Composing Through Acting : the actor’s perspective and multi-disciplinarity as starting points for composing and collaborating in making music theatre

Abstract

In this paper I look at my own practice as a composer of music theatre and the effect my work as a musical theatre actor has had on the way I approach composing for the theatre. Another key factor is the collaborative nature of making music theatre. The paper also deals with self-doubt and coming in terms with the multi-disciplinary nature of my practice and working from many different perspectives. I end up defining my practice as storytelling through music, text and human voice. As examples of my practice, I present two projects: composing a dramatic monologue by Eugene O’Neill as an exercise to see if a dramatic monologue can be made into a song, and composing a new music theatre performance ”Yli rajan” in collaboration with actress Jonna Järnefelt. Both of these projects reflect my way of working from the text and aiming for the integrity in storytelling and creating situations, rather than focusing on the musical complexity. Focusing on the content gives me freedom and confidence in composing and allows me to be the multi-disciplinary artist I am.