Abey Bradbury is the multi-talented creative behind JULIE: The Musical, coming to The Other Palace this June.
The show is written and composed by Abey (Tit Swingers, MTFestUK 2024; Robin Hood & The Major Oak, Derby Theatre), who will also portray Thevenard on stage. As an up-and-coming, non-binary and autistic creative, this is Abey’s first ever full-length musical. Expect endless, riotous (and mostly factual) tales that include seducing nuns, duelling multiple men at once, burning down convents, being bribed by royalty, and innovating Opera.
Abey joins us on Close-Up Culture to tell us more.
Tell us a bit about the show.
JULIE is a new original musical telling the life and adventures of Julie D’Aubigny – the 17th century queer icon you’ve probably never heard of.
Julie D’Aubigny (also known as her stage name La Maupin) was a famous French Opera Singer and Swordswoman in the late 1600s-early 1700s, and she was also one of the first public figures to live openly as a bisexual woman – obviously queer people have existed since people began, but Julie was very much a celebrity, famous (well, infamous really) and was one of the first to live so openly and unapologetically!
The show follows Julie’s chaotic life – some of her more famous escapades include sneaking into a convent and setting it on fire to escape with a Nun she was in love with, stabbing herself live on stage to get the attention of a German Prince she felt was ignoring her, kissing a woman in the middle of a Royal Ball and being challenged to a duel by 3 different men (she did duel them, all at once, beat them all, and then wandered back into the party like nothing happened…iconic)
Over 50 characters are played by 4 actor-musicians, who also play all the music live, in a chaotic fusion of musical theatre, comedy, drama, sword fights and kazoos! It’s a real celebration of Queerness, nonconformity and unapologetically carving a place for yourself in a world not built for you
How does it feel to be bringing JULIE back to The Other Palace?
It’s a mixture of joy, excitement, a bit bizarre and splash of terror, I’d say. I had the first initial idea for JULIE back in 2020, anddidn’t start writing until 2021 after a year of research so the way that JULIE has been picked up and celebrated and loved in such a short space of time is really incredible, and I feel so privileged that people are so wanting to see the show and see it succeed, it’s amazing!
I also love The Other Palace, we performed there last year for a week as part of our tour, and the venue and people who work there are just fabulous! They’ve been so supportive of JULIE, and then also other work myself and Le Gasp! are working on for the future, it’s a really vibrant place to put on a show, both as a venue and the audiences as well – I’m just waiting for them to say they need a big gay musical to go into the main space so we can become the new Heathers!
What do you want audiences to take away from this new musical?
Part of what’s made JULIE so popular is the way the characters and the story resonate with people – there really is something for everyone in the show, everyone can find someone or something of themselves on stage, so I’d like audiences to leave with a sense of finding their people and their community, and having the push to go and live their own lives a little more unapologetically and with a little more chaos
There’s so much heart and love and soul that’s gone into this show as well, from everyone involved both on stage and off, and it’s a show that breaks a lot of rules of traditional theatre in the way it’s been made and performed, and I think people can see that authenticity and I hope it also inspires people to go and tell their own stories in their own way as well
What has been the biggest challenge when working on the project?
Figuring out how to fit in more kazoos into the show.
I do love kazoos, but honestly I think the biggest challenge has also been one of the show’s biggest strengths, in that it’s been written and developed in quite a unique way that isn’t how musical theatre traditionally works.
JULIE is written in a way that means that every new cast and team member are able to bring their own personal flair, experiences and personality to the show, which means every time we’ve re-staged the show it’s been very recognisable, while also being very different each time!
There’s over 50 characters in the show, played by 4 actor-musicians, with no set doubling-up of characters or ideas of who-plays-what – there’s no gender in any of the casting – and musically, the show is very unique, in that I’ve written the ‘skeleton’ of all the songs and music, but then we build the sound of the show as a cast, using the specific skills and talents of everyone involved, which means every new staging of JULIE and new cast bring their own voice into it help create the show new, which can be scary if you’re not used to working that way, but I find really exciting and something that isn’t currently done in musicals at the moment.
It can be challenging breaking the rules, but as Julie shows us, it can also be very fun!
How did you go about writing and composing the show?
I actually started with a very thrilling, hi-octane, exciting 12 months of sitting and reading lots and lots of books and scouring the internet doing deep-dive research into the life of Julie D’Aubigny(I’d love to do a trip round France and visit the Paris Opera – maybe when I win the lottery, or the show makes a million pounds)
But doing all that research meant that I felt I could really explore Julie as a character, and also the people around her, and understand her as a person, not just as this almost mythical figure from the past – it also means I’m that history nerd with a hundred facts ready at any moment, for example I once spent a whole day researching the conversion rate of 1690s French Francs to 2022 British Pounds
When it came to actually writing the show, I spent some time doing workshops with people to try out song ideas, I tried out and performed a lot myself to my cats, I also did a concert version of the show when I’d finished the first few drafts and got a lot of feedback from the audience that I used to re-write and re-shape bits
Musically, I’m a self-taught musician, I don’t use traditional sheet music because my background is more in bands and folk music and improvising, so a lot of the time it’s trial and error, trying things out and seeing what works – some songs and scenes I wrote very quickly, there’s one song in the show that took me 10 minutes, while others were a lot harder, there’s one song I took about 3 months to write and even then I rewrote half of it later
For me it’s about finding what works for you, I like a bit of chaos and a deadline, and I think more people shouldn’t be scared of trying to write or compose or create something, even if you’re not ‘trained’ or doing it in the ‘usual’ way!
What’s next for you as a creative?
Well JULIE is taking over for the next few weeks as we go into rehearsals, and then straight after I’m heading up to Edinburgh Fringe with another show that I’ve co-written with Sam Kearney-Edwardes (who you may recognise on stage as a certain Julie D’Aubigny in JULIE) – that show is called TIT SWINGERS, and is a punk gig musical about queer pirates Anne Bonney and Mary Read, so if you’re in Edinburgh this August come look us up!
After that I have a few other shows I’m nearly finished writing and taking into development – there’s a folk musical involving werewolves I’m very excited about, some darker horror theatre coming as well as more fun comedy stuff – I’m really excited to experiment with some different genres and break some more rules!
Oh, I’m also learning the clarinet! It’s like a kazoo but BIGGER!