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The creators of a new musical for Horizon Post Scandal. are appealing to postal workers to form a part of people for the production, which they say can help heal the communities affected by the problem.
Do good: Post office The scandal is based on interviews with two Shropshire postal operators whose lives were ruined when faulty Fujitsu Horizon computer software revealed gaps in their accounting.
Jeanie O’Harewho wrote the script, said: “They were our guide in making sure we got the story right – not just the technical stuff, but the deep dive into the heartbreak, the shame and what it’s like to be an ordinary person and the power of the state comes down on you.
Co-produced by Pentabus and New Perspectives, the show will tour village halls around Shropshire initially, to audiences of 100-120 people.
O’Hare – who ordered the hit Matilda the musical before becoming chair of drama at Yale School of Drama – said the story offers a chance for the community to have a “conversation with itself”.
She said: “Postmen have actively created a community – that’s their superpower and the song is the best analogy for that. They create warmth, community, and support, and that’s what we all need. We’re going back to the communities where the damage was done.”
Olivier Award nominee Jim Fortune, who wrote the music and lyrics, said they would like the show’s chorus to be made up of those affected by the scandal, which has affected at least 900 postal operators and is the subject of government inquiry.
“Our dream is to build a chorus for this show from the communities, especially the postal workers,” he said. “If they want to join our choir, they would be most welcome.”
Fortune said the idea of humans being in confrontation with technology is a theme throughout the musical, with the production’s ensemble made up of analog equipment, including a typewriter, a dial-up modem and “things before the cloud and clever computer programmers made everything ‘better.’ “.
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O’Hare said: “This was during the era when that awful catchphrase ‘the computer says no’ was on the airwaves. Humans faced these magical machines and could not argue their position as a human being.
“The focus of the show has always been what happens to the subpostmasters and their families, but Horizon is very much present as a force acting on their lives that doesn’t have to answer for itself.”
Fortune said that even though it’s a musical, it will still be powerful, and this song is often the most powerful way to unpack traumatic events.
He said: “I think the song is a protest and it’s the only and best way I know how to deal with the emotions and politics on that level – just because we’re doing it in a theater doesn’t mean we’re doing Grease.
O’Hare believes the story that captivated audiences in the ITV drama Mr. Bates v. Post Officeit resonates so much because many people are aware of the plight of postal workers.
“Postmasters are the canaries in the coal mine,” she said. “They were right there when we went into the digital age from the analog age. All the mistakes that developed with the development of digital technology played out and affected their lives.”
Fortune added: “It means so much to us culturally that there’s a huge sense of betrayal.”
The Make Good creative team would not say whether former Post Office chief executive Paula Vennells or former business improvement director Angela van den Bogaardwill star in the musical, but said discussions are ongoing.
O’Hare said: “There are already people who are caricatures, but we’re in the middle of a conversation about what those people are going to be called.”
Make Good will tour from October to December for six weeks, starting at the Ludlow Assembly Rooms on October 18-19. Additional venues, including a London venue, will be announced.
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