Past Productions
Jigsaw has enjoyed 18 very successful years of new and exciting productions.
These have included our own special adaptations of existing stories, fables
and even fairy tales, or our own dramatisation of amazing historical events.
From the quirky through to the epic musical, we have done it all in Jigsaw.
Chester Mystery Plays
Jigsaw have played a valuable part in the world famous Chester Mystery
Plays, in both the 2003 and 2008 cycles. No only did they play major roles
in the Creation, Cain and Abel and Noah sequences, but they created
innovative and original street theatre sequences before the show. These
included hilarious mediaeval vignettes through to the mysterious stories
behind the real life Gargoyles who watch over the proceedings.
Visit Chester Mystery Plays
Invisible Girl
Adapted by Matt Baker and directed by Millie Stevenson. With thanks to new Vic, Stoke.
The orginal story is about a girl called Annie, who lives in a valley between two towns; Greenville and Blueville. The children, not content with wilful destruction of the wildlife around them, also take great pleasure in hurting each other. When annie, neither green or blue, tries to befriend them, she is caught in the crossfire
Jigsaw have created another dynamic peice which not only re-inteprets the story of the girl, but which also tried to explore the very reasons behind the division of the groups in the first place.
Call to Merlin
Based on idea by Gav Cross. Adapted by Elaine Watts, Matt Baker and the Company.
There was once long ago the dream of a perfect world. A World where knights, men and women would live with honour, goodness, selflessness, chivalry and goodwill. Those Things which, maybe, we have lost in our world today.
There was once someone who, in that time long gone by, tried to turn a utopian dream into a reality. An enchanter whose quest was to save a hopeless world of hatred, battles of evil; Merlin was his name, and Arthur was his vehicle to fulfilling that goal.
Twelve Days of Christmas (with Theatre in the Quarter)
St. Thomas of Canterbury Church, Garden Quarter, Chester. December 2006.
The Twelve Days Of Christmas was a co-production between Jigsaw Music Theatre and Theatre In The Quarter. It was an original piece of community music theatre loosely based on the familiar song and pulling together a range of traditions and narratives. It was devised in such a way as to showcase performers of all ages and experience, ranging from professional actors, local school children, church choristers, cast members from Sweet Sixteen, young people from Bridge Foyer housing project and the members of Jigsaw Music Theatre. This ambitious project, led by a professional production team involved 150 performers and five public performances.
‘In the dark cold days of winter it is good to celebrate the cycles of our lives: that light returns; that there are deaths but there are also births; that things can be overturned, whether they be the ancient rituals of tradition, or the bloodless deaths in the mummers’ plays. Nothing lasts forever: order is disrupted by chaos; chaos gives way to order.
The Lord of Misrule is the incarnation of that principle, and whether in his manifestation he is the beggar king who rules for a day, or whether he overturns the money changers’ tables in the temples, he is the life force bringing sacred chaos to the ordered structures of the world; he is the light by which we see that things can be different. All of this is to be found in the mumming traditions of the twelve days season, in guising, in the fasting and then the feasting….’
Helen Newell, Playwright
Charlie Prince – Rock Idol of the Town
By Matt Baker, Lindsay Inglesby, LIPA students and members of the Company
The Happy Prince is a well-known story by Oscar Wilde.
It tells the tale of a prince whose soul is trapped within a beautiful gold statue which has been erected in the town square in honour of his life.
However it is only now that the Prince sees the reality and hardships of life that he was sheltered from in his palace.
The Prince, now a statue, is helpless.
Only the swallows, late for their winter departure, may be able to help a prince whose heart is beginning to break
Big Nose
By Helen Newall, music by Matt Baker
Welcome to Le Cirque des Etoiles: a world of jugglers, quacks, ballerinas, strong men, clowns, and high wires acts and high emotions; for everyone loves Roxane, but she has eyes for only one man. And Big Nose? Big Nose is the clown who would rather be a poet. When he is roped into helping his friend Silent Albert win Roxane’s heart events get very complicated indeed for everyone concerned…
Based on the story of Edmund Rostand’s Cyrano de Bergerac, the play Big Nose is a story of friendship and self sacrifice, loyalty and love, set in a dazzling world of sequins and feathers: a world where, for the human heart, there are no safety nets! Enjoy the spectacle!
Going Underground
By Gav Cross, Matt Baker and the Company
Mosquitoes hover around people’s heads at garden parties, hoping to feed off all that warm blood. In the same way, the voices in our new Jigsaw play find nourishment from people’s daydreams.
Where do we daydream? At work? School? In the car? Since the M6 Toll opened, the voices no longer hover around the snarl ups by Birmingham, waiting for the weary drivers to start daydreaming. Perhaps a few hover around the back of school assembly, waiting for the first pupil’s mind to wander. One or two of these creatures have probably hovered around the Jigsaw members during a long rehearsal in this very warm studio!
But in this play the Jigsaw cast lead you down into the depths of the London Underground where boredom and monotony spark off daydreams in abundance (one daydream so vivd it’s almost a musical). The voices are having a ball……
The cast have worked exceptionally hard with this unusual piece, especially with such a large summer break between rehearsals. We hope you enjoy it so much that you won’t have chance to daydream yourself!
Brutal Truth
By Gav Cross, Matt Baker and the Comapny
Just as the wigs, costumes and pantomime horse are put back in the cupboard at the end of another season, Jigsaw Music Theatre bring you the perfect antidote to tradition.
Jigsaw’s brand new piece of musical theatre challenges the traditional Christmas show of D List celebrities scraping 3rd rate gags from the bottom of the barrel, to the accompaniment of last year’s chart toppers.
The story is set back stage in a theatre just after the final curtain falls. The characters, weary of telling the same old stories to the same old audiences, are caught in an endless time warp, hoping that one day, someone will unlock the secrets and reveal the brutal truth behind those well-known tales. What really happened to Goldilocks? Discover whether Sleeping Beauty was really quite as innocent as we are led to believe, and learn how those three little pigs were actually guitar twanging, drum crashing neighbours from hell.
It seems a long time ago when we all sat in a circle discussing the ideas for this play, and tonight you can enjoy the finished product of a lot of hard work, great ideas and enthusiasm.
Chestery Mystery Plays Street Theatre
Directed by Gav Cross, Matt Baker and the Company
A Mediaeval Roasting House
A busy inn on the day of the Chester Mystery Plays 1378 – plenty of roast dunghill mallards to sell – but who would buy at their prices...by Gav Cross
Robert Boucher the Butcher and his Measled Meat
Based on the true story of a mediaeval butcher who was caught selling measled meat...by Gav Cross.
Final Rehearsal
Nerves are frayed as the head of the guild tries to get his motley bunch of performers to prepare for a mediaeval performance of Noah’s Flood...by Gav Cross
Princess Who Couldn't Sing
By Gav Cross, Matt Baker and the Company
Jigsaw whisk you off to the palace where every day seems to herald yet another party. Why? Because there can never be too many opportunities to hear the beautiful princess sing; her voice is the king and queen’s pride and joy.
The jealous aunty, however, does not share in the joy. We witness how her evil bitterness drives her to put the ultimate spanner in the works by casting a magic spell on the princess. And to make matters worse it happens to be the very occasion when a nearby prince is searching for his new bride...
The company have worked extremely hard over a very short period of time in bringing you a feast of original music, drama and movement which tells the story of the princess and her plight. Be prepared to journey into the enchanted forest, meet a bunch of friendly frogs, a rock’n’roll prince and much more besides.
Roses of Eyam
Directed by Gav Cross, music by Matt Baker
Jigsaw Music Theatre will take you over the Peak District to the small Derbyshire village of Eyam. Over 300 years ago this beautiful place, isolated form the outside world by hills and forests, suffered the tragedy of the plague which arrived one autumn night in a box of clothes. Little did they know that the clothes were from the plague-infested corpses of Londoners.
Discover how the people of the village were affected by the tragedy, how the new parish priest Mompesson had to cope with initial alienation from his people and the former priest Stanley. Witness the amazing courage of these leaders, the eerie predictions of the village fool and the unparalleled self sacrifice of the people as they decide what to do in the face of horror.
These events are told in dramatic form by Don Taylor. Tonight it is brought to you by the members of Jigsaw with original music performed entirely by the company on stage.
The exploration into this story led to a visit to Eyam in January. The children were inspired by this visit which has increased their understanding of the story they would like to share with you tonight.
Man in the Balloon
by Gav Cross, Matt Baker and the Company
We read that one Sunday afternoon in Cossany, Switzerland, a young man is taken up into the clouds in a balloon having lost the pilot and the other passengers in a collision with the rocks.
What happened to him? How did the newspapers follow up that story?
That very same night, thousands of miles away, another collision happened. This time it was between an iceberg and the Titanic.
Every newspaper across the globe seemed to be saturated with the news of the disaster in the Atlantic, so much so that no-one really knows what happened to The Man In The Balloon...
Jigsaw Music Theatre bring you another exciting piece of original music theatre which tells the story of what happened to ‘Jurgen’, the man in the balloon.
In a 21st Century world of ensuing disasters Jigsaw have explored the possibility that Jurgen could solve many of today’s problems. Where in the kingdom of the blind the one eyed man is king, perhaps Jurgen wears the crown in solving problems the rest of us just cannot see as he looks down from beyond the clouds...
Ghost within the Walls
by Amanda Newby and the Comapny
This piece of theatre was devised by Jigsaw following a particularly ghostly tour of the city of Chester.
The ghost tour with its many tales of happenings from long ago became the starting point which developed into the play you will see tonight.
So sit back and rattle those bones and enjoy the eerie though funky tale of the three witches - the ghosts within the city walls!
Village Cross
by Richard Wolfenden Brown, Matt Baker and the Company
Commemorating the anniversary of the end of the Great War this original piece of musical theatre reflects on life during the Great War, its impact on those who fought and those who waited for the return of their loved ones, often in vain.
The piece is performed by a cast of 60 children aged 7-15 (who rehearse in West Cheshire College) and features contemporary songs form the period as well as new musical material composed by Matt Baker.
Other Jigsaw Productions
HASSEBU directed by Richard Wolfenden Brown with music by Veronica Bennetts
OLIVER! Directed by Veronica Bennetts, Richard Wolfenden
THE GIRL AND THE UNICORN directed and with music by Veronica Bennetts
THE SELFISH GIANT – adapted and directed by Richard Wolfenden Brown with music by Matt Baker
THE LION THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE – based on an adaptation by Elaine Watts, directed by Richard Wolfenden Brown and Lynda O Connor, music by Matt Baker
UNSINKABLE – The Story of The Titanic by Richard Wolfenden Brown, music by Matt Baker
LORD OF THE FLIES directed by Richard Wolfenden Brown with music by Matt Baker
MILLENNIUM BUGS by Richard Wolfenden Brown, Matt Baker and the Company
THE GIRL WITH NO NAME adapted by Richard Wolfenden Brown, Matt Baker and the Company