Jack Drewry

Meet our Musical Director - Jack Drewry! Composer of our theme tune along with Rowan Evans🎶 Master of sound and perfectly-timed musical moments 🎬 #comedy #soapopera #improvisedtheatre #improvuk #closereachday

"Be not afeard; the isle is full of noises, Sounds and sweet airs, that give delight, and hurt not." - Caliban Act3 Scene 2 First Encounters: The Tempest at @thersc . This play has magic at its core and this production used sound to be the vehicle of that magic. This was a touring show that went into a wide variety of spaces from school halls to regional theatres. The sound needed to feel like another character onstage so I built the sound design into the rehearsal process using the actual touring setup that I could then leave in the capable hands of stage management for the tour. With director @aaronkp we designed a quad speaker system that would allow us to fully surround the audience to achieve dynamic, immersive storytelling with live mics and recorded sound. We worked very closely with two local schools and as part of the workshops (photos 1+2) we also recorded their voices to use at the peak of the storm in Act 1 and for textures of the island throughout. I spent a lot of studio time with each of the cast members recording breathing, hissing, singing, barking, humming, rumbling and grumbling that all went into a bank of vocal sounds to craft the environments for show. For example I made a virtual instrument, like a vocal pipe organ, from @peter.moreton 's voice which we used to build the sound of Prospero's magic. For Aerial's magic @carlagarrxtt 's voice was processed in real time using @ableton Live, which gave their character a dynamic and supernatural energy. The rest of the cast recorded sining and chanting that were layered with my beatboxing to build the songs. A lot of water was drunk that day. Photos 1-4 by Sara Beaumont © RSC Photos 5-10 by Simon Hadley © RSC

Throwback to First Encounters: The Tempest with @thersc back in January this year. What an amazing production that toured around schools, community centres and theatres in the Midlands and the North mostly to areas that don't see a lot theatre, let alone Shakespeare. A really collaborative and supported process lead by the fantastic @aaronkp who knows how to empower everyone in the company to bring their thoughts, feelings and ideas about this challenging play. Aaron wanted to make sure that this production was not afraid to talk about colonisation, race and oppression to young audiences. The creative associates Conor, Ibraheem, Yasmin and Tyreke had been had been been running workshops with the participating schools to both open up these discussions with the kids and also incorporate their ideas, and in some cases their voices, into the rehearsal process. The score and the sound design were entirely created with voices both live and recorded including some from two local schools. With so much to say about it, I'll do another post about that process soon. First Encounter: The Tempest was my second show for the RSC, with the first being #falklandsound back in 2023. On Stage: @garon.clark , @carlagarrxtt , @shakeel.haakim , @kiren.kebailidwyer , @icamarshall , @peter.moreton , Rachel Winters, @scout_worsley Off Stage: Director/Movement Director/Editor: @aaronkp Set and Costume Designer: @aldo_vazquez_y Composer and Sound Designer: @jackdrewry Fight director: Tom Jordan Casting Director: Matthew Dewsbury CDG Associate Director: Layla Madant Voice and Text: Paula Stephens Dramaturg: Olivia Poglio-Nwabali Production Manager: Dan Avery Company Managers: Pip Horbin and Suzy Bourke Company Stage Manager: @smrosie.g Deputy Stage Manager: Tabitha Sylvester-Kilroy Assistant Stage Manager: @paulina.krause Producer: @joetrose Wardrobe Technician: Stevie Haynes-Gouls Stage and Props Technician: Gavinder Garcha Costume Supervisor: @malearcucci Props Supervisor: Alison Tanqueray Creative Associates: @condorjones , @tyrekeleslie , @yasminhtaheri and @ibraheem.toure Photos 2-4 by Topher McGillis © RSC Photos 5-10 by Simon Hadley © RSC

A throwback to last year's @thewardrobetheatre Christmas show. Notting Hell was a total pleasure to work on with a lovely team lead by the steady yet very silly hand of @helenamiddletondirects . It contains some of the most ambitious technical work we've ever done including recording and replaying improvised material thats different each night, life voice manipulation, a bunch of songs and a lot underscore music for all the storytelling (and yes sometimes montage) sequences. A very creative and talented cast and a brilliant creative team made this one of the most hilarious and rewarding rehearsal processes I've ever done. Notting Hell: The Greatest Love Story in the Underworld Eternal pain and suffering, never-ending torment, ceaseless misery – falling in love isn’t always easy. When the foppishly handsome owner of a quaint bookshop falls for a jaw-droppingly gorgeous international mega celeb, little did he think he’d soon find himself deep in the fiery pits of the underworld, surrounded by horses, hounds and facing off with the cursed spawn of satan himself! Oh, bloody hell! This Christmas finding true love is going to take a lot of sacrifice, human sacrifice. Directed by Helena Middleton (The Wardrobe Ensemble), Notting Hell is the latest alternative comedy mash-up parody from The Wardrobe Theatre, the people that brought you The Good, The Bad & The Coyote Ugly, MDH: Puppets Do A Movie, Little Women In Black, Drac & Jill and many more – a fast, smart and devilishly funny new comedy that promises to be surreal, but nice. Director – @helenamiddletondirects Cast – @sdalejones , @the_tipplemouse , @stephaniehoutmanacts , @adizashardow Understudy – @hollyputthekettleon Stage Manager – @_gem_smith Composer & Sound Designer – @jackdrewry Designer – @ellakbdesign Dramaturg – @matthewbhwhittle Movement Director – @howdeepisyourraj Lighting Designer – Chris Collier Intimacy Director – @sophiegrenfell_ Associate Director – @rachaelannwalsh Associate Designer – Ruby Brown Set Builder – @williamdatson Session Musician – @tom_crosley_thorne Wellbeing Support – Artist Wellbeing Company Photography – @jackofforddop Producer – @alice.d.massey

SEASON 31! On 1st Sept and every other Monday until 22nd Dec at @thewardrobetheatre we are back with a fresh new season of CLOSER EACH DAY: The Improvised Soap Opera. 🎭🥳 And yes, it is our 31st season, as we accelerate towards our 15th year of this unique and hilarious live theatre show! But you don’t need to have followed the world’s longest improvised story since the start to get drawn in and soundly enjoy it - in fact, you don’t have to have watched a single episode ever before in your life! 😅 Every episode is a standalone show, so if you are a newbie, or just in town for a night, you will have just as good a time as our beloved die-hard fans. 😅🎯💝 We have had our summer break and are raring to get back into the show and see what happens next! Come and find out with us. Book tickets through the link in our bio and make your (every other) Monday blooming maaaarvellous! 🎟️❤️ Closer is made up of a stellar cast of Bristol’s best actors and improvisers. It is one of the few serialised theatre shows in the world and now, if you don’t live in Bristol, or if you do but want to support the show and never miss an episode again, you can join our Patreon and become a ‘Newtown Resident’ to see every filmed episode online from Sept 2024, as well as more benefits. 🎥😍 You can also join our Patreon for FREE to be part of our ‘Neighbourhood Watch’ to receive discount codes for cheaper tickets to our shows, and our latest news. Or you can still support the show and receive extra content, with one filmed episode a month, by upgrading to ‘Neighbourhood Watch Plus’ for the price of a fancy croissant every month. 🥐🥰 You can join our Patreon, for free or upgrade, or just check it out, through the link in our bio. 👆🔗 Whether you see us live, or on your screens, we cannot wait to entertain and delight you this season. Bring it on! 👋🫶🙌 #improvisedsoapopera #improvuk #britishsoap #bristoluk #bristolevents #whatsonbristol #newseason #closereachday Beautiful new Season 31 image: @tommyswaffleclub

This Monday the Closer crew got together for our annual general meeting to review the last year and cook up some plans for the next! We accidentally did some colour matching again ♥️🧡 We’re very proud of our last couple of Seasons of our improv live soap opera which plays at the @thewardrobetheatre - we celebrated 250 episodes not long ago, and our storylines have been super fun of late. Our audience numbers are going up, and we’re growing our Patreon with both free and paid memberships expanding. Thanks to everyone who has come to see a show or supports us through Patreon - you really are what keeps this unique project alive. 🫶 We have hit our stride with filming the show now - our Newtown Residents (highest tier on Patreon) get access to the recordings so they can watch the last 3 seasons anytime. We also started a new venture - Dial M for Menu - with the Old Market Assembly, our interactive dining experience, which has been a blast. Watch this space for more! We are super excited and looking forward to Closer Wach Day’s Season 31, which starts Monday 1st September, and then we’ll be celebrating our 15th birthday in Season 32 which will be in Summer 2026. Look out for some big plans for that, too. We have some exciting guests planned in for the coming season and hopefully some training from our artistic godmother Patti Stiles @psimpro_stylin 🤩 Can’t wait to see you in the Autumn! In the meantime if you miss us you can catch members of the cast in various shows, and you can also of course catch extra content and the shows themselves over on Patreon. Link in bio. 😘 #britishsoapopera #improvisedsoapopera #ukimprov #bristollife #southwestuk

Lil repost from last year to celebrate Bath Set season 🎄

I’ve composed music for a new sketch from the brilliant @abiclarkecomedy ! It’s being released tomorrow at 6pm on her YouTube Channel. It’s been a total joy to collaborate with Abi on the music for this one and to see the creative process that goes into the filming, editing and refining of a sketch like this. Can’t wait for you to see it.

Another flashback to the ever fantastic @robinhoodimprov Festival. We really did have so much fun. I’m so pleased about the way we applied a performance format for Sherwood! Improv in tights similar to @closereachdayco . The called scene allowed us to put together a narrative show that allowed the improvisers (many of whom hadn’t met up until the day) to focus on play rather than plot! 🏹 Working with such fab improvisers and fully immersing ourselves into Sherwood Forest through our costumes and skills was something special. It was very fun indeed: Sir Geoffrey ended up being catapulted into his own duck pond, Pebbles and Bucket had a shot-gun wedding and Marian won back her family castle and lands, turning it into a socialist utopia. The music you hear on this reel was composed by the wonderful @jackdrewry . Starting to think he must have been a troubadour in a past life - so inventive - you’ll hear a little hint of Closer’s theme in there too if you keep your ears open. 👀👂 Huge thanks to EVERYONE who got involved @moon_shoes , @sekkitabs , @tomtommorely , @maddie_parkour , @jackdrewry and of course the Closer Gang: Lindsey, John and Neil. Photography by: @raedowling #RobinHoodImprovFestival #ImprovFestival #ImprovUK #Nottingham #Improvisation #ImprovPerformance #SherwoodForest

JACK DREWRY! Jack is our Musical Director and all-round musical genius. He has composed music and sound effects for shows at the Bristol Old Vic and the Wardrobe Theatre in Bristol and The Egg in Bath as well as for the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-upon-Avon. He’s also worked on musical sketches with the brillaint @abiclarkecomedy and plays the keyboard for local supergroup Laid Blak, @official_laidblak 🎹🎤🎼🎶 Jack is responsible for our iconic theme tune (written with his long term collaborator Rowan Evans) and at our shows will add mood, atmosphere and intention by underscoring scenes where necessary and playing the scenes in and out. He will also, live and in the moment, add sound effects that are called for (a storm, background noises in the pub, a doorbell, a passing crow, a champagne cork popping - you name it, Jack can do it!). 🍾🐄⛈️🎯 Jack is also an integral part to Closer Each Day, with his fantastic eye and sense of narrative and what makes great theatre - he often offers observations that are incredibly useful and supports the brilliant work of our Artistic Director, John Lomas. 👏 Come and see Jack Drewry, and the other performers, in action on Monday 16th and every other Monday until 23rd December at @thewardrobetheatre . Link for tickets in our bio 🎟️ You can also see and hear more of his work at the Wardrobe, at the fabulous family show Deep Sea Seekers and the anarchic (and very much adult!) Christmas show Notting Hell. 🎉 If you want a great show, just involve Jack Drewry! 🤩 (And besides all that, he is the loveliest human being you could hope to meet! ❤️❤️❤️) #MusicalGenius #CloserEachDay #LaidBlak #WardrobeTheatre #ImprovisedTheatre #Comedy

Looking back at past projects and posting about them over the next few weeks. Blood Wedding by Federico García Lorca, Translated by Langston Hughes, Adapted by Melia Benssusen Directed by @aaronkp Designed by @aldo_vazquez_y Lighting design by Amy Mae Production Manager @deansudders Stage Managers @eve_rich93 + @theincredibleniamh Costume Supervisor Angelica Robinson Produced by Joe Spurgeon

A few show left of Wendy:A Peter Pan Story which I composed music for and designed the live sound for Tink. A total pleasure to work with the whole team and I’m really pleased with the lovely show we’ve made. Writer - James Baldwin Director - @jenny_r_davies Assistant Director - @director_intimacy_bristol Wendy - @liana.cottrill Tinker Bell - @alicelammy Peter - @joetwee Mum / Hook - @rozelle.gemma John Michael / Tootoes - JoAnne Haines Understudy Peter/Tink/JM/Tootles - Joseph Brown Understudy Mum/Hook/Wendy - @loussintorah Sound Designer - Dinah Mullen Lighting - @joe2dp Projection Design - @haveyoulostme Set and Costume Designer - @anishafields Movement Director - @howdeepisyourraj Fight Director - Bethan Clark Puppet Director - @fullerz Sound Engineer - Nick Laws Sound Assistant - Diana Drew Projection Engineer - James Lisk Costume Supervisor - Anna Dixon Associate Designer - Charlie Cook Associate Lighting Designer - Nicola Crawford Caption Designer - Virginie Taylor Caption Operator - Hannah Malone Access Consultant - Kate Lovell Production Manager - Lisa Hall Stage Manager - @kirsty_milne_ Deputy Stage Manager - @webofthechaz Assistant Stage Manager - Bryony Harrison-Pettit Massive thanks to Laura Knight, Lindsay Baker, Kate Cross and the rest of the team at @theeggtheatrebath for bringing it all together. Production photography by Camilla Adams