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William Lawrence is currently working on a musical, Dance On The Moon.

Dance On The Moon is coming-of-age saga set in the late 1600’s, the heyday of Piracy.

The action of the drama takes place within the setting of Captain Gideon’s run-down curio shop overlooking the Bourne Sea Gate of Hastings, and within flashbacks to his days under the Privateer/Pirate Sir Henry Morgan. The story is interwoven with songs by William Lawrence.

CHARACTERS

The musical can be performed by 7 actors with two actors, Tristan and Captain Gideon doubling, making 9 characters in all.

1, Captain Gideon

Captain Ezra Gideon, late thirties, one-time sharp-eyed pearl diver, sailed under Sir Henry Morgan. (Can double as Morgan)

2, Tristan

Tristan, late teens, the son of Captain Gideon. Tristan helps his father in his curio shop. (Can double as Ezra, the Young Captain Gideon)

3, Billie

Billie, late teens, female from the Caribbean region, helps her father, Ben Adams, run a fish stall by the netting huts at the Bourne Sea Gate. She also cleans for Captain Gideon.

4, Rackie

Rackie, seductive middle-aged female pirate; she has a scar under her left eye; a seafaring crony of Captain Gideon's, sailed under Sir Henry Morgan.

5, Ben

Ben Adams: late thirties, from the Caribbean region, quietly strong fisherman, a close friend of Captain Gideon, ex-pirate, sailed under Sir Henry Morgan. 

6, Ezra

The young Captain Gideon; Sir Henry Morgan’s prized pearl diver in his teens. (Can double as Tristan)

7, Morgan 

Sir Henry Morgan, late thirties, Privateer/Pirate: Lieutenant Governor of Jamaica 1674-1683 (Can double as Captain Gideon)

8, Esquemelin, late thirties, taciturn French surgeon, sailed under Sir Henry Morgan on his barque The Satisfaction. (He later published an account of his exploits: ‘The Buccaneers of America.’)

9, Sir Modyford

Sir Thomas Modyford, late fifties, smooth talking, Governor of Jamaica (1664-1671). 

PRE-RECORDED

MUSICAL BACKING TRACK

SONGS

1, HEY LITTLE BEETLE

2, NOUGHT NEW UNDER THE SEA

3, FISHERMAN’S SONG*

4, WHAT WILL I DO WITH MY CURIOS, BOY?

5, DANCE ON THE MOON*

6, BRING ME THE OCEAN

7, MORGAN OF LLANRUUMNEY, THAT'S I!

(INTERVAL)

8, FOR HIRE

9, YOU GOTTA LIVE

10, LET ME SET YOU FREE O!

11, ON YOUR WINGS!

12, BE GUIDED BY THE STARS

*FISHERMAN’S SONG (Reprise - Acapella)

13, HASTINGS O HASTINGS

*DANCE ON THE MOON (Reprise)

William Lawrence, playwright, artist: born in Barking, Essex, 1951, was brought up in the East End of London. He trained at the Chelsea and Hammersmith School of Art for sculpture whilst also working in the literary field. He worked with the writer Robin Maugham, author of The Servant, from 1971 until Maugham's died in 1981, on over a dozen projects, finally collaborating on the comic novel, KNOCK ON TEAK.  He is a trustee of the writer's estate.  

William Lawrence was initially inspired to be a writer by his father, who worked in the Royal Albert docks by day and recited poetry at pub venues by night. 

You’ll Never Walk Alone – William Lawrence established a theatre group Crystal Theatre in 1990 for the staging of his first play, You’ll Never Walk Alone. The drama was supported by John Roman Baker, playwright, and sponsored by AIDS POSITIVB UNDERGROUND for  World Aids Day in memory of Graham Wilkinson Director of the Sussex AIDS Centre. It ran at The Marlborough Theatre from Nov. 28- Dec 2nd - early 1990's.

You’ll Never Walk Alone is centred around two characters, one a homophobic football fan and the other a stand-up comedian. It was inspired by the lives of two of William Lawrence’s friends who died of the HIV virus and it was written to inform young people of the risks of unsafe sex. In August 1991 the production was staged in London at the Theatro Technis, Camden and obtained excellent reviews from The Guardian and The Stage:

‘… well constructed, often moving two-hander… Lawrence never forfeits our trust… Where it excels is in its presentation of humanity stripped bare… The play may not make you feel better about death, but it may well make you feel considerably better about life.’

Rosalind Carne

The Guardian

You’ll Never Walk Alone… an abrasive two-hander… about opposites painfully growing towards each other… From the violence of the football terraces… to the melancholy of an hospice… both the rabidly heterosexual Dave and the happily homosexual Luke have Aids … ruthlessly hewn… theatrically gripping piece…

Peter Burton

The Stage

Never Walk Alone toured in 1995 – the play, with its new shortened title: Never Walk Alone, was sponsored by Hastings Arts Council and HARRASS, the Hastings and Rother Aids Support Society. The production visited schools, colleges and universities in the South East of England, finishing its tour at THE STABLES THEATRE, Hastings. The drama ran from December 1995 to January 1996 as part of a World AIDS Day safe sex awareness campaig

The Sabre’s Edge - 1997 - drama on the life of the celebrated ballet dancer Vatslav Fomich Nijinsky and his rise to fame, inspired by a meeting with Romola de Pulsky, the dancer’s wife, and his sponsor, the Baron de Gunzberg.   The play was written and directed by William Lawrence and sponsored by the Arts Council of Great Britain as part of their A4E - Arts for Everyone - programme, which awarded the production a substantial grant. The play was performed at The Barons Court Theatre, Hammersmith and at the Bourne Theatre, Hastings. It was reviewed by Emma Manning for The Stage newspaper:

‘… It provides endless questions about who Nijinsky really was, his sexual colours and the illness that destroyed him. While Lawrence leaves us to let our imagination gallop, he structures his writing with inspired efficiency and great detail of the protagonists’ lives is unfurled… absorbing and credible.’

Blue On Blue – 2009 - William Lawrence wrote, produced and directed his play, Blue On Blue for 2009 Edinburgh Fringe Festival. The drama is set in war-torn Afghanistan in a secluded ravine around the grave of a British soldier not far from a destroyed military truck with a suspicious cargo, where three characters collide, a female US lieutenant, a Mujahedin fighter and a British Intelligence officer. The drama explores the complex issues of ‘the war on terror’ from Western and Muslim perspectives. It obtained a five-star review from Anna Millar in The Scotsman. 

YouTube – a ten-minute segment of Blue On Blue by William G Lawrence can be seen on YouTube.

William Lawrence recently wrote the introductions for two novels by Robin Maugham, published by Valancourt Books 20th Century Classics in 2019 - The Servant and The Wrong People.

1971 – 1981 

PA to the writer, Robin Maugham.

Took down in dictation, typed, and worked creatively on the following projects:

1, THE BARRIER – novel set in an Indian up-country hill station at the time of the RAJ.

2, THE SIGN – novel set in AD20 – centred around the character of a preacher, CALEB, who comes to believe himself to be the Messiah.

3, KNOCK ON TEAK – comic novel – written in collaboration with Robin Maugham – set on an exotic, imaginary island off the coast of Sri Lanka, where hashish has been legalised – centred around the journey taken by a novelist, TEAK, to increase his failing book sales.

4, SEARCH FOR NIRVANA – autobiography – researched and travelled with the writer to find the perfect place to settle down.

5, THE CORRIDOR – psychological thriller – centred in the mind of a man who goes back through the decisions he has made in his life.

6, THE SIGN – film script.

7, THE LINK – film script based on Robin Maugham’s novel of the same title set in Victorian England and centred around the subject of identity theft when a man appears after being presumed dead, to claim the estate and fortune of an English aristocrat – based on a true legal case, THE TICHBORNE CASE.

8, THE SIGN – play script and film script based on Robin Maugham’s novel of the same title.

9, LOVERS IN EXILE – a collection of short stories centred around the theme of broken lovers.

10, THE DIVIDING LINE – a novel and film script set in Agadir during the aftermath of the earthquake – centred around the theme of mistaken identity.

11, REFUGE – novel written in collaboration – centred around a man searching for a way to escape his suburban life by settling in Sri Lanka with a group of expats (unpublished).

12, THE SERVANT – the original version of Robin Maugham’s play, based on his novella of the same title. The original play script was recently discovered and edited to a II Act play by William Lawrence with assistance from Peter Benedict. 

Career as a Sculptor

Trained at the Chelsea School of Art, UK

Various commissions, including portraits of Rod Stewart; Sir Elton John; Alec Waugh; Robin Maugham; Henry Fry, founder of the Labour National History Museum; Brian Desmond Hurst…

Exhibited at ALL HALLOWS by THE TOWER in London. Commissioned by The Dockland Development Corporation for a sculpture titled: ENTERPRISE – for the opening of East London’s Docklands by the then Chancellor of the Exchequer Sir Geoffrey Howe. 

2009 – QUALIFIED AS A TEACHER OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TO FOREIGN STUDENTS

2019 – WILLIAM LAWRENCE CRYSTAL THEATRE/NEW EXPERIMENTAL THEATRE

INVOLVEMENT THERAPY FOR THOSE LIVING WITH DEMENTIA

We are working on a project written in collaboration

with nursing staff and Activities Coordinators of a local nursing home.  

The main cast of the production is made up of the residents living with dementia.

This a new experimental piece that we hope will enable residents to express themselves

with words, movement, music and drama - as a beneficial form of involvement therapy -

which has already had great success.

RECENT WORK

DANCE ON THE MOON

The drama is a critique of Empire set in Captain Gideon's rundown curio shop in Hastings on the South East coast of England, intertwined with a coming-of-age love story involving Tristan, his young son who longs to be free from his father's past and Billie, the daughter of a local Caribbean fisherman. The musical is set in the late 1600’s with flashbacks to Captain Gideon's days under the Privateer/Pirate Captain Henry Morgan and his notorious exploits during the sacking of Panama.