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"The Last Five Years". Book, Music & Lyrics by Jason Robert Brown.

The research imperative was the hypothesis that performances of musicians and actors can be enhanced by experience of the rehearsal processes of the “other” discipline. This imperative developed ideas seen in earlier work of the researcher that brought together actors and musicians as partners on stage.

The current hypothesis was tested through the preparation for performance of the musical. Unusually, this insisted that both actors and instrumentalists contributed to the evolution of the production as a single entity rather than confining their contributions to their specialist areas. Actors learnt from the musicians’ precision of preparation whilst the musicians developed an appreciation of risk taking and working as an open team. The artistic aim was to create a performance in which the two “texts” dissolved into a single communicative experience for performers and audience.

The research process saw musicians and actors together in rehearsals throughout the gestation of the performance. All were encouraged to comment on any aspect of the work, resulting, for example, in the actors learning that clues about performance intentions were in the musical score, and that the music is a “character” in the unfolding drama – exemplified by the ‘cellist assuming, at one point, an explicit role as the lover of the male character, where the musical notes and the sung text provided a genuine dialogue.

A number of observations emerged from this process. One, the authority of the texts, illuminated clear differences between established methods of preparing musical and word-based material. The distinction gave all the performers a broader context from which to view their personal practices.

This production was the subject of a research study conducted by John Sloboda on the participants’ reactions to collaborative and cross-disciplinary work. The show therefore represents research with pedagogic implications beyond this particular piece, production or genre .