Interview: Nathan Parkinson, Police Cops The Musical

Following its smash-hit run at the Southwark Playhouse Borough last year, POLICE COPS THE MUSICAL returns to the stage bigger and better than ever. Currently performing at the Southwark Playhouse Elephant until 20 April, we spoke with Nathan Parkinson to find out more about this musical and its success!

Let’s start at the beginning, did you always know you wanted to pursue a career in the theatre industry? What or who was your inspiration? 

I always knew I wanted to be an actor, although I never knew what that entailed or whether that would be working in theatre or film. My earliest memory was of going to West End shows and loving them, and that’s basically what I thought acting was for a long time. So, I started doing Musical Theatre school on weekends and then, as I got older, I was inspired by comedy film and TV actors. A lot of them were American - Jim Carey was my hero as a kid.

When I went to drama school, I got more into theatre making as a craft and found I really enjoyed that, as well as performing. I feel I’ve now come back full circle to make a musical inspired by those shows that I first fell in love with. My inspirations in making this musical were probably Matt Stone & Trey Parker. I’ve always been a huge fan of South Park anyway, and then The Book of Mormon was obviously brilliant. The Operation Mincemeat team are another real inspiration to us. To see a company who had a similar background, do a successful fringe show and then make that jump to the West End stage is incredible. Just seeing that that journey is possible is really important to us, and has helped give us the confidence to just go ahead and try it

Where did your journey start with the comedy company itself?

Myself, Tom and Zac all met at drama school on the Acting and Contemporary Theatre course at East 15. The course is dedicated to being a Jack of all trades; doing a bit of writing, directing and acting. It specialises in theatre devising and so we studied lots of different European styles of devising and comedy, such as clowning. In our Second Year, the three of us devised a short comedy theatre sketch based on American Cops. We put it on the back burner and then, once we graduated, decided to turn it into a full show.

This is a musical based on Police Cops so if you could arrest anyone, who would you arrest and why?

I would arrest all the other nominees and finalists of the Off West End Awards, so that we're guaranteed to win. 

Before you were part of creating POLICE COPS THE MUSICAL, had you worked on any musicals before? 

No, not professionally. Only did musicals when I was a kid. 

How do comedy and musical theatre work together in a show like yours does? 

Our show is rooted in parody, and the musical theatre element provides a whole new genre for us to parody - so that's been fun. Our style is also very physical and energetic, and always focused on entertainment, so there are a lot of crossovers with musical theatre there. We found that sometimes a joke may not work as a part of normal dialogue, but when you make it rhyme and include it within a song, it really lands. So that's quite handy! Comedy also lies in setting audience expectations and then subverting those expectations, or breaking a familiar pattern. With musical theatre comes a whole new set of rules and, more importantly, new opportunities for us to break them. The music helps us to take the audience in one direction and then suddenly change course, so that works really well. 

Read more: Police Cops The Musical, Southwark Playhouse Borough

Where did the foundations of POLICE COPS THE MUSICAL begin?

There are foundations upon foundations, upon foundations! Police Cops started life as a 20 minute play we devised at Drama School, as a part of a comedy module. It was a parody of 80s action movies, which we then developed and took to Edinburgh. It became a bit of a cult hit in Edinburgh, and we then got invited to tour the show globally. That properly established us as a company, and then the rest of our shows have all been spin offs of that original production. In those shows, we used to do a lot of montages to well-known 80s pop & rock songs. So we then had to transition from that style of film soundtrack to a show that maintains those elements, but also does the job of a musical and has that musical theatre sound.

This is a return to the stage, but this time at the Southwark Playhouse Elephant following its riotous hit last year. For fans of the show can they expect anything different from this run at all?

A lot more has changed than we initially imagined would after finishing the last run. But that was because so many new ideas spawned and developed during the process. One of the characters has completely changed. There are new songs, new dances, new plots, new costumes, new set, new harmonies and (most importantly) new orphan backing vocals which everyone can enjoy.

What audiences will this production appeal to?

It appeals to everyone. It’s got the classic 80s nostalgia for the audiences who were around at that time, and it has that silly, absurd kind of humour that will appeal to all the comedy lovers out there. If you like movies, comedy and musicals - you’ll love Police Cops. 

Police Cops The Musical is set in the 80s so what’s your favourite 80s song?

Oh, that is a tough one. A big guilty pleasure for me is ‘Take On Me’ by A-HA. And of course A1… (no, Ben Adams didn’t pay me to say that)

Finally, why should people come and see Police Cops The Musical?

It really is unlike anything you've ever seen before. So book your tickets now, don’t miss it!

Catch Nathan Parkinson and the cast of Police Cops The Musical at the Southwark Playhouse Elephant until 20 April.