Tess - A Herstory (Phase The First)

Hello again!

So, how did this all come about? What made the Michaels - Blore and Davies -  dedicate over 2 years (and counting) of their lives to writing and composing “Tess”? And what has been their journey in getting to this stage of the musical’s development?

In this series of blogs, both writer and composer will give their side of the “Tess” story – offering different views and memories of creating a musical out of Hardy’s classic novel.

So, sit back, relax and keep on scrolling as we begin our Tessie tale through the words of the composer, Michael Blore.

“It wasn’t my idea! Blame the other guy! Me and Michael (let’s call him “Mike” – much better than “Michael Words”) had known each other for years as jobbing actors, but our story really begins when we had a random conversation on a corporate gig at the Birmingham Dental Hospital in February 2013. After a morning of bad teeth acting, we were at lunch with Mike’s lovely wife, Tricia, in the hospital canteen and we were discussing the success of Mike’s play “Rasputin’s Mother” that had just recently won a national award. I said, “So, Mr Award-Winning Playwright, what next?” and he said, “I’ve always fancied doing a musical”.

Well, folks, it was like a dying ember had been stoked within me. Little did he know that that had been a long cherished ambition of mine from way on back in my A-level days at college in Bristol. An ambition that had turned into reality in my twenties when I wrote, “Trekkin”, performed at the Questors Theatre in London… What do you mean you didn’t see it?! But this was a play with music, not the through-composed, fully-formed musical of my dreams. There were then several other attempts through the years (“Joan of Arc”, “The Elephant Man” and more recently “Don’t Look Now”), but the more I tried, the more I became increasingly aware that I was in need of something major – big – important. I needed a lyricist.

Step forward, Michael Davies. Mike. Mr Words.

Now that makes it sound much easier than it actually was. The truth is it didn’t all fall into place over a jacket potato with beans and a Cheddar cheese topping in a hospital canteen. Oh no. He did mention “Tess” as a possible subject (and takes the honours for being the first to do so) and I do remember saying how much I’d loved reading the book as a teenager, but we were a long way from agreeing anything and sealing-the-deal. Yet remember this conversation I do. Which sounds very Yoda-like, but I do. You see, that dying ember had been stoked.

So what happened next? I stalked him.”

Thank you for reading :-)

Next time on d’Blog… Stalking and talking as ideas begin to take shape.