KU graduates receive support from Hacked Off campaign on their new play called “The Daily Fail”
Elena Blagoeva & Marc Williams
Two KU theatre graduates will whip up a storm in the theatre world with a new musical casting a satirical eye over the Leveson Inquiry and Rupert Murdoch.
Fiona O’Malley and Adam Wollerton, founders of the Untold Theater Company, studied MA Journalism and Classical Theatre at Kingston and are the co-creators of The Daily Fail, set to hit theatres July 25.
Fiona said: “Although it is quite controversial, the only person we really offended is Rupert Murdoch. But to be honest, he doesn’t have a leg to stand on and there’s been a lot worse said about him.
Inspired by the flaws in journalism
“I was very interested in what makes someone want to be famous. When I was following the Leveson Inquiry the ethics of some journalists really disgusted me. This really inspired me to write The Daily Fail musical.”
The pair formed the new company with the motto “originality in creativity”, which tries to showcase new, organic talent and then nurture that talent onto bigger things.
The Daily Fail revolves around two girls, London and Dim, in their search for fame and stardom with the only problem being their lack of real talent.
The two find themselves in all sorts of problems after being granted a wish from their Fairy Godmother, newspaper tycoon Rupert Murdoch, and crumble under the pressure from their newfound fame and the press.
“Not all journalists should be tarred”
Although the musical is aimed at showing the pitfalls of journalism, the pair is keen to stress that not all journalists should be tarred with the same brush.
Fiona said: “It shows how depressing the media can be and how it can tear apart someone’s life and destroy a person.”
It will premiere at the International Youth Arts Festival this summer at the Arthur Cotterell Theatre in Kingston.
Support from Hacked Off campaign
The musical has support from Hacked Off, a campaign to introduce a new press regulation model that is supported by Kingston lecturer Brian Cathcart and celebrities such as Hugh Grant.
Adam said: “They emailed us saying they were really behind the topic of the musical and very supportive of it.”
Adam is sure the musical will be the talk of the press this summer and interest is already growing.
“So far we seem to be getting the right interest and it’s quickly growing. Lots of people are discussing it and we have had plenty of people coming up to us to talk about it, which was quite nice. It seems to be getting the right response so far,” Adam concluded.