Caroline - a New Musical

A radio station for young people! Why do we need that?

Caroline dreams of something more than stacking shelves at the local greengrocers. Her days are routine, but her nights come alive, walking the pier, sharing laughs with her best friend Mary, and spinning records with Robbie, her music-mad boyfriend who’s big on charm but short on direction.

But a music revolution is coming, and Robbie lands a shock gig with Radio Caroline—the pirate radio station blasting pop, soul and rock ’n’ roll from a ship off the Essex coast and suddenly everything changes. Caroline is swept into a tidal wave of music, mayhem and a movement that would shake up British culture forever.

Set to a soundtrack of iconic hits from the 60’s, Caroline is a vibrant, heart-warming and rebellious new musical about love, ambition and discovering your own voice.

She’s not a DJ. She’s not a rock star. But in the middle of Britain’s radio revolution, Caroline might just steal the show.

FIND A VENUE

Cast & Creatives

Douglas Rintoul
Director

Bio

Douglas is Chief Executive and Artistic Director of the New Wolsey Theatre, Ipswich. He was previously Artistic Director of Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch, Founder and Artistic Director of the national touring company Transport, and an Associate Director of Complicité. Born in Bury St Edmunds and raised in Colchester, Douglas read Drama at the University of Birmingham, trained on the Regional Theatre Young Director Scheme at Salisbury Playhouse, and attended the National Theatre Studio’s Young Directors’ Programme.

Directing credits include As You Like It (National Theatre Public Acts, Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch), Brief Encounter (New Wolsey Theatre, Salisbury Playhouse, Yvonne Arnaud Theatre), Dardanus (English Touring Opera), Footloose (New Wolsey Theatre, Pitlochry Festival Theatre), Made in Dagenham (New Wolsey Theatre, Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch), Noises Off (Les Théâtres de la Ville de Luxembourg, New Wolsey Theatre, Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch, Theatre by the Lake), Sleeping Beauty (New Wolsey Theatre), The Hired Man (Hull Truck Theatre, Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch), and The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole The Musical (Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch).

Alex Thorpe
Co-Director

Bio

Alex is the Co-Creative Director at Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch, a producing theatre with a catchment area of over 1 million people serving Outer East London and South Essex.

As a director for QTH: Bedroom Farce; Handbagged (TNP/UK Tour). Other directing credits include: FE: The Comedy of Errors; Three Tales from Ovid (RSC), Twelfth Night (Orange Tree Theatre), The Remains of Logan Dankworth (Norwich Arts Centre/UK Tour), Frankie Vah (Underbelly/Soho Theatre), Lee Harvey Oswald (Finborough Theatre).

Alex is a tutor for Open Door, a non-profit organisation that helps young people access drama schools. He worked in the London Theatre team at Arts Council England 2021-23.

Vikki Stone
Writer

Bio

Vikki Stone is an award-winning writer, composer, comedian and musician, who has a rather unique set of skills in writing, classical music, musical theatre as well as over ten years on the road as a stand-up comedian.

Writing credits include: co-adapter, writer and music supervisor for the Olivier Award winning Hey Duggee Live, #zoologicalsociety (Royal & Derngate); Cinderella & Aladdin (The Lyric Hammersmith); music and lyrics for Alice In Wonderland (Liverpool Everyman Playhouse); music and lyrics for Peter Pan (Rose Theatre Kingston); Sleeping Beauty & Dick Whittington (New Wolsey Theatre); Ten Pieces Special Report for BAFTA Nominated children’s music series BBC Ten Pieces, Our Girls Our Game for The British Youth Music Theatre.

She has four stage musicals currently under commission/in development including a new jukebox musical for New Wolsey Theatre/High Tide/Mercury Colchester.

Vikki was the dramaturg on the new Burlesque musical that played Manchester Opera House and Theatre Royal Glasgow. She is also consulting on a number of other large-scale musicals during their development periods.

Vikki made history when she was the musical director, pianist and band leader of the Saturday night ITV prime-time show Romeo and Duet, making her the first on-screen female musical director of a primetime entertainment show in the UK. She has also been developing a major musical theatre series for a major streaming platform.

Other TV appearances include: Richard Osman’s House of Games, Celebrity Pointless, The Dog Ate My Homework, The John Bishop Show, Partners in Rhyme and the BAFTA award-winning Ten Pieces for BBC.