alphabetical author index

LIFT

A contemporary musical set in London with a rich and complex musical score.

  • Full Length Musical
  • Drama
  • 75 minutes

  • Time Period: Contemporary
  • Target Audience: Adult

  • Performance Group:
  • College Theatre / Student, Community Theatre, Blackbox / Second Stage /Fringe Groups
The journey of the LIFT takes one minute (or thereabouts) but the journey of the show takes us through a minute within everyone’s imagination, allowing us to say and see things that might not be possible in real life.

  • Casting: 4M, 4F

  • BUSKER - Male - Late 20s/Early 30s - Rock quality. Possibly guitar player. Actor/musician. The Busker is a daydreamer and the main observer and narrator in LIFT; a songwriter confused about love.
  • SECRETARY - Female - Late 20s/Early 30s - In love with her boss, Bright Young Thing who we see refuses to call her by her name. We only hear the first letter, ‘K’. The Secretary is committed and hardworking, living by her (or his) schedule secretly dreaming of a spontaneous romance or break from routine in the name of love.
  • BALLET DANCER - Male - Late Teens/Early 20s - Dancer in training at ballet school in London, leading a double life. In London he is openly gay, but we learn he is yet to come out back home and still has a fiancé, Sarah. On the surface he is talented, vain, cocky, sexual and a show-off. Behind the banter and the teasing we see Ballet Dancer is frustrated and confused at living a lie.
  • LAP DANCER - Female - Late Teens/Early 20s - In love with her friend, Ballet Dancer, knowing that he is gay. Her real name is Kate, but she calls herself Sarah at work. She is hurt, abrasive, defensive and takes cocaine. The Lap Dancer’s journey through the show is her struggle to remain friends with the boy who has unknowingly broken her heart. She spends time with French Teacher, whose ex - girlfriend paid for her sessions to encourage her to become more sexually confident. She plays a part in healing French Teacher’s wounds and in doing so recognizes her own heartbreak.
  • BRIGHT YOUNG THING (BYT) - Male - Mid 30s - Businessman. Masculine, hard-working, enjoys striving for power and success. Belongs to a big corporate company and hides behind computer screens whether at work or on dating websites. Believes in separating feelings from business; hence never calling the Secretary by her name and unaware that she is in love with him.
  • FRENCH TEACHER - Female - Early 30s - A French Teacher who has had a short relationship with a woman she was teaching, Sarah, who has left her abruptly for Paris. She wears her heart on her sleeve and is hurt by the girl who led her into a surprising and thrilling new way of life only to abandon her.
  • AVATAR/AMERICAN TOURIST (TDH) - Male - Mid 30s - Tall, Dark and Handsome Male tourist in the lift: takes the role of male avatar on dating website.
  • AVATAR/AMERICAN TOURIST (AWT) - Female - Late Teens/Early 20s - Athletic & Wearing A Thong Female tourist in the lift: takes the role of female avatar on dating website.