Musical Seeks Alumni Support
The writer of a musical, centred on Christ’s College is seeking involvement from the College alumni to help take it to the West End stage.
Nicholas Saunderson – known as ‘the Blind Professor’ - rose to become Lucasian Professor of Maths at Christ’s in the early 1700s. In spite of being blind (in a pre-Braille era) and originating from humble stock, his genius and forthright character saw him scale remarkable heights. Ultimately he consorted with Kings and Queens and had a reputation which spread across Europe – even though he had earned not a single qualification
Like Saunderson himself, the initiative was born in Thurlstone, a small rural village near Barnsley. Andy Platt, then a teacher at a nearby primary school, was using the story to raise aspirations amongst his pupils. ‘As part of the work we took the children on a residential to Cambridge. The memory of 33 Barnsley schoolchildren sitting in the Master’s study at Christ’s, talking about Saunderson, Milton and Darwin will live with me forever.’
Moved by the story so much, Andy wrote what has turned out to be already a very successful musical, No Horizon.
“We have ‘test-driven’ the show with considerable success,” said Andy. “James Lomas, fresh from his West End role as Billy Elliot, played the lead role to considerable acclaim. We ran it for a week to full houses, standing ovations and excellent reviews. Our website, www.vibetheatre.com is receiving hundreds of hits a week. The power of the story is that it works on several different levels – its highly emotional, it entertains, educates and inspires. It also says such a lot about the willingness of Christ’s to recognise and embrace an individual based on talent alone.”
Taking it to the next level is now the goal, using the educational aspect and the support already gained from the likes of David Blunkett and Lord Low at the RNIB. However Andy sees the real key to be the active involvement of interested alumni who operate in the entertainment industry. “It’s an area which requires a lot of knowledge, contacts and obviously no little finance. There would be a wonderful symmetry if we could bring Christ’s people together with those of us in Saunderson’s home town to regain for him the national recognition that he once had.”
Anyone interested can contact:
Andy Platt - 07751 617005 or Andy Platt
Simon Bolton - 07703 042114 or Simon Bolton
