Care for some soundtrack while you read? Enjoy these snippets of just some of the show's songs as you scroll. ^_^

PLEASE TAKE YOUR SEATS 

Unfolding is an original musical theatre tale of rediscovering yourself in your forties, of friendship and of healing, written and composed by comic-book writer and artist, Emma Vieceli. That's me! Hi! ^_^

The first public outing of music from the show came when 'It Starts Small' won the Stiles + Drewe Best New Song Prize in 2024. It was a phenomenal thing for someone like me, writing my first musical, and that momentum and opportunity has lead to an incredible journey so far! 

After table-reads and a formative workshop, followed by a debut, four-night run in 2025 with Between the Bars theatre company at the ADC theatre Cambridge, we are now taking the show to the next level and planning a London workshop and sharing in June this year. To do that, we need to raise funds to pay for cast, crew rehearsal and performance space, and we are hoping that you can lend your support on this next key step in 'The grand adventure of Rose'.

THE JOURNEY

Unfolding was originally planned as a comic book, but sometimes life moves in unexpected ways, and when the opportunity arose to develop a full musical, it was suddenly obvious that this is what the story was destined to be. 

Unfolding is slightly unusual for a new show in development. As a veteran comic-book author, I had the power of ignorance on my side when it came to the process of writing a musical. Rather than developing the show piece by piece and testing as I went, I wrote the full show as I would any book. It meant that I began the process with a finished show, and used each stage, read and opportunity to edit, cut, re-write, hone and refine what was there. This was aided through the support of the incredibly talented and generous people who invested their blood, sweat and tears into the Cambridge run, as well as providing feedback, proof-reading, wisdom and unstinting encouragement.

Not least amongst these is Liz Townsend, lifelong friend (and conveniently super-talented musician) who is adding her broad knowledge to arrangements and orchestrations for my music. 

The Cambridge run received a truly wonderful (and emotional for me) reaction from audiences. Whilst uplifting and life-affirming, Unfolding tackles some difficult subjects such as male domestic abuse, and suicide and its impact. I worked with professionals and charities to handle the subject matter carefully, and I hoped that the show could reach people and open up conversation as well as entertain. It was incredibly affecting for me to hear that we'd achieved exactly that with the run in Cambridge; with some audience feedback going as far as to let us know that the show had helped them to start therapy and begin their own path to healing. That's powerful stuff. That's theatre!

I'm so incredibly grateful for the grass roots community that helped me and Unfolding get to that point; those I know through theatre and through comics, alike. Not just the talent on and off the stage that helped to get the show up and running, but the incredible support and belief from my community and beyond in trusting in something new; that willingness to get behind a brand-new story and be moved by it. 

THE NEXT THING

The Cambridge run was a dream, and a huge achievement from an amazing team. Now it's time to be brave and reach further. Feedback from the run was used to further refine the material, with an updated book and score and what we need most now is eyes on the work and the opportunity to reach them.

This fundraiser is to enable a two-week rehearsal and refining period leading up to an industry sharing at The Other Palace studio in June. We have provisional bookings and reservations in place, and a very exciting director on board! 

The plan is to present the piece to invited industry and special guests. We want to be able to pay the cast and crew expected rates for the full duration, pay for a rehearsal space for two weeks, and of course pay for the venue and tech for the sharing itself. This is how we reached our £18,000 budget with some expert number crunching from our associate producer, Jessie Berman. If we manage to somehow go past our planned goal, we may even be able to add a band (such extravagance!), increase the cast size (reckless indulgence!) or maybe, possibly even pay the writer something for her time (sheer… wait… really? REALLY?!  *dreams the impossible dream*)

It's an ambitious goal, but this isn't a random sum; it's a carefully budgeted target for a specific plan, and it will be so very worth it if this industry sharing gets Unfolding in front of London's wonderful producers, theatres and production houses; the people who can help us move forward. Anything you can pledge is a donation directly towards this goal.

ABOUT YOU

• Maybe you were one of the many audience members in Cambridge who kindly said you'd have paid twice the price for your ticket. 
   
• Maybe you're someone affected by the topics the show covers and you want to help that conversation grow.
   
• Maybe you heard the Stiles + Drewe prize winner and thought 'what's that show about?'.
   
• Maybe you're a champion of new theatre who wants to see more original, emotion-driven musical stories with strong books on our stages.
   
• Maybe you stumbled upon us by accident, but are thinking this sounds a jolly good venture to back.

Whichever you are, anything you can offer WILL make a difference and I am so, so grateful for your support. This story has already had a powerful impact on the people who have seen it – encouraging open conversations about mental health, inspiring people to take that all important first step in asking for help and not being ashamed to do so. We believe strongly in the message it presents, and hope that you will help us get it out to a wider audience.

ME

To wrap things up, here's a video from the lead-up to the Sept show, as I was trying to wrap my head around it all! A little about the challenges up to that point, and some more insight in the show itself:

RESPONSE

And, hey, don't just take my word for it! Here are a few wonderful reviews of the Cambridge production: 

ADC credits CAST: Danielle Padley, Ed Chancellor, Emily Starr, Matt Wilkinson, Emma Vieceli, David Barrett, Vikki Jones, Ellie Baldwin, Helen Petrovna, Chloe Hall BAND: Liz Townsend, Sam Kirby, Andrew Ruddick, Adam Mansfield, Kaat DeBacker, Ariella Gordon KEY CREATIVE TEAM: Cat Nicol, David Mallabone, Liz Townsend, Emma Vieceli CREATIVE DESIGN AND STAGE: Ian Bruno, Rachel Chapman, Alan Morgan, Matt Brown, Nick Hall, Ali Hall