The grand premiere of Clive Nolan's third musical will take place at the Cheltenham Playhouse on September 2nd, on the second day of "The Fire and the Quest 2" festival. This full theatrical production, directed by Ian Baldwin, will feature the following cast:

Clive Nolan: Professor Samuel King
Gemma Ashley: Eva Bonaduce
Jamie Anderson: William Gardelle
Verity White: Dr. Josephine Kendrick
Robbie Gardner: Tom Worthy
Chris Longman: Colonel Luther Scovil
Joy-Amy Wigman: Helena Blake
Ian Baldwin: Captain Fergus Maunder
Chris Lewis: Edwin Deeks
Ross Andrews: Jacob Alderdyce
Caron Morgan: Martha Kitson
Emily Frechter: Paper Boy
Natalie Barnett: Roza Yakovna

 Book tickets HERE 

Clive Nolan: "The Caamora Theatre Company cast is, as we all know, a fluid thing, and with this in mind we have made a few changes to the line up of both the ‘King’s Ransom’ CD and the ‘Fire and the Quest 2’ weekend.

Victoria Bolley is not able to be with us for the next leg of this adventure, so the part of Eva will be going to Gemma Ashley, who will perform on the new CD and also in both ‘Alchemy’ and ‘King’s Ransom’ at the ‘Fire and the Quest 2’ weekend. In turn, Verity Smith will play the part of Dr. Josephine on both the CD and at the live show.

So, the full and final cast listing for the ‘King’s Ransom’ CD is as follows:

Professor Samuel King – Clive Nolan
Eva Bonaduce – Gemma Ashley
William Gardelle – Guy Barnes
Dr. Josephine Kendrick – Verity Smith
Tom Worthy – Robbie Gardner
Colonel Luther Scovil – Chris Longman
Helena Blake – Christina Booth
Captain Fergus Maunder – Alan Reed
Edwin Deeks – Chris Lewis
Jacob Alderdyce – Ross Andrews
Martha Kitson – Joy-Amy Wigman
Paper Boy – Emily Frechter

Other news and cast listings for the ‘Fire and the Quest 2’ weekend will follow soon."

Artwork by Mark Buckingham

Clive Nolan and the Caamora Theatre Company will return to the Cheltenham Playhouse for the second edition of “The Fire and the Quest”! During the mini festival the audience will be able to see two of Clive’s musicals: ‘Alchemy’ and ‘King’s Ransom’, being the next adventure of Professor King and his companions.

Clive: “After the success of the Fire and the Quest 2015, I am happy to announce that the Fire and the Quest will return in 2017. This time round we will be performing ‘Alchemy’ followed by the debut production of ‘King’s Ransom’, which I hope we will also be recording for an official DVD release. Don’t wait to long to book your tickets!”

'The 'Fire and the Quest 2’ will take place at the Cheltenham Playhouse at the very start of September 2017, and will be a similar format to the one we did in 2015.

Here is the schedule...
Friday 1st September - 'Alchemy' (directed by Ian Baldwin)
Saturday Afternoon 2nd September - 'Beyond the Veil' (the acoustic show)
Saturday evening 2nd September - debut of 'King's Ransom' (directed by Ian Baldwin)

There will also be some 'extra features' including 'The Victorian Seance' which will take place later on the Friday (where Ross Andrews will be taking us through some of the tricks of the trade that mediums used to use to 'perform' their communications with the spirit world (£15)). This should a lot of fun!

Also for some there will be an option to attend the final dress rehearsal (on Thursday August 31st) of 'King's Ransom' introduced by Clive - This will be a limited number. Please be aware that this rehearsal may consist of stops and starts, as well as the more noticeable presence of cameras and crew. Then there is of course the much enjoyed 'after-party' to round off the weekend.

It is a hot time for ‘King’s Ransom’ as the subsequent artists take turn to record their parts at the Thin Ice Studios. But what is the story about? It will be several more months before the final synopsis is revealed… Here is what you may expect…

“King’s Ransom” is a Victorian steampunk adventure steeped in political intrigue, high emotion and the all-pervasive presence of the supernatural… The plot takes place two years after the events of ‘Alchemy’. Professor King embarks upon a new secret mission to save the Prime Minister and to restore order to the British Empire which has been threatened by the treacherous schemes of Colonel Scovil and his ruthless sidekick, Roza, the assassin. King is supported by his faithful companions, William Gardelle and Eva Bonaduce, as well as new and valued allies who dwell in the twilight world of Under London. Even in this troubled and chaotic setting, love manages to thread its way through the hearts of our heroes, but will it survive? This is a journey that takes us from the shadowy tunnels and catacombs below London, through the hurly burly environs of Covent Garden and Hyde Park and on to the shattering finale outside St. Paul’s Cathedral at dawn. In a deadly race to the finish, will King prevail over these dark adversaries, whilst protecting the people he cares about? In King’s Ransom, nothing is certain!

It is our great pleasure to announce the cast of Clive Nolan's new musical, 'King's Ransom'. The musical, that takes us back to the universe of Professor King and his companions, is scheduled for release in early 2017. The album will feature 11 principal characters, a chorus and a host of musicians. The recordings have now begun and some musical snippets together with a synopsis of the story will be available soon!

Clive Nolan: "I am proud to present the cast for ‘King’s Ransom’: and what a cast! This is a wonderful gathering of superb talent and I look forward to recording all their vocal work for posterity."

An ‘official bootleg’ DVD of the acoustic show recorded during the ‘Fire and the Quest’ weekend in September 2015, celebrating 10 years of Clive Nolan Musicals is available for sale now!
This show features a wide variety of Clive’s material performed by a stellar cast of singers and musicians.
Clive plays piano, sings and entertains alongside artists including Christina Booth, Alan Reed, Paul Manzi, Chris Lewis, Paul Scott, Agnieszka Swita, Victoria Bolley, Gemma Louise Edwards, Verity Smith, as well as the instrumental talents of Mark Westwood, Scott Higham and Kylan Amos. The cost of the DVD package (full colour cover and 2 DVDs) is £15 and it is available from our ONLINE SHOP! The profits raised from this project will go towards the making of Clive’s third musical ‘King’s Ransom’.

Clive Nolan: “I hope this DVD provides a wonderful memento of that terrific Saturday afternoon concert. I have compiled and edited the show in its entirety, ‘warts and all’, so please be aware there is a lot of chatting and story telling (you can get straight to the songs with the chapter selections). It also needs to be remembered that, sadly, the sound quality is limited because we only had the audio recorded on camera. It was a lot of fun doing this gig, and I really enjoyed working with all these excellent performers.
With the challenges I now face to record the new musical, ‘King’s Ransom’, every sale of this DVD will be a welcome contribution to the cause… Enjoy the show, and thanks in advance!”

Clive Nolan: "Well that's it! My new musical 'King's Ransom' is now written!! I managed to write this one in less than two years, which is excellent! This show is epic on all sorts of levels and features some great new characters as well as some old favourites! There's political intrigue, love, hate, action, despair, hope and a little magic all thrown into the mix.

I will spend a month or so adjusting and developing the instrumentation and orchestrations, and if all goes well, recording can begin early in the summer.

Stand fast, and set your compass straight... King is coming back!"

Join 'King's Ransom' Faceook Page HERE

Clive Nolan: "I’m pleased to say that ‘King’s Ransom’, my new musical, will be released on ‘Verglas Records'! It has been the label for Arena for the last 20 years and I’m hoping some of that gold dust will rub off on this new show. King’s Ransom is set in the same ‘universe’ as ‘Alchemy’ and takes place about two years after those events. The characters of Professor King, William Gardelle and Eva Bonaduce are still with us, alongside a host of new and vibrant protagonists. The ‘book’, lyrics and most of the music is now written, and my guess is that recording will begin in the summer, with a release early next year. I will announce the cast and musicians shortly.

Meanwhile, here is the wonderful artwork that will be the principal image for 'King’s Ransom': this picture has been created by the excellent  DC Comics artist, Mark Buckingham. 

Like both the precious shows (‘She’ and ‘Alchemy’), this has been a major writing project for me, and it’s not over yet. Nevertheless, I look forward to recording 'King’s Ransom', and hearing all those fantastic musicians and singers do what they do best!

I’d like to thank all of you who have been supporting my musicals over these years. I hope you will enjoy what the future holds. The adventure continues…"

More about 'Alchemy' HERE