"Tom Rackham's music is a total success"
Behind the Arras
WOYZECK (2018)
Birmingham Repertory Theatre
Tom Rackham - Composer and Musical Director
Theatre and dance combine in an exhilarating story about fighting for a better life when everything else seems to be fighting against you. It's also a story that celebrates the West Midlands spirit as a community chorus of one hundred performers and dancers bring this show to life.
Creative Team
Leo Butler (writer, based on Georg Büchner's original text); Roxana Silbert (director); Rosie Kay (choreographer & associate director); Neil Murray (designer); Lee Curran (lighting designer); Hannah Jones & Madeleine Kludje (assistant directors); Nicole McCarthy (assistant choreographer); Connie Burley (assistant designer)
Subtitled
Birmingham Repertory Theatre
Tom Rackham - Composer and Sound Designer
When fledgling artist, and music lover Claire finds out about her inherited deafness, the comprehension of her world, and those she's closest to is changed. Can she combine her two life passions, and an old record collection to find acceptance and the identity of her origins?
Creative Team
Michael Southan (writer); Madeleine Kludje(director); Jack Weir (lighting designer); Ebrahim Nazier(designer)
Mr Muscles
Birmingham Repertory Theatre
Tom Rackham - Composer and Sound Designer
Written by Sue Townsend and based on a true story, Mr Muscles is an intimate exploration of friendship and loss.
Creative Team
Sue Townsend (writer); Finley-Rose Townsend (director); Jack Weir (lighting designer); Ebrahim Nazier (designer); Lucy Macdonald (assistant director)
Dead Endings
Birmingham Repertory Theatre
Tom Rackham - Composer and Sound Designer
Dead Endings is a work in progress piece that explores what happens in the aftermath of a mental health crisis as a young woman tries to piece together the fragments of her life. The play powerfully examines the link between a life lived online and mental ill health and how the loneliness felt by one young woman leads her to be exploited and controlled by someone that she's never even met.
Creative Team
Claire Thill (writer); Beth Kapila (director); Jack Weir (lighting designer); Ebrahim Nazier (designer); Alexandra Whiteley (assistant director)
“The musical score is also impressive, particularly for its diversity.”
Everything Theatre
The Adding (2015)
The Cockpit Theatre
Tom Rackham - Composer and Sound Designer
Drawing inspiration from Elmer Rice's expressionist classic The Adding Machine, Backstage Forward presents The Adding by award-winning young playwright Ciarán Myers.
This dark comedy plays with sex, death, cuddles, puppetry, and finance for our modern recession-era generation as we follow a couple through the greatest sins of their lives.
Creative Team
Ciarán Myers (writer); Catherine Fowles (director); Stella Cheung (lighting designer); Madeleine Hunter (designer);
Butterflies
Birmingham Repertory Theatre
Tom Rackham - Composer and Sound Designer
BUTTERFLIES is one woman's autobiographical journey through cancer, and beyond. Supported by the voices of thyroid cancer patients across the world, this show examines the impact a cancer diagnosis can have on mental health.
Writer/performer Lorna Nickson Brown takes us along a path of self-discovery, asking what it means to be fearless and what it is to live a meaningful life. BUTTERFLIES is an exploration of both the complexities of cancer and what it is to be human.
An honest, life-affirming piece of theatre about connection, truth and the limitations of Amazon's Alexa.
Creative Team
Lorna Nickson Brown (writer/performer); Susan Lynch (director); Jack Weir (lighting designer); Lanre Malaolu (movement director); Ebrahim Nazier (designer)
Little Baby Jesus
Birmingham Repertory Theatre
Tom Rackham - Composer and Sound Designer
Little Baby Jesus comprises three magnetic personalities and three remarkable stories from the poetic imagination of Arinze Kene, in a version adapted by Jay Crutchley.
Creative Team
Jay Crutchley (director); Jack Weir (lighting designer); Ebrahim Nazier (designer)
“Tom Rackham’s sound design completely compliments the writing…”
North West End
Yours Sincerely (2018)
Birmingham Repertory Theatre, Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Vault Festival
Tom Rackham - Composer and Sound Designer
Yours Sincerely was originally produced and developed by the Birmingham Repertory Theatre as part of their Foundry Artist Festival, which was generously supported by the Leverhulme Trust and Esmée Fairbairn Foundation as part of the REP Foundry Programme.
Based on real life correspondences, Yours Sincerely is a coming of age comedy which examines the complications of modern-day communication. The show is performed through a mixture of storytelling through the letters and lip-sync cabaret.
Creative Team
Will Jackson (writer/performer); Anna Himali-Howard (director); Jack Weir (lighting designer); Lanre Malaolu (movement director); Ebrahim Nazier (designer)
Made In India Britain
Birmingham Repertory Theatre
Tom Rackham - Composer and Sound Designer
Birmingham born Rinkoo Barpaga has moved around a lot trying to find somewhere to finally settle. Required to both tick the box, 'ethnic minority,' but also 'Deaf' he has been forced to constantly ask the question, "where do I belong?"
Made In India Britain is an insight into one man's life as he tries to fathom out exactly who he is as he delves deep into past experiences to try and find clues which will help him settle in his present and find a place he can finally call home.
As Rinkoo is Deaf and performed the piece in BSL, the music and sound design were created specifically to allow both hearing & Deaf/deaf audience members to experience the show to the fullest extent.
Creative Team
Rinkoo Barpaga (writer/performer); Daniel Bailey(director); Jack Weir (lighting designer); Lanre Malaolu (movement director); Ebrahim Nazier (designer)
Exhale
Birmingham Repertory Theatre
Tom Rackham - Composer and Sound Designer
She's queer, a christian and carries a whole lot of baggage, Exhale is an autobiographical piece that explores coming of age in the diaspora, class, whilst battling a faith that contradicts her existence. A solo show entwined with live music, Exhale is a journey of undoing - a trail of faith, sexuality and forgiveness.
Creative Team
Zeddie Lawal (writer/performer); Daniel Bailey (director); Jack Weir (lighting designer); Lanre Malaolu (movement director); Ebrahim Nazier (designer)
"Tom Rackham's music is a total success"
Behind the Arras
WOYZECK (2018)
Birmingham Repertory Theatre
Tom Rackham - Composer and Musical Director
Theatre and dance combine in an exhilarating story about fighting for a better life when everything else seems to be fighting against you. It's also a story that celebrates the West Midlands spirit as a community chorus of one hundred performers and dancers bring this show to life.
Creative Team
Leo Butler (writer, based on Georg Büchner's original text); Roxana Silbert (director); Rosie Kay (choreographer & associate director); Neil Murray (designer); Lee Curran (lighting designer); Hannah Jones & Madeleine Kludje (assistant directors); Nicole McCarthy (assistant choreographer); Connie Burley (assistant designer)
“Tom Rackham’s sound design completely compliments the writing…”
North West End
Yours Sincerely (2018)
Birmingham Repertory Theatre, Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Vault Festival
Tom Rackham - Composer and Sound Designer
Yours Sincerely was originally produced and developed by the Birmingham Repertory Theatre as part of their Foundry Artist Festival, which was generously supported by the Leverhulme Trust and Esmée Fairbairn Foundation as part of the REP Foundry Programme.
Based on real life correspondences, Yours Sincerely is a coming of age comedy which examines the complications of modern-day communication. The show is performed through a mixture of storytelling through the letters and lip-sync cabaret.
Creative Team
Will Jackson (writer/performer); Anna Himali-Howard (director); Jack Weir (lighting designer); Lanre Malaolu (movement director); Ebrahim Nazier (designer)
“The musical score is also impressive, particularly for its diversity.”
Everything Theatre
The Adding (2015)
The Cockpit Theatre
Tom Rackham - Composer and Sound Designer
Drawing inspiration from Elmer Rice's expressionist classic The Adding Machine, Backstage Forward presents The Adding by award-winning young playwright Ciarán Myers.
This dark comedy plays with sex, death, cuddles, puppetry, and finance for our modern recession-era generation as we follow a couple through the greatest sins of their lives.
Creative Team
Ciarán Myers (writer); Catherine Fowles (director); Stella Cheung (lighting designer); Madeleine Hunter (designer);
Butterflies
Birmingham Repertory Theatre
Tom Rackham - Composer and Sound Designer
BUTTERFLIES is one woman's autobiographical journey through cancer, and beyond. Supported by the voices of thyroid cancer patients across the world, this show examines the impact a cancer diagnosis can have on mental health.
Writer/performer Lorna Nickson Brown takes us along a path of self-discovery, asking what it means to be fearless and what it is to live a meaningful life. BUTTERFLIES is an exploration of both the complexities of cancer and what it is to be human.
An honest, life-affirming piece of theatre about connection, truth and the limitations of Amazon's Alexa.
Creative Team
Lorna Nickson Brown (writer/performer); Susan Lynch (director); Jack Weir (lighting designer); Lanre Malaolu (movement director); Ebrahim Nazier (designer)
Subtitled
Birmingham Repertory Theatre
Tom Rackham - Composer and Sound Designer
When fledgling artist, and music lover Claire finds out about her inherited deafness, the comprehension of her world, and those she's closest to is changed. Can she combine her two life passions, and an old record collection to find acceptance and the identity of her origins?
Creative Team
Michael Southan (writer); Madeleine Kludje(director); Jack Weir (lighting designer); Ebrahim Nazier(designer)
Mr Muscles
Birmingham Repertory Theatre
Tom Rackham - Composer and Sound Designer
Written by Sue Townsend and based on a true story, Mr Muscles is an intimate exploration of friendship and loss.
Creative Team
Sue Townsend (writer); Finley-Rose Townsend (director); Jack Weir (lighting designer); Ebrahim Nazier (designer); Lucy Macdonald (assistant director)
Dead Endings
Birmingham Repertory Theatre
Tom Rackham - Composer and Sound Designer
Dead Endings is a work in progress piece that explores what happens in the aftermath of a mental health crisis as a young woman tries to piece together the fragments of her life. The play powerfully examines the link between a life lived online and mental ill health and how the loneliness felt by one young woman leads her to be exploited and controlled by someone that she's never even met.
Creative Team
Claire Thill (writer); Beth Kapila (director); Jack Weir (lighting designer); Ebrahim Nazier (designer); Alexandra Whiteley (assistant director)
Little Baby Jesus
Birmingham Repertory Theatre
Tom Rackham - Composer and Sound Designer
Little Baby Jesus comprises three magnetic personalities and three remarkable stories from the poetic imagination of Arinze Kene, in a version adapted by Jay Crutchley.
Creative Team
Jay Crutchley (director); Jack Weir (lighting designer); Ebrahim Nazier (designer)
Made In India Britain
Birmingham Repertory Theatre
Tom Rackham - Composer and Sound Designer
Birmingham born Rinkoo Barpaga has moved around a lot trying to find somewhere to finally settle. Required to both tick the box, 'ethnic minority,' but also 'Deaf' he has been forced to constantly ask the question, "where do I belong?"
Made In India Britain is an insight into one man's life as he tries to fathom out exactly who he is as he delves deep into past experiences to try and find clues which will help him settle in his present and find a place he can finally call home.
As Rinkoo is Deaf and performed the piece in BSL, the music and sound design were created specifically to allow both hearing & Deaf/deaf audience members to experience the show to the fullest extent.
Creative Team
Rinkoo Barpaga (writer/performer); Daniel Bailey(director); Jack Weir (lighting designer); Lanre Malaolu (movement director); Ebrahim Nazier (designer)
Exhale
Birmingham Repertory Theatre
Tom Rackham - Composer and Sound Designer
She's queer, a christian and carries a whole lot of baggage, Exhale is an autobiographical piece that explores coming of age in the diaspora, class, whilst battling a faith that contradicts her existence. A solo show entwined with live music, Exhale is a journey of undoing - a trail of faith, sexuality and forgiveness.
Creative Team
Zeddie Lawal (writer/performer); Daniel Bailey (director); Jack Weir (lighting designer); Lanre Malaolu (movement director); Ebrahim Nazier (designer)