The Making of Derby Theatre’s Little Shop of Horrors

I visited Derby Theatre at their rehearsal studios to chat with some of the cast and creatives working on a new production of Little Shop of Horrors.

In the space were elements of the Skid Row set, looking suitably dilapidated and scuffed up. But most excitingly, I immediately spied a small—potentially carnivorous plant—in a pot on the counter of Mushnik’s Florist. Let’s just say I didn’t offer to shake its hand…tendril!

I was joined by puppet director John Barber, choreographer Myles Brown and the puppeteer and voice of Audrey II Ross Lennon and Tasha Dowd, respectively.

Little Shop first played off-Broadway in 1982 (itself based on a 1960, non-musical film) and has had countless reruns and productions not to mention the 1986 musical film which remains a cult hit to this day. As such I was curious what this new production by Derby Theatre and Northern stage would bring to the table.

“What’s really wonderful about ours, and I think what really kind of sticks out in a really lovely way amongst the rest of the productions occurring, is ours is an actor-muso production, so the performers on stage are also playing the music live,” Dowd revealed. “So we are the band, we’re the cast, we’re the singers, we’re the dancers, we’re a little bit of everything.”

Brown, too, was excited by this element of the production. “You don’t have to reinvent the wheel when the material is so fabulous, it speaks for itself,” he said. But when he heard the show was actor-muso, “that really perked my ears up.”

Anyone who has seen a production of the show before will know it is funny to the point of farcical, but still manages to be poignant and heartfelt which seems to me a tricky balance to strike.

“It goes back to the vision of the director which is to actually just pursue and play the truth in every moment,” Barber explained. “One thing that [composer] Mencken and [lyricist] Ashman said when they conceived the show is that there’s no point in camping it up and being silly. If it’s played for truth, it’s funnier and it’s more effective. And I think [director] Sarah’s probably taking that sort of drive to an extra level to really make it relevant and truthful for today.”

A particularly interesting component of this production of the show is the use of creative captions, whereby captioning is seamlessly incorporated into the show, including sign language.

“Derby has one of the largest populations of the Deaf community outside of London, and they’ve made some creative decisions to work with the company,” Lennon said. “They’ve got some BSL sign performances, but we have rehearsals where we’re actually incorporating their presence into a show, as opposed to them being on the side. That’s the first example I’ve seen of a show doing it in my career.”

“I think people will feel seen and feel included,” Brown said. “It’s a rare thing, and it’s a beautiful thing.”

One of the highlights of any production of Little Shop is the puppeteering. The audience gets to see Audrey II grow from a sapling to a plant that can only be described as larger-than-life. Getting an audience to believe that the puppet is not only alive, but can also talk falls to duo Lennon and Dowd under Barber’s direction.

“The challenge is to take the notion of puppetry, and then to marry it with all the other skills and all the other things that are happening,” Barber said.

So how do Dowd and Lennon work together to create a seamless, fantastical character?

“We’re still cracking that egg a little bit,” Dowd said with a chuckle. “It is kind of like writing music.”

Lennon emphasised the collaborative nature of working on the character. “Although your ideas are separate, it’s two brains on the same project […] We are Audrey and we can influence each other to create the best possible product.”

Another factor helping to keep the character of Audrey II consistent is that Lennon controls all forms of the puppet even when it is just a small potted plant. “I’m going from very non-strenuous puppetry to back-breaking puppetry, all in two hours and 20 minutes,” he said.

That sounds almost like sport, which is appropriate given Lennon’s history with the show.

“I actually dropped out of my school production of Little Shop because it was clashing with my basketball practice,” he confessed. “This feels like it should be my second run.”

Brown also has a personal childhood connection with the show. He recollected a “vivid memory” of watching with his cousins a VHS of the Cameron Mackintosh celebration concert Hey, Mr. Producer! that included songs from Little Shop of Horrors.

“It reminds me of me and my cousins of watching it, because Ellen Green’s performance in it is one of the standouts,” Brown recalled fondly, noting that the VHS was owned by his auntie. “She was the woman that taught me to dance.”

As we came to the end of our time together, I was curious if any of them thought other shows could be improved by the addition of puppets.

“The very professional side of me just wants to see a production of Macbeth that’s done like The Muppet Christmas Carol or Muppet Treasure Island,” Dowd suggested. “Everyone but Macbeth is a muppet!”

Brown was also thinking of Macbeth with puppet witches, whilst Lennon kept on the Shakespearean theme proposing that Antigonus exit the stage pursued by a puppet bear in The Winter’s Tale.

But for now, the only puppet this team is focused on is green and hungry. Be sure to catch this new production of Little Shop of Horrors at Derby Theatre 30 May to 20 June.