Contemporary British Musicals: ’Out of the Darkness’

Combining academic analysis with industry insight, this text explores the contemporary British musical over the past decade, creating a deliberately unique style of book which meets the hybrid needs of musical theatre scholars and students.

Gus Gowland is an award-winning musical theatre writer and composer (Pieces of String - The Stage Debut Award 2018) and is also Post Graduate Musical Theatre Co-ordinator at Leeds Conservatoire. Gus has previously worked at University of Lincoln, University Centre Shrewsbury and University of Wolverhampton, all UK, where he obtained his PhD in 2020. His research interests include LGBTQ+ representation in musical theatre and contemporary British musical theatre.

Clare Chandler is a musical theatre practitioner and researcher. As a lecturer Clare has worked at the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts, Edge Hill University and the University of Wolverhampton. She is currently a senior lecturer in Musical Theatre at the University of Lincoln, UK. Clare’s research interests include the impact of technology on the development of contemporary musical theatre, feminism and musical theatre, and pedagogical practice and performer training. She directed the national premiere of Angry Birds the Musical by Dougal Irvine in 2018.