Interview - Dom Lewis

Firstly, without giving too much away, what can we expect from Next to Normal?

Audiences can expect an intimate, emotionally charged family drama powered by an incredible rock score. At its centre is Diana, a mother living with bipolar disorder, and a family trying to love one another while dealing with illness, grief and memories they have never fully confronted.

It tackles substantial subjects, but it is not simply two hours of sadness. There is warmth, humour and a great deal of love within it. It asks what “normal” actually means and whether moving forward sometimes requires accepting that life may never be completely resolved.

This was a big success on Broadway, winning Tony Awards, and in London a couple of years ago. Why did you pick it?

It is one of those rare musicals where the music, characters and subject matter are all equally important. It won three Tony Awards and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, but it still feels remarkably intimate and human.

We wanted to choose something that would challenge us artistically while also creating meaningful conversations. The show explores mental illness, treatment, grief, family relationships and the pressure to appear fine when things are anything but fine. Those themes feel as urgent now as they did when the musical was first written.

It also felt right for Bare. We try to produce ambitious theatre with a strong emotional purpose, rather than selecting a show purely because it is recognisable. Bringing the Scottish premiere of Next to Normal to the Fringe was an opportunity we could not resist.

We have also partnered with Bipolar Scotland and Held In Our Hearts. Their expertise and support have helped us approach the material with greater care, and audiences can support both charities through the production.

Have any of you seen the show?

Yes. Some members of the company were already very familiar with the show and its recent London production, while others came to it through the cast recording or discovered it properly during this process.

That mixture has been useful. The people who already loved it understood the responsibility of staging it, while those encountering it for the first time brought fresh instincts and questions. We have deliberately avoided trying to reproduce another production. Our version has been built around this particular company and the intimacy of our Fringe venue.

Tell us about Bare Productions.

Bare Productions is an Edinburgh-based community theatre company founded in 2017. We exist to create ambitious, accessible productions while giving performers, musicians and creatives a supportive place to develop their craft.

Our values are accessibility, creativity, encouragement, innovation and community. We take the work seriously, but we also care deeply about how the work is made. People should be challenged and encouraged without feeling disposable.

Over the years, we have staged everything from large-scale musicals to original writing. Our previous productions include Kinky Boots, RENT, Little Women and last year’s Fringe production of Rock of Ages. Next to Normal is probably our most emotionally and artistically demanding production to date.

In recent years we have loved your Kinky Boots and Moving On by HappySad productions, why is there so much young musical talent in the Scottish capital?

Edinburgh has a remarkable theatre ecosystem. There are universities, community companies, youth organisations, professional venues and, of course, the festivals. People can gain experience very quickly and work alongside artists from different backgrounds.

There is also a huge amount of professional-level talent among people who do not necessarily work in theatre full-time. Our company includes people with demanding jobs, studies and other responsibilities who still produce extraordinary work onstage.

The city encourages collaboration. People perform in one company, direct for another, play in a band somewhere else and then bring all of that experience back with them. That constant movement keeps raising the standard.

What are the first musicals you can remember seeing?

I cannot honestly identify the very first, but Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Les Misérables and Blood Brothers were among the early shows that made a lasting impression on me.

I remember being fascinated by the scale and spectacle, but also by the way a musical could make an audience feel something collectively. That sense of hundreds of people sharing the same emotional moment is still one of the things I love most about theatre.

What are your favourite musicals?

Next to Normal is genuinely one of them, rather than simply being the show we happen to be producing! 

I also love Rent, Come From Away and shows that combine a strong score with a clear reason for existing. My favourites tend to be musicals that entertain an audience while also saying something meaningful about people, identity or community.

What are your favourite musical songs?

That changes constantly, but “Light” from Next to Normal is very high on the list. It captures the show’s message beautifully without pretending that every problem can be neatly fixed.

I also love “Being Alive” from Company, “Me and the Sky” from Come From Away and “No Good Deed" from Wicked. They are all songs in which the storytelling and emotional journey matter just as much as the vocal performance.

Which musical would you most like to put on?

Waitress would be an extraordinary show to stage one day. Its themes of community, generosity and human connection align strongly with Bare’s values.

It would also present a brilliant creative challenge because the ensemble never stops working. Every performer contributes to building the world, telling the story and creating the emotional impact. It is not a show that can rely on spectacle alone.

Every show has mishaps. What has been your funniest?

The funniest mishaps are usually the ones the audience never notices. A prop appears in completely the wrong place, somebody enters with total confidence from the wrong side, or a technical cue suddenly develops a personality of its own.

What theatre teaches you is that something will always go wrong. The skill is making the audience believe that whatever happened was entirely deliberate.

There is an increasing trend for performers not to stay for the whole festival. You are performing for just over one week. Can I ask why?

There are several reasons. The first is financial. The cost of taking a large musical to the Fringe for the full month would be enormous, both for the company and for the individuals involved.

Most of our company also have jobs, studies and other commitments. Expecting people to be available for an entire month would make participating impossible for many of them, which would work against our commitment to accessibility.

Next to Normal is also an exceptionally demanding show, emotionally and vocally. Our run gives us nine performances and the experience of being part of the Fringe while remaining sustainable for the cast, musicians and production team. We would rather deliver a concentrated run at the highest possible standard than stretch the company beyond what is healthy or realistic.

Money is a difficult topic at the festival. Can I ask how the show is being funded?

The production is being funded through a combination of company investment, sponsorship, grant support and ticket income.

However, taking a musical of this scale to the Fringe still involves considerable financial risk. Ticket income does not arrive before the bills need to be paid, so budgeting, fundraising and partnership work have been happening for many months.

We also try to be transparent about the reality that ambitious community theatre is not cheap. Venue hire, licensing, musicians, technical equipment, set, costumes, publicity and accessibility all carry costs. The support we have received has allowed us to protect the quality of the production without transferring unreasonable costs onto our performers.

I assume you have attended the festival before. What are your favourite experiences, as a performer and as an audience member?

As a company, some of our greatest Fringe memories have come from seeing a production grow through word of mouth and eventually playing to full houses. The final performances are always emotional because everyone knows how much work, uncertainty and adrenaline have gone into reaching that point.

Last year’s Rock of Ages run was a particular highlight. The atmosphere from the audiences was extraordinary, and watching the company celebrate what they had achieved was incredibly special.

As an audience member, my favourite experiences are often the unexpected ones. You take a chance on something in a small room, knowing almost nothing about it, and leave wanting to tell everybody else to see it. The Fringe can strip theatre back to the essentials: a performer, an idea and an audience willing to go with them.

I also love the atmosphere across Edinburgh. It can be busy, exhausting and occasionally overwhelming, but for a few weeks the entire city is engaged in conversations about performance and creativity.

What shows are you looking forward to seeing this year?

I am hoping to catch Divas, Into the Woods, Come from Away and Showstopper! The Improvised Musical, alongside as much work from local companies and friends as possible.

The honest answer is that our own opening week has dominated my planning, so my personal Fringe schedule is still dangerously empty. Once Next to Normal is safely open, I intend to make up for lost time and see a real mixture of musicals, theatre, comedy and anything unusual that people insist I cannot miss.

Thanks to Dom for taking the time to answer our questions, you can catch Bare Production's Next to Normal at Sanctuary at Paradise in Augustines from 7th to 15th August.

https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/next-to-normal