A seriously silly chat with Gigglemug’s Sam Cochrane
Conducted by Penny for Theatre and Tonic
Gigglemug Comedy, the theatre company named after a silly sounding term for a “habitually smiling face”, is taking two of its hit shows on the road for one last hurrah. Established in 2018 by a a group of Warwick University students, Gigglemug aims to create shows that are “fresh, zany and completely bonkers”, leaving their audiences smiling for the rest of the day. Their musicals are original, very funny and have stories based around subjects that are definitely not your typical musical theatre fodder – from Timpson the key cutting behemoths to gamers’ favourite RuneScape. They’ve attracted sponsorship from the organisations they feature and have won acclaim from audiences and critics alike, as well as an impressive collection of awards.
Ahead of this summer’s tour of Scouts! The Musical and another run for A Jaffa Cake Musical at the Edinburgh Fringe, I had a chat with Sam Cochrane, Gigglemug’s Artistic Director, to find out more about these two extremely silly and extremely entertaining shows.
Timpson, Scouts and Jaffa Cakes are not really typical subjects for a musical, what’s your inspiration?
Well, people make fun of me for it but I just love brands and IP (Intellectual Property) and I’m also very passionate about entirely original shows, so this was a really great way for us to find something that lots of people knew about, or at least had an idea of, and create an entirely original musical. We’ve done that four times now and always felt that the different topics were wacky and silly, had so much potential for humour and were something that would make a really entertaining musical! Jaffa Cake is the first one based on a true story, the other ones are entirely fictional creations of ours. I’ve loved doing it and it’s been a really fun thing for Gigglemug to be known for as well.
Why have you decided to tour Scouts! The Musical again this summer?
I was always really passionate about doing a tour of some description for the show as I knew there were lots of people, including Scout groups and musical theatre fans, who couldn’t get to see the show in London so it was quite important for us to get it out around the country to a few different stops. It felt like the right time to combine Scouts! and Jaffa Cake this year. Having first done Scouts! In 2023 and Jaffa Cake last year, doing final runs for both of them together now feels like a culmination of our hard work.
Tell me about Scouts!
The cool thing about Scouts is our cast is full of actor/musicians. We had some in Runesical and Jaffa Cake, which we’re expanding this year, but Scouts! is our big actor/muso show in that everyone can play at least one instrument if not two, and it’s just really impressive. The cast members we’ve got on board are so talented and we wanted to show that off. It’s a very exciting time for actor/muso shows and we wanted to push the boundaries of what people can expect. For example there are moments where people play two instruments at the same time! We go all out with this one and that’s testament to the very talented people who are in the cast!
Are you working with the same cast members as in previous runs?
There are a couple of new people for both shows. For Scouts!, we’ve got three new cast members. We asked everyone back but some were busy. Sydney (Spencer) who was the lead in Scouts! is taking the world by storm in Hamilton, for example. It’s really nice that Gigglemug can be a platform for a lot of grads’ first jobs. We’ve worked with lots of wonderful people, Rob Madge famously, and we’re so proud of them all.
So, there are some new faces for Scouts! Everyone who was in Jaffa Cake previously is in it again and we’ve got a couple of new cast members to expand the band and ensemble to give a fuller sound in a bigger space this year, it’s a nice next step.
Was Scouts! based on personal experiences?
I wasn’t in the Scouts, but David (Fallon) who I wrote the show with was. That was totally coincidental. We were connected through friends, I’d heard some of his music and really liked it and thought it would be a good fit for our stuff. We just started chatting and it turned out he had that background so it was good to come at it from two different angles. You don’ t have to know anything about the Scouts to enjoy the show, It’s similar to Runesical - I hadn’t really played the game before but Alex (Prescot) who I wrote the show with knew a lot about it!
So, generally for all our shows we want to make stuff where if you know about the subject matter it’ll be great with references and in-jokes but we want them to be accessible to anyone and I think that’s what we’ve done.
You’re heading back to the Edinburgh Fringe with A Jaffa Cake Musical, what can people expect this summer?
It’s based on the real life tribunal of 1991 that decided whether a Jaffa Cake was a cake or a biscuit. McVities took on the tax man to debate that topic. It’s silly, it’s fun, it’s pure escapism, which I think everyone wants right now, and it’s very suited to its home at the Edinburgh Fringe. We were lucky to sell out the run last year which we’ve never done before at the Fringe so it’s very exciting to be going back.
What made you pick the court case to base a show on?
It was something we thought we could immediately get audience interest in, it’s so important to be eye catching when you’re up against so many shows!
This is the first time that we made the show without the organisation in partnership which we had for the previous three. We did have lots of conversations with the company (McVities), they came to watch the show in previews and enjoyed it but they have a blanket rule that they don’t work on musicals (!) which is totally fair. So, we would normally get some sponsorship or support but I thought the story was so good that we had to just do it anyway. We knew there was more risk doing it on our own but it has been one of our most successful shows, it really paid off which was nice and hopefully it will again!
The big question … is it a cake or a biscuit?
Well I couldn’t possibly say, you’ll have to watch the show to find out! I think I’d say I’m really on the fence about it, there are very good arguments for both sides. You’ll hear these arguments in the show itself, a lot of it from the source material and they are mad, you wouldn’t believe the stuff that happened in that court room!
Is there another subject you would like to write a show around – what’s next for Gigglemug?
If I’m honest I thought four brand based shows is enough and I do stand by that, but I did have one more brand in mind. I was racking my brains earlier this year for other potential ones, and I did think a Specsavers musical had legs but that didn’t come to anything. Maybe that’s for the best!
Next for Gigglemug is that we’re working on two new shows, they’re not brand related, we’re hoping to move into a more commercial sector I suppose, and so we’re just shooting for the stars!
We’ve done everything we wanted to do on or around the Fringe for now. I’m sure at some point we will be back but for now we’re picking some more universal topics that are equally wacky and fun and that potentially could go further.
We’re big Gigglemug fans at Theatre & Tonic and can’t wait to see what comes next!
Where to See Gigglemug this Summer
Scouts! The Musical is on tour in June, visiting Birmingham, Manchester, London and Bath. Find out more and book your tickets here. And you can read our review from its run at The Other Palace here.
A Jaffa Cake Musical has previews in Bath in July before returning to the Edinburgh Fringe from 30th July to 25th August. They’re in a bigger venue at the brilliant Pleasance Courtyard this year and tickets for previews and the Fringe run are available here. If you need any more incentive to book, here’s last year’s review.
