The dumb, sweet and laughable world of flat-Earthers
By Daniel Herborn
Flat Earthers: The Musical started as a joke, the kind of pet project creatives like to bat around as a lark, not thinking it will ever see the light of day.
Co-creators Lou Wall, Jean Tong, and James Gales initially hit upon the idea in a cafe brainstorming session around 2019.
“We were like: imagine doing a show about flat-Earthers; how stupid would that be?” Wall says.
But then COVID-19 happened, and scores of anxious and housebound people started venturing down internet rabbit holes, looking for an explanation for their new reality. Conspiracy theories, once firmly on the fringes, crashed into the mainstream. The trio’s frivolous idea had taken on a new dimension.
Lou Wall’s musical comedy, Flat Earthers: The Musical, began life as a joke.Credit: Janie Barrett
“I think any extended amount of time on the internet can lead to some quite dangerous things, and during that time, there was a lot of polarisation,” Wall says. “But it was interesting because it forced us to write a show that had more nuance and depth than the original South Park version we had wanted to write.”
The show is a maximalist affair, with audiovisual elements, elaborate sound design and pop culture-savvy songs packed with jokes. It tells the story of a digital romance between Flick, a young flat-Earther, and Ria, a “globe-earther” (someone who doesn’t buy into the conspiracy).
In researching online flat-Earther groups, Wall was struck by how wholesome they were, allowing once-isolated members of society to find a community.
“It’s quite beautiful in a way, but also sad that they have to bond over something completely wacko,” they say.
Wall says it was important to approach the flat-Earther community with empathy and curiosity. They see value in “young woke lefties” like themselves trying to understand people with different views from their own.
The empathetic tone seems to be paying off. At an early reading, one man was so eager that he arrived at the venue before any of the cast. Wall got talking with him, and it turned out he was a real-life flat-Earther. “We’d been quite explicit that it would be dumb, that it was comedy. But he was really sweet, and he actually loved it, which was kind of exciting.”
Having recently returned from the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, where their solo show A Bisexual’s Lament was a hit, Wall is relishing the collaborative process with Tong and Gales. They had previously worked together on the musical Romeo is Not the Only Fruit, where Tong was the writer-director, Gales was the musical composer, and Wall was a cast member.
‘Flat-Earthers were our choice because they’re pretty harmless in the scheme of things.’
Lou Wall
Wall says each of the trio brings different but complementary skill sets to the project. “Jean has a brilliant brain for story and character, and James delivers these phenomenal electro-pop tracks; he’s bringing pop music to musical theatre. What I bring is stupid plot ideas and terrible puns.”
Wall says the friends had been interested in writing another proudly queer-forward show. “We love writing the gayest lesbian characters and putting them on stage. Musical theatre has a huge cis and gay representation, but you don’t often see AFAB (assigned female at birth) lesbians or femme queers in traditional musical theatre, and we want to see the gay thing!”
Flat Earthers: The Musical has also given Wall the opportunity to work with musical comedian Michelle Brasier, a long-term inspiration of theirs. Brasier plays the villainous Mz Prizm, a “Cruella de Ville-meets-Grimes” type who was once in a loving throuple with two flat-Earthers.
“Braise doesn’t know this, but in all of my solo shows, I used to just copy her because I’m such a massive fan,” Wall says. “She’s so funny; it’s just fun to write a character with (her) in mind and be like, ‘how camp and evil can we get it?’, knowing she’ll put an extra 20 per cent on top of that.”
Above all, Wall says, the creative team sought to tackle the potentially heavy subject with a sense of fun.
“We approach flat-Earthers with so much love. There are some pretty nasty conspiracy theories out there, but flat-Earthers were our choice because they’re pretty harmless.”
Flat Earthers: The Musical is at Hayes Theatre until November 9.
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