Over 1000 people attended the premiere of 'Beyond Wigan Pier' at The Edge, a new performance venue located very near the iconic Pier itself. It's the world's first community Musical and has been written, produced and performed by Wiganers for Wiganers.
The show, which featured an array of local talent including leads Olivia Garcia and Scott Chapman supported by the Wigan Youth Jazz Orchestra and choir, received a rapturous reception culminating in some audience participation as we all learnt one of the songs 'The Road to Wigan Pier'. It took the form of a recital with various narrators explaining the plot followed by performances of the songs interspersed with readings from Orwell's book 'The Road to Wigan Pier' by his son Richard Blair.
The musical charts the town's progress since Orwell's 1937 book which described the poverty in the town and follows an imaginary relationship between Orwell and a young girl he met in the town who was cleaning drains. It's been written and produced by Wiganer Alan Gregory whose drive and determination is behind its success thus far, which has seen a successful crowdfunding campaign to find the premiere. Alan aims to take the concept to The Arts Council for further funding which will allow a full production with the ultimate dream of taking it to the West End. If anyone can, Alan can.
The Musical is being supported by many organisations in Wigan; The Council, Wigan Warriors Rugby League Club as well as many local businesses. At bd2, we're always delighted to support Wigan based initiatives and have developed the brand identity and visual theme for all the marketing communications on a pro bono basis. We have been designing and providing various materials for the launch, such as the programme and promotional items, and are currently editing a video of the show which we filmed on the night.