News
Recipients of 2024 Cameron Mackintosh Resident Musical Theatre Writer Placements Announced
Writing team Rebecca Brewer and Daisy Chute will be placed at MAST Mayflower Studios in Southampton, starting this summer. Their musical COVEN is currently in development. Among the projects they will contribute to at MAST is a new Jane Austen-inspired piece for a young company.
Gus Gowland will be the Resident Composer at the National Theatre of Scotland, based in Glasgow, from the autumn. Last year Gus’s musical Mayflies received its premiere at York Theatre Royal. Gus will be contributing to a range of new projects at NTS while developing a new show of his own.
Mercury Musical Developments and Musical Theatre Network run the Cameron Mackintosh Resident Composer scheme, which is made possible by funding from The Mackintosh Foundation. Through the scheme, musical theatre composers are paired with a producing organisation for six months and given the opportunity to develop their own new work, shadow other composers, compose for new productions and gain inside knowledge into the workings of a producing theatre. The theatre benefits from embedding the art form into its activities, close collaboration with a composer and additional expertise in its team.
The scheme, which began in 2011, has now awarded 19 paid placements and is a key career development opportunity for composers and writers of musical theatre. Recent placement hosts have included the Royal Shakespeare Company, Theatr Clywd, Dundee Rep, British Youth Music Theatre, The Lowry and Octagon Theatre, Bolton.
Daisy Chute and Rebecca Brewer said:
“We are absolutely thrilled to be named as this year’s Cameron Mackintosh Resident Writing Team, and we can’t wait to begin our collaboration with MAST Mayflower Studios. Time to write and create is so precious to us writers and this opportunity will enable us to work on our next projects in an inspiring and informative environment and with the invaluable support from the lovely folks at MAST, MMD, MTN and the Mackintosh Foundation. Thank you for the belief, confidence and support for our work and ideas.”
Sara Scott, Executive Director of MAST Mayflower Studios, said:
“We are thrilled to be welcoming Daisy and Rebecca into the Mayflower Made fold. We were so impressed by the standard of work submitted and by the bold ideas all the applicants put forward as part of this process, ultimately Daisy and Rebecca shone through as an exciting and contemporary duo that will bring great creativity and enthusiasm to our projects over their six months with us. They are a shining example of what the Cameron Mackintosh Resident Composer scheme sets out to achieve, and we are pleased that our relationship with them amplifies our commitment to new ideas, female-led work and community-driven opportunities for all ages.”
Gus Gowland said:
“I’m thrilled to be working with the National Theatre of Scotland as Resident Composer. Having trained in Glasgow, I’ve always felt Scotland was where I discovered my musical theatre voice, and so it’s a pleasure and privilege to be able to immerse myself in this world again. I’m so excited to work with and learn from artists of all disciplines across the country, both as part of NTS and the wider sector.”
Jackie Wylie, Artistic Director of the National Theatre of Scotland, said:
“We are thrilled to welcome the brilliant Gus Gowland as the National Theatre of Scotland’s first Resident Musical Theatre Composer as part of the Cameron Mackintosh Resident Composer Scheme and grateful to Mercury Musical Developments (MMD) and Musical Theatre Network (MTN) for providing us with this incredible opportunity. We look forward to connecting Gus with Scottish artists, communities and stories, to broaden his experience and to develop new projects to enrich Scotland’s vibrant musical theatre scene.”
Natalia Scorer, on behalf of MMD and MTN, said,
“It is very rewarding to match talented artists with inspiring organisations and we hope that both of these placements will be equally valuable to the recipients and their hosts. Gus, Rebecca and Daisy are all worthy recipients and we look forward to seeing the new work and career benefits that emerge from these placements. We’d like to thank the Mackintosh Foundation for their continued support of this scheme.”
Gus Gowland‘s first musical Pieces of String was The Stage’s Best Regional Musical of the year and was nominated for the UK Theatre Best Musical Production award. For his work on the show, Gus won The Stage Debut Award for Best Composer/Lyricist, and was nominated for the Writer’s Guild of Great Britain Award for Best Musical Theatre Bookwriting. His second musical Mayflies was produced at York Theatre Royal in 2023. Other work includes Subway, an audio short musical and In Motion, an EP of original songs written with Craig Mather.
Singer-songwriter Daisy Chute has found a loyal following through her Grammy award-winning songwriting and jaw-dropping vocals. Following formal classical/jazz training at specialist music schools, Daisy released a jazz album at the age of 15 and subsequently 3 Classical Brit-nominated albums with Universal Records as part of All Angels. A prolific touring and recording artist, Daisy now writes indie/folk/americana music and regularly tours and plays festivals such as Glastonbury. A lover of collaboration, Daisy loves co-writing and her work spans multiple mediums from film, tv and game soundtracks to theatre and radio.
Rebecca Brewer is an actor, writer and theatre maker. She’s worked across plays and musicals at the National Theatre, Royal Shakespeare Company, Almeida Theatre, Royal Court and numerous times in the West End. Screen work includes shows for the BBC, ITV and Channel 4. As a writer and maker, Rebecca was an Associate Artist at the Queens Theatre Hornchurch, and a recipient of the MGC Futures Bursary in 2021.