15 year dream fulfilled: New musical about an extraordinary forgotten Yorkshire genius set to tour.
· At the start of this century, two men with with no experience of professional theatre, embarked on a bold dream to bring a unique forgotten story to the professional stage. 15 years later their show, No Horizon is set to tour.
· Writer, Andy Platt has twice given up his job as a Deputy Headteacher and then a Headteacher to pursue the goal.
· Now, success at the Edinburgh Fringe and funding from the Arts Council and Foyle Foundation have finally opened the door and the musical, No Horizon will tour this March and April
· No Horizon tells the astonishing forgotten story of blind Yorkshire genius, Nicholas Saunderson. With no eyes, before Braille, no qualifications and coming from a rural backwater, he became the Stephen Hawking of his age – Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge University, celebrated across Europe and sought out by Kings and Queens. This man with no eyes ended up lecturing on Newton’s light and colour!
· Musical described as a ‘Yorkshire Les Mis’ by Chris Evans (Radio 2) and ‘One to watch out for’ by Elaine Paige, herself a star of West End musicals and a Radio 2 broadcaster.
· No Horizon stars visually impaired actor, Adam Martyn in the title role.
No Horizon was born in 2003 as a community musical. Buoyed by a wonderful audience response, writer and then Deputy Headteacher, Andy Platt and partner, businessman Max Reid set up right Hand Theatre and embarked on their dream of taking the story to a national audience. Their goal; restoring the forgotten protagonist, Nicholas Saunderson to his rightful position as a national icon. Andy left his job as a Deputy Headteacher and Max put his other business interests on the back burner and, for a year, the pair promoted the work to theatrical producers. That eventually proved fruitless and the project lay dormant until 2016 when Right Hand Theatre took the production to the Edinburgh Fringe.
“The run at Edinburgh was really significant. We saw the power of No Horizon to entertain, inspire and move people. We also noticed it had a particular impact on people with similar life challenges to Saunderson – and we simply had to pursue it,” said Max.
During the run at Edinburgh, audiences grew from 30 to 200 and really strong reviews, piqued interest from the Arts Council who funded Research and Development work on No Horizon. A nationally recognised creative team was assembled, including director, Andrew Loretto (Hat Fair), Sally Egan (Opera North) and Lucy Cullingford (RSC) in order to create the show for its forthcoming tour. Andy, who had since gone back into education as a Headteacher, left his job for a second time in order to concentrate full time on the show.
No Horizon is no ordinary musical. It is inspired by the remarkable story of Nicholas Saunderson. Saunderson embodied the typical characteristics of Yorkshire grit and determination. Born into relatively humble rural origins he was blinded as a one year old after losing his eyes through smallpox. This was in 1683, long before braille was invented. Legend has it that he taught himself to read, using the gravestones in the local churchyard, subsequently learning to write. He had a hunger for knowledge and seized on any opportunity to answer the questions that his enquiring mind threw at him. In particular a genius for mathematics and science evolved. By the end of his life, Saunderson was and early day Stephen Hawking – Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Christ’s College, Cambridge; this blind man was lecturing on Isaac Newton’s theories on light and colour. Yet he had not a single qualification. His story has sadly been airbrushed by history.
“No Horizon is a story of inspiration and aspiration. Saunderson’s achievement simply shouldn’t have happened, yet it did. In many ways, his story has been an inspiration to Max and I. He refused to accept the limitations he had to deal with and would always seek to find a solution. It’s been an example to us in our own journey with the show,” said Andy.
The lead role of Nicholas is to be played by the hugely talented Adam Martyn, a graduate of Paul McCartney’s Liverpool institute of Performing Arts in Liverpool. Adam is himself visually impaired.
No Horizon is touring from March 19th to April 15th 2020, including dates at:
The Civic, Barnsley March 19th – 21st
The Viaduct Theatre – Dean Clough March 26th – 28th
City Varieties – Leeds March 31st –April 1st
CAST Doncaster April 2nd – 4th
Harrogate Theatre April 7th – 8th
York Theatre Royal April 9th and 11th
Millgate April 15th
No Horizon – The Astonishing story of a Forgotten Yorkshireman