A pair of Dundee brothers have put their blood, sweat and savings into a producing a brand new original musical based on a very old story.
Godfather Death by Jack and Finlay Avison, which will make its debut at the Edinburgh Fringe this weekend, takes inspiration from the Brothers Grimm fairytale of the same name.
In the story, a physician makes a deal with his godfather, Death. Death promises him that he will make him famous, and gives him a magic herb that will cure any sickness.
The catch? If Death appears at the feet of the patient, the physician must give up that person to his godfather, and allow him to take them without question.
This works for a while – but then the physician gets greedy. He tried to cheat Death, with disastrous consequences.
And though the spooky tale may not scream song and dance, Jack, 29, explains that the “big themes” of life and death make it natural musical fodder.
Fin ‘immediately saw a musical in his head’
“Musicals seem to thrive off big feelings and big emotions. Sometimes they can be a little cheesy, but it can be good,” says the musician, known to some as the frontman of Glasgow-based indie-funk outfit Speak Easy Circus.
“It’s like the music has enough gravitas to hold these big subjects.”
The brainchild of 25-year-old playwright and director Finlay, Godfather Death became a family affair when Jack received an unexpected call from his wee brother, who “read the fairytale and immediately saw a musical in his head”.
“My younger brother was always involved in musicals and plays,” Jack smiles as he recalls growing up with Finlay in Dundee’s West End, where they both attended Harris Academy.
“He ended up going to York University to study playwrighting. One day he phoned me up and was like: ‘I’ve been trying to find musicians in York to do this project, but then I remembered you’re a musician – do you want to do it?’”
Though he had “never thought about doing a musical before”, Jack threw himself into the project heart first.
“As soon as I heard it, I thought: That is a great story, I can really see it working.
“From then, we had that dynamic where I was working on the songs and the music side of things, and Fin was writing the scripts.”
Sweeney Todd and Heathers were inspirations
To help him get into the “musical mindset”, Finlay created a playlist for Jack featuring soundtracks to contemporary musicals such as Sweeney Todd, Heathers and Hamilton.
“The original fairytales are actually quite brutal, some of them,” explains Jack. “So the tone of the show was really important for us to get right, because we really wanted it to have this black comedy type of feel.”
However, he assures any musical theatre buffs that the staples of a traditional musical remain.
“We have a really big end number, where I was basically just trying to write the biggest, most musically-est ending to a show that I could think of,” he laughs.
And although Finlay was the creative vision behind the project, it was Jack who thrust things forward by signing them up for this year’s Fringe – before they had a cast, or songs, or even a finished script.
“Last year, I was through at the Fringe playing shows with Speak Easy Circus, and Fin had graduated,” he explains.
“And I was like: Right, we’re going to do the Fringe next year. Let’s make that commitment, and trust we’ll figure it out.”
Brothers self-funded passion project
They spent the next year (and their combined savings) writing, producing, casting and perfecting the four-person show, which will feature an all-Scottish cast.
Jack recalls editing the show with his brother in their parents’ back garden, and admits when it comes to financing the play, the only backers they had were one another.
“The main point of doing the show was to get as many people as possible to see it,” he says candidly.
“We made a decision early on that it was a project we’re really passionate about and something we really wanted to do, so we decided we were going to go into our savings, fund it from those, and then basically not try and recoup them.
“The show is going to be part of the free Fringe, and there’ll be a bit to give donations, so those will just be split between everybody that’s in the show.”
Playwright Fin defying expectations
For theatre novice Jack, staging a self-produced musical is a big risk – and it’s as nerve-wracking as it is exciting.
But his pride in his brother and their achievement together outshines any nerves.
“Fin’s autistic, and he’s ended up getting himself to university, and getting a degree, which I think some people – even his teachers – would have said wasn’t possible,” he says.
“It does feel like even just getting to this stage has been a really big deal and it’s something we’re really proud of achieving.”
Godfather Death by The Avison Brothers will be showing for free at the Edinburgh Fringe on various dates until August 19 2023. For tickets and more information, see the festival’s website.