Return to outer space

Theatre Royal Brighton, New Road, Tuesday, January 20 to Saturday, January 24

IT may be celebrating the 25th anniversary of its West End debut, but the origins of sci-fi rock and roll musical Return To The Forbidden Planet date much further back.

Writer and director Bob Carlton first worked on the idea at London’s Bubble Theatre Company in the early 1980s.

“The Bubble was an ensemble company of very collaborative people, just when the whole actor/musician thing was beginning to start out,” says Carlton, who last November revived his biggest hit to mark the end of 17 years as artistic director of the Queen’s Theatre in Hornchurch.

“With our original company we had three-chord guitarists, as well as a couple of people who were really good.”

Glen Walford, Carlton’s predecessor at the Bubble Theatre which took a big top across London’s parks, would complement their summer programme with a fun performance combining music and theatre.

“I remember catching a show where they did a version of Old Shep with a dog that refused to die,” says Carlton, who inherited the format when he took over as artistic director in 1979.

His first take was The Bubble Band Show which retold Shakespeare’s Macbeth in 40 minutes, as the band’s drummer tried to take the spotlight.

“People were coming from all over to see it,” he says. “The next year we said ‘Why don’t we write a full-length show?’.”

The first version of “The” Return To The Forbidden Planet saw the light of day in the summer of 1983.

It was inspired by the original 1956 science fiction film, starring Leslie Nielsen, which Carlton saw as part of a film course. Like the film the musical follows a spaceship drawn towards the mysterious planet D'Illyria, where mad scientist Doctor Prospero was marooned many years before.

“I was determined to write my version in blank verse like Shakespeare, and use the rock and roll songs to carry the plot forward,” he says. “I bowdlerized lines from Shakespeare – such as ‘But soft, what light from yonder airlock breaks?’ “The music from the 1950s and 1960s was my era of music.” The show evolved with runs at Liverpool’s Everyman Theatre, and the Tricycle Theatre in London in 1984, before making its West End debut at the Cambridge Theatre in 1989. It is now credited as one of the first jukebox musicals.

“I didn’t sit down to write a jukebox musical – the story definitely came first and then the songs,” he says.

“When it went to the West End all the jeans adverts had started to use 1960s songs so a whole new generation started to know them.”

Return To The Forbidden Planet has been a massive success ever since – beating both Buddy and Miss Saigon to win an Olivier Award as best musical in 1989/1990.

Carlton is still keen that his highly-skilled ensemble cast play a part in how the show is presented.

“Whenever I have done it again I’ve tried to have that same collaborative kind of attitude,” he says. “The show is always evolving.”

The first versions of the show featured scientist and broadcaster Magnus Pyke as narrator, while the late Patrick Moore took the role through much of the 1990s.

But for the 25th anniversary tour Carlton and musical director Julian Litman hit upon Litman’s former collaborator Queen guitarist and astronomer Brian May.

“He’s the best at delivering the verse,” says Carlton. “Maybe because he’s married to an actor, or as a musician he understands the rhythm, but it’s really good.”

Carlton is now enjoying life as a freelance director and writer, away from the day-to-day running of a theatre. His new version of Noel Coward’s Private Lives opened in Philadelphia’s Walnut Street Theatre earlier this week. “I love making plays, but not making decisions about whether to have hard or soft toilet paper in the ladies loo,” he laughs. “I wanted to have some more adventures before I got too old.”

Starts 7.45pm, 2.30pm matinees Thurs and Sat, tickets from £12.90. Call 08448 717650