Chichester students premiere tale of pioneering Victorian doctor

The University of Chichester’s Musical Theatre Performance Company offer it as the eighth instalment of the New Musical Summer Project, in which they have previously premiered Gulliver's Travels (Chambers/Rapps), Notre Dame (Court), The Stationmaster (Connor/Pearce), Marriage Á La Mode (Miller/Saxton), Hourglass (Applin/Pearce), Reanimator (Glasstone) and Scholl (Grace). The initiative returns this summer to present the world premiere of Marc Folan and Paul Mari's new musical. Something In The Water is produced by Andrew Wright, directed by Charlie Westenra, with musical direction from Neil Metcalfe, choreography by Steven Harris and design by Francine Huin-Wah. Working in collaboration with Musical Theatre Network and Mercury Musical Developments, the annual project allows writers the opportunity to realise a fully staged and produced version of the work in its current state.

Producer Andrew Wright said: “If you believed you were right, what would you risk to prove it? As a young doctor in 1854 John Snow is a lone voice, with the government, the water companies, the health boards, even the church, lining up against him, all insisting that miasma, as part of God’s design, is to blame for cholera. He knows this is his mission and as he relentlessly pursues the truth, the bodies mount up.

“Something In The Water is a new musical work that depicts the life of a working-class boy from the north of England who went on to become one of the founders of epidemiology and a pioneer in the field of anaesthetics. John Snow was a driven individual, who believed passionately in doing whatever he could to help people. He represented the common man amongst the social elite and regularly spoke truth to power, regardless of the consequences. We are delighted to be enabling the first fully produced version of the work.”

Something In The Water is in The Assembly Theatre, University of Chichester, Bognor Regis Campus, PO21 1HR on June 19 and 20 at 7:30pm and June 21 at 2:30pm and 7:30pm. Tickets on www.chi.ac.uk/department-music/box-office. Price £14 (full price)/£12 (conc)/£8(NUS).

Final-year student Ellie Phipps, who plays the central role of John Snow, said: “I feel extremely grateful to be able to be one of the first people to put this incredible musical on stage and to be able to tell the true story of Doctor John Snow. He never got the recognition he deserved for finding the source of cholera. I'm incredibly excited to bring this fresh and innovative musical to the stage. It's a story that I'm very proud to tell as we follow the journey of John Snow, a working-class man from Yorkshire, trying to be taken seriously in the south. I feel honoured to be able to play a character who I share similarities with, as a Yorkshire girl in the south. I can't wait to show the hard work that the wonderful creative team and cast have made!”

Book-writer Paul Mari added: “Something In the Water is set during one the worst pandemics in living memory; a world of lockdowns, restricted movement, a world of conspiracy theories, and accusations that the pandemic was manmade, a world where democracy is under threat and Russian troops are gathering in the Crimea, ready to cross the border. This is Britain… in the 1850s. At the heart of our story is one man’s fight to change science’s view of the world. When maverick doctor, John Snow removed the Broad Street pump handle, medicine was changed for ever.”