“In the midst of all their joys they shall sigh blood…”

Vice is a sardonic new musical based on a Jacobean tale of sex, intrigue and revenge by Jools Scott (composer) and Sue Curtis (librettist).

It tells the story of Vindice, come to court in disguise in order to avenge the murder of his beloved.

A wild pace and macabre humour drive the irresistible surge of the music, lyrical, passionate and chilling by turns, which captures all the power and wit of the The Revenger’s Tregedy and translates it into a vibrant jazz-fuelled new idiom for a modern audience.

The first chamber production of the whole musical took place as part of the Arcola Theatre’s Grimeborn Festival in August 2010, directed by Andrew Steggall and designed by Jess Curtis, followed by an industry showcase at the Soho Theatre.

A critical analysis of Vice by Professor Douglas M Lanier has just been published in The Oxford Handbook of Thomas Middleton

‘NIMBLE IN DAMNATION, QUICK IN TUNE’ : VICE AND THE REVENGER’S TRAGEDY

Supporting material on thomasmiddleton.org

‘a highly entertaining work of great subtlety and contemporary resonance ..extraordinary musical and lyrical skill..’
Douglas M Lanier, ‘Nimble in Damnation, Quick in Tune”‘, Oxford Handbook to Middleton, pub O.U.P. April 2012.

The Dance of Death, from Vice, has become an inspirational piece in it’s own right as a video on YouTube and is about to be featured in an animated short by Will Amber-Shaw.

For any enquiries about Vice please contact Rachel Daniels, Berlin Associates, 7 Tyers Gate, London SE1 3HX.

‘The Door’ by Andrew Steggall
Music by Jools Scott

 

 

Performed by Jacqueline Thomas & Paul Cassidy (Brodsky Quartet), Jackie Shave, Magnus Johnston and Jools Scott.

“The pulse of Jools Scott’s bewitching score underlines the cyclical nature of the narrative.”
Emelyne Godfrey, Times Literary Supplement (January 27th, 2012)

“Everything was tinged with elegant light, with a sense of mystery and foreboding; an excellent score and sumptuous costumes added to the elegiac feel.”
Phillip Womack (2011)

“The illusory imagery and Jools Scott’s potent chamber music score emphasise the magic of this moving dream play.”
ENTARTETE MUSIK (2011)

The Door is based on “The Door of the Wall” by H.G. Wells. This new adaptation tells the story of Thomas Arlington, a man of incredible wealth and power. He is the chairman of a bank, has his suits made by the greatest tailors and he has a yacht (on which he has recently entertained the Chancellor of the Exchequer). But he also has a memory that haunts him. It is the childhood memory of a green door in a wall in West London that led to an enchanted garden. It is the garden of his imagination and of his childhood. Now, in his sixties, Thomas Arlington want’s to go back.

The Door (trailer) from Andrew Steggall on Vimeo.

Cast

Charles Dance (Game of Thrones, Bleak House, Gosford Park)
Dame Harriet Walter (RSC, Babel, Atonement, Sense & Sensibility)
Dudley Sutton (Smiley’s People, The Devils, Lovejoy, The Pink Panther Strikes Again)
Elliot Cowan (Happy-Go-Lucky, Alexander, The Golden Compass, Marchlands)
Tobias Menzies (HBO Rome, The Shadow Line)
Thomas Hardiman

Creatives

Andrew Steggall (writer and director) Brian Fawcett (cinematographer) Sarah Bacon (production designer) Jools Scott (composer) Charlie Harvey (editor) Ashley Cowan, Daisy Lewis and S+O Media (producers). Dame Harriet Walter’s dress was made by Vivienne Westwood

Collaborators

Air Studios, The Whitehouse, UsS Productions, Splice. The film was shot on the Arri Alexa, care of S+O Media.

‘Off Beat’ by Will Becher

An animated adventure involving biscuits, a TV and no police whatsoever.

Featuring the voice of Michael Buerk, as the newsreader, Off Beat was Aardman Animations’ first HD short, made in 2006. This was Jools’ second venture into writing music for film and the soundtrack was self-recorded and self-produced.

Demon Lover, a chamber opera based on the short story by Elizabeth Bowen, is a haunting tale of love and betrayal.

First presented as a work in progress at the Arcola Theatre as part of Grimeborn 2011, directed by Andrew Steggall and designed by Sarah Bacon, with Hannah Pedley as Phoebe and Tom Bullard as Max.

Demon Lover is the second opera composed by Jools Scott in collaboration with Sue Curtis as librettist. Inspired by Britten with overtones of Gershwin, it marked a return to Jools’ classical roots.

Photographs by Paul Curtis

Demon Lover was performed with the kind permission of ITV.

For any enquiries about Demon Lover please contact Rachel Daniels, Berlin Associates, 7 Tyers Gate, London SE1 3HX.

‘Sparrow’ by Andrew Steggall
Music composed & performed
by Jools Scott and Beth Porter

In his council flat in the East end of London, the widowed Harold conducts a life of quiet ritual and lonely comfort. One lunchtime, the routines of his solitude are interrupted by an auspicious arrival. This intrusion shatters the ceremony of his midday meal, but will Harold come to realise that it is not an omen of chaos but of order, and that it has arrived neither too soon nor too late?

 

Ideal for Christmas shows or all year round entertainment, Goose is a traditional fairy tale about the third son of a poor widow, a bad-tempered Princess, a King who has forbidden anyone to feel sad, and a magic sticky-feathered goose with several hundred desperate suitors and a few ogres and singing trees thrown in.

Enchanting songs and witty and imaginative writing make this a treat for parents and children alike.

For any enquiries about Goose please contact Rachel Daniels, Berlin Associates, 7 Tyers Gate, London SE1 3HX.

Lyrics by Sue Curtis and Jools Scott
Music by Jools Scott

Cast of Demo:
Narrator, Grey Man: Jon Monie
Princess, Mother: Peta Dennis
Herald, Dimmest: Matthew Meddings
Dim, Lady in Waiting: Martin Williams
Dimmer,Lady in Waiting: Nik Howden
Piano: Jools Scott

An old man receives a mysterious package and becomes involved in a desperate battle of wills with a smart rodent. He’s at the end of his wits in no time; the creature’s unscathed and he’s beginning to doubt his sanity. Has he the resources at his disposal to defeat this four-legged interloper? Can he take the strain of confronting this rat armed only with a golf club and a fatal streak of optimism.

Boxed In has won the British Animation Awards Best Student Film and was short-listed for the Royal Television Society Best Animated Film.

Jools wrote his first choral music during his time spent as a choirboy at St. Paul’s Cathedral, surrounded by the music of Howells, Leighton and Mathias. His early composition, So Long Ago One Christmas Morn (a carol with words by the late Ben Prance), won the Bach Choir Carol Competition in 1997, is published by the Royal School of Church Music in the Sunday by Sunday Collection and was performed twice by the choir, directed by Sir David Willcocks, in the Royal Albert Hall

If you would like to buy the sheet music for any of Jools’ choral works please send him a message via the contact page. PDF and printed copies are available to purchase.

Jools Scott – Piano, Glockenspiel, Vocals.
Beth Porter – Cello, Vocals.
Graeme Smith – Vocals.
Tim Petherick – Guitar, Vocals.
Pete Gibbs – Double Bass, Vocals.
Nick Malcolm – Trumpet, Vocals.

Arrangements by Jools Scott & Beth Porter
Engineered by Tim Petherick
Produced by Tim Petherick, Jools Scott & Beth Porter

‘Fireside Carols’ is the brainchild of composers/performers Jools Scott and Beth Porter. Developed from a lifetime’s experience of celebrating the festive season with joyful music, the album was put together in November 2009 as the nights grew darker and the days shorter. This musical meeting was a short but sweet project, as satisfying to accomplish as it is to listen to; we hope you enjoy the ride.

The Golden Eggs
October 2010

This album is dedicated to my beautiful mother, who died last April.

Recorded in the Pump Rooms, Bath – a room with a fantastic acoustic and a Steinway Model D grand piano – Josephine is the first complete solo piano album of my original compositions. It will be released in April 2012.