Graeae Theatre Company presents…
Reasons to be Cheerful
A raucous musical featuring the hits of Ian Dury and the Blockheads, in a new production for 2017 directed by Jenny Sealey.
- Leader of the Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn backs new anti-austerity song by members of Ian Dury’s band The Blockheads and Graeae performer John Kelly
- ‘If It Can’t Be Right Then It Must Be Wrong’, was written exclusively forReasons to be Cheerful, pioneering disabled-led theatre company Graeae’s musical featuring the hits of Ian Dury and The Blockheads
- The hit show is leading a new protest song movement with over 100 new anti-austerity protest songs being written across UK as part of Graeae’s Community Engagement programme
- You can view the video of the company in rehearsal of the brand new song here.
- The show is currently on tour around the UK and will come to Theatre Royal, Stratford East from 24th October-4th November
Pioneering disabled-led theatre company Graeae has been a proud standard-bearer for protest and disability rights for many years. In conjunction with the final tour of their smash hit musical Reasons to be Cheerful, set in 1979 Thatcher’s Britain, Blockheads Chaz Jankel, Derek Hussey and cast member John Kelly have written a protest song for 2017, ‘If It Can’t Be Right Then It Must Be Wrong’. You can download the song here. As part of Graeae’s Reasons To Be Cheerful extensive community engagement programme, nearly 100 songwriters across the country have written and submitted their protest songs.
Graeae Theatre Company commented: “Thanks to Chaz Jankel and Derek Hussey from The Blockheads, and to John Kelly, the lead singer from our hit show Reasons to be Cheerful, Graeae now has our very own protest song that perfectly sums up how we feel.
The song: ‘If It Can’t Be Right Then It Must Be Wrong’ is performed each night in Reasons To Be Cheerful.
We approached the heads of all of the major UK political parties to comment on our new protest song. We got a response from one:
“This new anti austerity song from Graeae and the Blockheads captures the current mood of the country. It’s lyrics bring people together in a moment of shared experience to challenge the status quo.” Jeremy Corbyn, Leader of the Labour Party.
The song is a rallying cry against the current government cuts; specifically the austerity and cuts directed at the D/deaf and disabled community in the UK and the systematic disintegration of the NHS and the Welfare State. The lyrics of ‘If It Can’t Be Right Then It Must Be Wrong’ reflect back to the era Reasons to be Cheerful is set, when Ian Dury and The Blockheads were dominating the charts. Full lyrics can be seen here and streaming details can be provided.
‘If It Can’t Be Right Then It Must Be Wrong’ will be available as a free download and will be performed exclusively at each show on the tour by the cast and band. The show is on tour now.
LISTINGS
Reasons to be Cheerful
Writer Paul Sirett
Director Jenny Sealey
Designer Liz Ascroft
Associate Director Daryl Beeton
Lighting Ian Scott
Sound Lewis Gibson
Choreography Mark Smith
Musical Director Joey Hickman
Musical Supervision & Arrangements Robert Hyman
Casting Sarah Hughes CDG
Tuesday 10 – Saturday 14 October
West Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds
https://www.wyp.org.uk
0113 213 7700
Tuesday 17 – Saturday 21 October
Liverpool Everyman
https://www.everymanplayhouse.com
0151 709 4776
Tuesday 24 October – Saturday 4 November
Theatre Royal Stratford East
http://www.stratfordeast.com
020 8534 0310
Press night: 24 October
Age recommendation 14+
All performances include creative British Sign Language, captioning and audio description.