Josey, the story so far
Background
November Club aims to make exceptional and remarkable theatre that tells original stories which focus on Northumberland. This means we are constantly looking for new ideas on which to base our work. Our Artistic Director, Joe Hufton, decided he wanted to make a new musical and the process of creating Josey started.
Developing a new musical is a lengthy process. We knew it would take at least a couple of years to create the show and we wanted to test interest in the concept as we developed the idea. We decided to build the production in stages and offer snippets of the development work as we went along.
Most musicals start from the position of having an outline script to which songs are added to create an overall show. We decided to ‘reverse engineer’ the process and start by developing a series of songs that outlined a story. Having worked with singer songwriter and musical director, Katie Doherty, over many years, we knew just the person to help us realise our ambition. Conversations between Katie and Joe led to the idea that Northumberland born social reformer, Josephine Butler, would be the perfect heroine to feature in our show.
We secured funding from The Space, a digital creative agency supported by Arts Council England, to produce these songs as an audio musical. This would be our first stage. We thought that the final live production would be very different from the audio musical, but we hoped the audio musical would give us some songs that made it into the final show and give us an idea about how to weave contemporary relevance into the production.
Josey: Stage 1
Pupils at Cramlington Learning Village
Katie led the development of Josey, immersing herself in Josey’s life story, consulting with women across Northumberland in the process. Katie also worked with our Participation Producer, Louise Taylor-Asheg, and with a group of young women at Cramlington Learning Village and Duke’s Academy, Ashington to gather young women’s views on issues surrounding feminism today.
By some form of magic, Katie used her fabulous creativity to pull together all this research into a selection of songs that formed the beginnings of Josey’s story. It was time to record them.
Katie pulled together a community choir of women from across Northumberland. Further Zoom sessions were also held to women aged 16+ to discuss issues around feminism and activism. Katie and the choir recorded the songs, along with professional actors Michael Blair and Karen Traynor, Betsy Sutton - who volunteered to perform Josey as a child, and Matt Tuckey, Sound Designer. The recordings were then mixed by Sound Engineer, Adam Forster, and combined with snippets from the Zoom conversations and additional sound pieces into a 20-minute audio musical.
“I thought it was really breath-taking. All the voices and stories made it really emotional and gave me the chills. I felt really listened to and it gave me passion to speak out in the future.”
Launch of Josey, the Indignant Daughter
On International Women’s Day 2023 we launched our audio-musical, Josey, the Indignant Daughter. It is available to download as a free podcast, wherever you get your podcasts. You can find out more here.
All these important conversations and voices fed into the final piece.
Katie said: “I am so grateful to all of the women, now and throughout history who have not held back on the causes they believe in, this includes those, of all ages who have generously and courageously spoken, shared, sung and played with us on this audio, it is much greater for you being a part of it.”
Community Choir Member Said:
“Powerful, moving, current, relevant, inspiring, wonderful experience, proud to be a part of the production.”
Josey: Stage 2
We’re taking our time with the development of a live show and have been in early conversations with women across Northumberland through a series of zoom sessions. In these informal meetings we covered:
Female Activism - What is this?
What holds us back?
What are the most urgent causes for Female Activism?
How are Female Activists represented in the media?
How can we contribute?
Katie and Louise also plan to return to Cramlington Learning Village and Duke’s Academy in Ashington to have further conversations with the young women there.
We have a series of listening parties planned across Northumberland, led by Bryony Taylor. Bryony will give a talk on the life and legacy of Josephine Butler, giving historical context to the audio musical and audiences will be able to then listen to the piece through headphones in a shared listening experience. We will also be asking audiences for their views. Details of these events cam be found here.
We also have a larger event at Alnwick Playhouse, 7pm on Saturday 4 November. During the evening we will celebrate Josephine Butler’s legacy through live music and a panel discussion. Professional musicians will accompany singer-songwriter Katie Doherty as she performs songs from the show. The Alnwick Playhouse Community Choir will also add their voices to the experience. The event also includes a panel discussion led by Karen Langdon, Vice Principal of the Josephine Butler College, Durham University to discuss and explore today’s issues of activism and gender equality. You can book tickets and find out more here.
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Download Josey, the Indignant Daughter as a free podcast here.
Who is Josephine Butler?
Josephine Butler (1828-1906) was an English feminist and social reformer with a particular concern for women’s rights in British law. She is probably most well known for helping to repeal the Contagious Diseases Act in 1886.
Josephine Butler’s campaigning work against underage prostitution, for women’s rights - including their right to vote - and to promote education for women, took her across the UK, over Europe and on to India. In attacking the Contagious Diseases Acts, Josephine Butler honed in on an area of serious inequality. This act sought to reduce the spread of venereal disease. The terms of the act allowed female sex workers to be subjected to intrusive intimate examinations: no similar examination was required of their male clients. In addition, the police used these powers to conduct examinations on any women they deemed to be a ‘risk’, regardless of whether they were involved in the sex trade or not.
Josephine married George Butler in 1852, George was a great supporter of Josephine’s work and the pair had three children, two boys and a girl. They tragically lost their only daughter, Eva age 6 when she fell from a top floor banister in their home. It was Josephine’s mourning of Eva that spurred her to help others.