Gareth Gates pens musical inspired by experience of living with a stammer

Gates said once he had the idea, he started to write songs for it, before taking them to David Hutchinson at Selladoor, with whom he had worked on shows such as Footloose.

“I sat at a piano and played him some stuff and he was like: ‘Wow, you have something here.’ And then that developed with them trying to find a book writer. David had wanted to work with Sam for a while, and so we had a meeting with Sam. I told him the idea and he came on board and then we met Victoria and very slowly, over time, that team has built up what [the show] is now," he explained.

Adamson said the title Speechless was an idea that Gates had right from the beginning.

"It just seems to fit everything that we’re trying to do. It’s really quite a simple story in many ways. It’s a rite of passage [story] about a young man whose central obstacle in his life is his stammer – the stammer dictates absolutely everything that happens to him. 

"The story is set in more than one time period. So, we look at things that happen to him when he was a child... and how they continue to have an impact as the years go by," he said.

Adamson explained it was a story about the central character "coming to terms with who he is and also holding everybody in his life accountable for the way that they treat him as a stammerer". 

"To some extent, it’s about how there are blocks and obstacles for all of us. So, it remains very much about the specific challenges of being a stammerer and being part of a community of stammerers. But it’s also about non-stammerers being unable to communicate and the sort of dangers, challenges and the consequences of families not talking to each other," he said.

Saxton added that she had not realised that Gates was an "incredible composer and musician" before working with him on the production.

"He’s a proper musician, and that really blew me away. And as Sam says, this is an original, exciting music with character and music that drives the plot and holds everything together. What’s so exciting is we’re creating an original musical here.

“Yes, a lot of it’s based on lived experience – some experience of Gareth and the people he knows. But it’s not based on a myth. It’s not based on a documentary or an 1980s, 1990s film.  And I think audiences are craving that," she said.

Gates said the musical was important to him on a personal level because of the subject matter it deals with.

"I really think we found something really special here. First and foremost, there hasn’t ever been a musical written about a stammer. We’ve had films but never a musical. I think that’s the thing that has been really interesting: trying to find how [to] musicalise a stammer," he said.

Gates added that he wanted the casting, when the show is fully developed, to be representative.

"I’ve absolutely always thought that we need some people involved who actually live with a stammer. It’s very important that we have people who have a stammer involved," he said.

The musical is currently being workshopped and Hutchinson said his aim was for the musical to have a completed first draft by the end of this year.

"We’re really excited to support these guys and get into their first draft because we want to start getting involved and thinking how we can turn into a full production," he said.