Award-winning playwright, campaigner and co-creator of 'Sanctuary' Sarah Woods discusses the origins of the musical, the importance of artistic collaboration, and why theatre can help tackle serious subjects. - Red Ladder Theatre Company

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Award-winning playwright, campaigner and co-creator of ‘Sanctuary’ Sarah Woods discusses the origins of the musical, the importance of artistic collaboration, and why theatre can help tackle serious subjects.

Where did the idea for Sanctuary come from?

Boff and I have been collaborating for a while now. We’ve done quite a lot of work co-creating community pieces, largely for Welsh National Opera, with people seeking refuge and asylum, and this was a story that we came to over a number of years.

We also set up an organisation called Artists in Exile, a not-for-profit group which supports artists who want to come to the UK because they can’t stay in their own country. So we have a lot of experience of working closely with people in this area. There’s a dominant narrative, not just in this country, that immigration is going up and that’s why people can’t get a doctor’s appointment or a job, and that’s not the truth of the situation. So we wanted to counter this in a way that draws out the different viewpoints and lays them out to the audience through the story of an individual.

Why did you decide to tell this story as a musical rather than say a drama?

The ability for a character to express themselves in music enables us to move beyond the everyday. At its heart it’s a way for people to communicate deep and profound emotions and tell a story with real immediacy. It’s not agitprop, or polemic, we want to invite the audience in and to think about other people’s lived experiences.

How and why did you start collaborating with Boff?

It was about six years ago. I was writing a musical called The Ruff Tuff Cream Puff Estate Agency and me and Adrian Jackson [the director] came across Boff’s work at the funeral of Heathcote Williams, who wrote the original work the musical was based on, and a song that Boff had written for him was played at the end and we were just blown away by it. So we got in touch with Boff and arranged to meet up. We talked to him about the possibility of him being the composer on Ruff Tuff and he said ‘yes’ – and we’ve worked together consistently ever since on a wide variety of projects.

This is the first time you have worked with Red Ladder. What was the appeal in working with the company?

I’ve known about Red Ladder’s work for decades and Rod Dixon, the previous artistic director, knew of my work too. We probably should have done stuff together years ago but just didn’t get round to it. So now that it’s happening it feels like a very natural meeting of hearts and minds.

How different is it collaborating with someone on a project compared to writing a play, or musical, on your own?

I really enjoy collaborating not only with Boff but also co-creating with communities. It’s a fantastic experience. For Boff and I, it enables us to travel through the whole process with somebody else, which gives you a huge amount of support, not just practically in terms of not being on your own, but also imaginatively and creatively we’re able to push each further which helps us take more creative risks. I feel we become more than the sum of our parts.

What are the challenges in writing a musical compared to a play or a radio drama?

With a musical you’re always thinking about what different jobs the songs are going to do. You’re not reliant on the dramatic dialogue for the whole of the story. When you work in different mediums like I do it’s about remembering to let the songs do the work, because you want the music and songs to do all the key jobs of a classic narrative like revealing the characters, moving the plot forward and telling the story.

How important is drama, whether it’s a play, a novel, or a musical, in tackling serious subjects?

It’s really important, particularly right now, at a time of enormous cultural shift and evolution. The narrative arts do two things – they show us where we are, like Hamlet’s mirror, holding a mirror up to society. And they also have the ability to make clear what we might do next, to inspire us to take action. As human beings, our emotions lead our decision making and we have a huge capacity for empathetic connection – and I think stories can help us with both of these things.

Are there underlying themes that connect your work?

All of my work uses stories for social good, to enable us to locate ourselves and to consider what we might do about where we are. I work around what I think are some of the big challenges we have right now, so lots of work around climate change, environmental degradation and the increasing inequalities in the world.

What do you hope audiences take away from watching Sanctuary?

I hope that people understand a little bit more about the hostile environment we have created in this country for people who are really just seeking safety and asylum. And to understand the extent of the hostility and the way some far right groups are fuelling really pernicious and false narratives. A lot of the artists Boff and I have supported, similar to Alland the lead character in this musical, were forced to leave their country because they stood up for what they believed in. They’ve done things that many of us might not have the bravery to do and these are people who we can learn a lot from.

By Chris Bond

Main image L-R Boff Whalley & Sarah Woods credit Ant Robling

Sanctuary opens at Theatre Royal Wakefield on Thursday 19th September before touring to theatres and Red Ladder Local venues book here!