being Camden Fringe, we all know sets have to be bare minimum, how have you got around this with your set and props?
Em: Bringing a musical to the Camden Fringe was always going to be difficult, but we like to think that we’ve got it down to a fine art! Other than the incredible Gabriel Owens who will be on the keys for the show, all our actor musicians are playing acoustic instruments, which helps with limited access to sound equipment. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the show being set in a bare Victorian Prison has come in handy when thinking practically for the fringe, and Catherine and I have had a lot of fun thinking about how we can convey the most powerful symbolism through the most minimal of movements and props (we won’t give it away, but make sure you keep an eye on who’s playing the cello where!)
Will you be frequenting the bar after your show for a chat?
Em: We’ll absolutely be around the bar after each show, so please come hunt us down and have a chat!
If budget was not an issue, what’s the one piece of scenery/ set you’d love to have in your show?
Em: As a techie myself, if I could have had some kind of stained glass window made from sugar glass that could crack and ultimately shatter at the end of the show, I think I would have been in heaven!
Thank you Em and Gabriel for taking time to chat. The Chaplain plays at the Lion and Unicorn Theatre between 13th and 17th August. Further information and tickets can be found here.
