Debbie Isitt in the rehearsal room for Military Wives – The Musical. Picture: Danny With A Camera
DEBBIE Isitt, the writer-director behind the Nativity! film and theatre franchise, is at the helm of York Theatre Royal’s world premiere of Military Wives – The Musical.
After beginning preparations at Chalk Farm in London, Debbie and her 12-strong West End cast are in their second week in the Theatre Royal rehearsal room, working towards next Wednesday’s opening preview.
Based on Peter Cattaneo’s 2019 comedy-drama Military Wives, scripted by Rosanne Flynn and Rachel Tunnard, and inspired by the true story of the Military Wives Choir that featured in Gareth Malone’s fourth documentary series of The Choir, BAFTA award winner Isitt has created a joyous celebration of female empowerment and friendship, courage and ‘unsung’ heroes as the choir changes the world one song at a time.
“It’s my first time directing in York. Very exciting,” says Birmingham-born Debbie, 60. “Everybody’s loving being here in this very beautiful city, where we’ve found everyone to be super-friendly, and it’s a relaxing atmosphere, which is so helpful with a new show with lots of challenges.”
The Military Wives Choirs charity now has a network of 75 choirs in British military bases at home and overseas, bringing women in the military community closer together through singing.
Within that framework Debbie constructs her musical, wherein these women are isolated, bored and desperate to find a focus to take their minds off feelings of impending doom when their husbands and partners are away at war in Afghanistan.
Enter Olive (played by Bobbie Little), who arrives on the ‘patch’ to help them form a choir and learn to sing. Through the power of song, these diverse women find themselves facing their fears and making unexpected friendships along the way.
“I’ve loved this story from the early days of the Gareth Malone TV series in 2011,” says Debbie. “I fell in love with these women’s stories, having known nothing about the challenges they faced; how they lived in fear and isolation, and often didn’t make friends with each other on the camps because they were always being posted at a minute’s notice.
“That meant they didn’t make deep attachments and everything was at surface level, so it could be a lonely life. Singing in the choir gave them a sense of community when they didn’t know if their husbands would come back.
“Funnily enough, I was thinking, ‘I’d like to make a film of this’, but life takes over, not least the Nativity! films, but other things too.”
Debbie loved Cattaneo’s film – “it was really well cast,” she says – and when there were mutterings of making a stage musical, she contacted her agent to see if there would be interest in her writing and directing it. “Luckily there was,” she says.
She vowed to both draw on the film and origin story and to bring her own ingredients to the musical. “I’ve done lots of research of my own, so it’s a combination of my spin on the story and having a wealth of material to use.
“There’s a pressure to make something that people genuinely take to their hearts and really care about the characters,” says Military Wives – The Musical writer-director Debbie Isitt
“Bringing these women together in the choir is a great catalyst for drama and comedy – and for conflict from how they come from different backgrounds.”
Debbie held workshops 18 months ago and six months later, with many of the premiere cast in place from the start. “I’m known for using improvisation, with me wanting to tell the story, but with the actors having the chance to create their characters and me working my way around that,” she says.
“The brilliant thing about the process is that every cast member has made a contribution, so the characters feel bigger, three dimensional, so that has its own power. It’s also good for comedy in the show as you can see if a joke lands. That makes it a fun way to work, keeping everything light on its feet.”
Debbie’s characters in Military Wives are a hybrid of “some of the women I met in my research, where I thought, ‘you’re going to be in my show’ and for others, they were built from me thinking about ‘if you’re a military wife, what would you focus on when you’re bored or anxious?’.”
To create a successful film, musical or television show, “there’s a pressure to make something that people genuinely take to their hearts and really care about the characters,” suggests Debbie.
“Ultimately, Military Wives has to be a character-driven story as you have to fall in love with these women, learning what it’s like to be a military wife, but it’s a universal story too: the way they use humour to get through the day, as do men when they’re at war.
“Then we have the music too, so we have all the ingredients for the show to be empowering, uplifting, healing. The banter, the comedy, the music, the forging of friendships.
“But in this story it doesn’t come without its sadder moments, and you can’t shy away from that, because that’s the reality, so you take the audience on a rollercoaster ride.”
In 2023, Debbie wrote and directed I Should Be So Lucky, the jukebox stage musical built around the Stock, Aitken and Waterman hit factory. Now she is working with arranger, orchestrator and musical supervisor George Dyer in a show full of pop, rock and power ballads.
“Singing those songs within the context of the story, they have a new meaning that makes them more powerful and moving,” she says. “It’s very exciting to hear songs by Adele, Coldplay, Cyndi Lauper and Motown in a different context.”
York Theatre Royal, in association with Everyman Theatre, Cheltenham and Buxton Opera House, presents Military Wives – The Musical, September 10 to 27. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.