Bernard Shaw Musicals Competition
Run by MMD on behalf of the Bernard Shaw estate, in association with RADA.
Associates of MMD are invited to submit a musical treatment for Man and Superman or The Devil's Disciple by Bernard Shaw.
Award:
The winning entry will receive a commission fee of £3,600 and its writers will be commissioned by the Shaw estate to deliver a full first draft version of their musical adaptation suitable for a single showcase production to be held at RADA on a date to be announced.
Submissions:
Entrants should submit a musical treatment based on EITHER Man and Superman OR The Devil's Disciple. A plot summary of each is given below. The treatment should comprise a synopsis, a scene and no more than three songs, therefore a full creative team (book, music and lyrics) must be in place (this could comprise of one, two, three or more people). The treatment should be based on the definitive text of the chosen play published by Penguin Books. Entrants will be responsible for obtaining a copy of the text (see entry form for details of editions). Submissions must be made by email to Martin Jackson martin@mercurymusicals.com by 1st February 2012.
Judging:
A selection panel of industry professionals will choose from the entries submitted and create a shortlist to go forward to a panel of judges. The winner will be announced next year.
The Plays
MAN AND SUPERMAN
The late Mr Whitefield had appointed staid, respectable solicitor Roebuck Ramsden and brash, wealthy socialist Jack Tanner joint guardians of his daughter Ann. Ramsden cannot abide Tanner's revolutionary views and Tanner knows that they will have no more control over the guileful Ann than 'a couple of mice over a cat', but she persuades them to honour her father's sacred wish. Tanner explains to his friend Octavius ('Tavy'), who loves Ann, that her feeling towards him is the love of the tigress for her prey. All are horrified to learn that Violet, Tavy's sister, is going to have a child, but Tanner congratulates her for following her womanly instincts. Violet is insulted by Tanner's sympathetic admiration and reveals that she is in fact secretly married. Tavy reveals to Tanner that he has proposed to Ann, who has told him he must speak to her guardian. Tanner tells him that that Ann will do what she wants and that if she has marked him down as her own, Tavy is doomed. Tanner jokingly proposes that Ann join him on a car trip to Nice and is taken aback when she accepts. Hector Malone, a pleasant, idealistic American is invited along and the audience learns that he is Violet's secret husband. Straker, Tanner's chauffeur, warns him that he rather than Tavy is Ann's quarry and the alarmed Jack orders Straker to drive off at speed without waiting for the others. In the Sierra Nevada, after a group of brigands intercepts Tanner and Straker, Tanner has a dream, during which he and the other characters of the main play re-enact the legend of Don Juan. After the rest of the party catches up they are joined by Hector's father, in high indignation having learned of his son's interest in Violet. He tells them they will be disinherited if they marry, because their marriage would profit neither of them socially. Hector must either marry beneath or above himself. Hector is forced to admit that he is already Violet's husband and nobly declares they will manage without his father's money, but the practical Violet insists on and obtains an allowance. Ann shatters Tavy's hopes of marriage on the grounds that her mother is determined she should marry Tanner, but Mrs Whitfield tells Tavy she has no say in the matter - this is Ann's way of saying that she, Ann, wants Jack. Tanner assures Mrs Whitefield forcefully that he is not going to marry her daughter, but in a final battle of wits with Ann, at last yields to the inevitable. The play ends with Tanner satirically outlining the plans for their wedding.
THE DEVIL'S DISCIPLE
In New Hampshire during the War of Independence pious, disagreeable Mrs Dudgeon learns that her husband has died of shock after his brother's execution by the advancing British forces. The minister, Anthony Anderson calls to comfort her and tells her that her husband has relented towards their black sheep elder son, Richard. Dick Dudgeon is despised by his family and the minister's young and beautiful wife Judith for his wild ways, wickedness and apostasy. To Mrs Dudgeon's fury, when the will is read, the house and the bulk of the estate goes to Dick. Dick declares himself a rebel against the English but warns that when the soldiers arrive it will be one of the more respectable citizens that they may make an example of. Later, Anderson tells Judith that Dick is only trying to frighten them and that Dick himself, as the most notorious character in town, will be the one in danger from the British; he has asked him to their house to warn him. After Dick arrives Anderson is called away, leaving Dick alone with Judith. When the soldiers arrive they arrest Dick mistaking him for Anderson. Judith tries to intervene but Dick refuses her help, telling her to take the opportunity to get her husband to safety. When Anderson returns, he arms himself and gallops away. Judith is appalled that he is not going to save Dick but himself. Visiting Dick in prison, her opinions of him transformed, Judith implores him to let her save him, but Dick brusquely refutes her romantic notions - what he has done he had done not for Anderson nor for love of her, but for his own sake. In court, Dick matches his defiant humour against the cynical wit of General Burgoyne and impresses the British commander with his gentlemanly spirit, but despite this and Judith's revelation of the mistaken identity, he will hang all the same unless Anderson surrenders by noon. After the trial Burgoyne discovers that the support he was expecting is not coming, leaving him so hopelessly outnumbered he must grant safe passage to a rebel officer and negotiate surrender. With the clock striking noon and the noose around Dick's neck, Anderson rides in. He is the rebel officer delegated to discuss the surrender. Burgoyne accepts Anderson's plea that he should set Dick free. The play ends with Anderson and Dick having swapped places: the minister is now the man of action with his future in the militia, while the Devil's Disciple's has become the man of conscience and prepares to take Anderson's place in the pulpit.
Click here to download the rules and conditions
Click here to download the entry form
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