How cars work has always eluded me, so this is the perfect opportunity for me to learn a little bit more about them, AND make my musical more relatable to the modern, ordinary folk.

For you see, I’m not so trapped in my performing arts bubble that I don’t understand why people don’t flock to musicals like they used to. It’s an entire evening of entertainment, for one thing. It can be expensive, for another. You can’t pirate a musical, and then, most of their subject matter just doesn’t speak to regular people. That last part I can control, and I’ve been trying to do so for years.

I had to get my car serviced in Ringwood last week, and it planted the seed of an idea in my mind. Cars are inspiring, and I can see why: great machines of metal and loud noises. People who give car services and brake services and log book services are the celebrities of this world, much like how playwrights are the celebrities of the musical world. I may be the only one who can combine the two, so it falls to me to unite the two worlds. Car servicing…script writing…they are two sides of the same coin. Cars need attention to keep them running, as do scripts. You can’t just forge ahead with a script that doesn’t work, lest the whole thing just fall apart. And you can’t just drive a car that hasn’t been serviced, lest THAT car fall apart. And the consequences are basically the same as well. You either crash your car and spend time in hospital with horrible injuries, or your show crashes and burns on opening night, and you’re torn apart by critics. Basically the same thing. I’m so good at connecting with people and empathising with their point of view, really. It’s what makes me so good at my job. I could go along to any professional doing car repairs in Ringwood and have a normal chat to them, about motors and cars, like a normal person. I’m just that good at blending in…then turning that skill towards my writing.

-Aubrey