It is on a sleepy Sunday that I approach the university’s student centre to interview Sussex’s musical theatre society: SMuTS. The common area is empty, and the corridors are quiet, but as I turn the corner and see through the rehearsal space’s big glass doors, there is an eruption of sound, movement and excitement. Hushed whispers and giggles permeate the space in front of their makeshift stage. On this stage, the actors move confidently through the scene; they may not be in costume for this stagger run, but they are still dedicated to being completely in character, strutting around the space and exchanging dialogue in drawling American accents. I join the director at her table to watch the final scene. The desk before her is completely cluttered with work, a hefty annotated script and a call sheet beside her notebook, where she jots down her every thought about the scene. She never seems to let this work take her away from the enjoyment of her job, laughing along emphatically as the humorous dialogue is performed on the stage. When the runthrough ends and the performers are sent away to have a lunch break, there is still no rest for the production team. Sorting out their next steps and keeping everything organised seems to be an unrelenting job for members of the backstage team, and I felt rather in awe of all the work and time I could feel was going into the production.
Sitting down with the director, Pandora Seymour, and choreographer, Anna Migó, I was able to get a deeper understanding of all the work that goes into putting on a SMuTS production and learn more about the play itself.
When asked about their decision to put on 9 To 5, Pandora explained, ‘We picked 9 To 5 because of the powerful message. It’s about feminism, it’s about empowering women in the workplace. I just think it resonates with how I feel, and there’s so many powerful women in it, but also lots of amazing men, so I just think it’s a perfect musical to showcase a variety of talents; there’s a role for everyone!’ Anna went on to explain how there are a ‘variety of scenarios during the show.’, acknowledging that ‘When you tell someone “We’re doing 9 To 5”, [they think] Dolly Parton and working in an office, but then half way through the show there’s this whole fantasy section with so many crazy characters you can have fun with.’
After being asked to reflect further on why they felt the show held such an important message, Anna explored her own relationship with male-dominated work environments: ‘I work in a physics environment, and I feel it every day, it’s improving, but we just come from generations and generations of power dynamics which are just there. I think putting on a show where it talks about so many stigmas which we don’t really think about; we just live our lives, and these are the dynamics that we are used to, but spotting that and putting a focus on that is really cool.’ Pandora went on to reflect how the show has already influenced her own perception of being a woman and a leader: ‘I can see myself through this process growing a lot stronger. I’ve never felt comfortable telling people what to do, but being in this role has given me a voice that I wouldn’t have otherwise had. It’s been hard to be in charge of people, but I feel like I’ve learnt so much about how to balance making sure I’m in charge while staying true to myself. It’s taught me how to be strong in my own way.’
Of course, this strength does not come without challenge, ‘It’s a huge, huge effort.’ Pandora explains, ‘We’ve got 21 people in the cast and around 10 or 11 in the production team. We’ve got a whole band and crew as well. There are so many jobs that need doing, it’s crazy! Even learning the score for the whole show on one instrument is a big job, and that’s only a tiny part of the whole thing. So many people have dedicated so much time. It only works if everyone is 100% committed to what they’re doing.’ She relays that her main challenge is that she needs to know everything that is going on: ‘Every single person has such a big job and I have to know what’s going on in each of those big jobs so I think for me [the biggest challenge is] just constantly having to know where everyone’s at and making sure everyone’s ok.’
Anna goes on to describe her experience as being part of such a big group; ‘it’s really important that we are a team and that we have the space to grow together. We all lean on each other.’ Both interviewees were eager to emphasise the value of being part of such a tight-knit group, spotlighting the importance of SMuTS for creating such a strong community: ‘It’s just been my favourite part of university, I’ve found my community of people here, and you really do make good friendships because you’re spending 16 hours a week with them.’ They are also keen to highlight their two co-presidents, Freya Murchison and Lauryn Hill, who they explain are the main reason behind the cultivation of such a kind and close group of people.
I caught up with Freya to get their perspective on managing such a huge and complicated society; ‘It’s been kind of crazy. I was welfare [officer] for the last two years. I’ve been here for four years, so now it’s very interesting to be part of the managerial side of things. It’s definitely been so much fun, more fun than I expected, but a lot of hard work. We are now in crunch time, and we’ve started production for another show as well, so it’s all a little bit hectic, but I’m going to be devastated when I leave, and I’ll be sobbing my way through the last show. I just think that everyone’s really excited, and I do really love this community. I think there is something really special here, and this year, especially, everyone is so lovely. You can really see the friendships forming, which is the thing that I really love about it.’
When asked about what they are most excited for audiences to see, Pandora emphasised that ‘everyone in the cast is just so amazing, we got so lucky that we who auditioned. I can’t wait for people to see their talent and to see it all come together because everyone’s put so much hard work and time into this. Its magical.’ She went on to highlight that ‘it’s really funny, it’s a really funny show.’ I also caught up with a couple of actors to get a sense of what the cast is most looking forward to. Ensemble member Tabetha Organ relays that she’s ‘most excited for people to see all the dances, I think the show has such a great energy. I know that we as a cast feel like such a tight-knit community, and I think that really comes across on stage, we just have so much fun whilst we’re doing it.’ Poppy Dyball added It’s such a fun, hilarious show, I think everyone will love it’!
It is important to note that putting on this performance is an entirely extracurricular endeavour, with performers rehearsing alongside working on their degrees. In many ways, this explains all the positivity within the SMuTS team, with everyone being driven by passion and a love of the craft rather than obligation. The show is also entirely self-funded, meaning that selling tickets is crucial to their ability to keep putting on shows. So not only do I encourage you to buy a ticket for personal enjoyment (it seems like it’ll be a fantastic couple of nights), but also as a show of support for student theatre and the independent arts.
Performances of SMuTS’ production of 9 To 5 will run from the 26th to the 28th February; tickets are available here: https://attenboroughcentre.com/events/5643/sussex-musical-theatre-society-presents-9to5-the-musical
Photography by Freddie Forber.