The Music and Libretto

The Writers

Labrats was composed and written by a duo from Wellington and Porirua. Andrea Robinson and Richard Smith have created a compelling story of memorable characters with a dynamic score.  

Andrea and Richard first worked together in 2003 when they collaborated with students from Saint Benedict's School, Wellington, to write the musical Miriam.

The Music

The score for Labrats was originally written for a 21 piece orchestra. Andrea has since devised a score for a 13-piece orchestra which will be performed this year. The music includes challenging and rewarding jazz and classical pieces that range from poignant to martial and from quirky to chilling. There are 18 songs in the show and many more pieces of music. 

Singers will be working under the guidance of a skilled vocal coach (Jess Weston) so they can gain mastery of some challenging and rewarding choral pieces. The score includes solos, duets, and vocal arrangements with multiple harmonies and cross-melodies.

The Libretto

The lyrics for these songs reveal key characters' motives, dreams and world views. We catch glimpses of humans at their best and worst. 

Richard is a poet, whose writing is a potent combination of striking imagery, musicality, comic wit and sheer joy. Keep an eye out for Facebook and Instagram posts with previews of some of Labrats songs.

The Book

In a Nutshell

Essentially Labrats is the story of Marion, a traumatized woman caught in a violent co-dependent relationship, who overcomes fear and navigates conflicting loyalties to protect the ones she loves. 

The sub-plot follows two youngsters from opposite ends of the social strata find love despite prejudices and opposition. 

The Synopsis

Setting
In a dystopian world of global epidemics, isolated communities survive, trading in commodities and drugs (both medicinal and ‘recreational’).

Mother is the owner of Nature Pharmaceuticals and self-appointed ruler of ‘The Pharm’, a fortified factory town sealed-off from outsiders. The Pharm is a stratified community, ranked from the privileged ‘upper crust’ to those in the lowest tiers who are controlled through chemical coercion and addiction. Fixated on her own longevity, Mother prolongs her life using organ transplants taken from clones. 

The Pharm’s sweatshops and security are controlled by Mother’s henchman, Commander Mordaent.

Act One
Marion, a disenchanted cadet from the upper tiers, once sought to bring about social reform in the Pharm by exposing the misinformation and corruption that keeps its populace oppressed. She is captured, tortured, then 'culled'—sent as a test subject to Lab’ Seven, an embryo lab and sweatshop on the lowest tier. Marion is salvaged
by the Lab’s supervisor, Dr. Ankh, who remembers her as the student who denied his romantic overtures at The Academy. 

Act Two
For years now, Dr Ankh and Marion have been stealing from the Pharm, trading drugs on the black market to line their own pockets. Marion incubates and raises human lab rats and manages the production floor. She is ambitious for her adopted daughter Chrissy (one of Mother’s clones), and for Jason, Chrissy’s playmate. Dr Ankh indulges Marion’s fantasies for as long as it serves his purposes.

In the Pharm’s Academy, an elite group of cadets are training to become the next generation of scientists, guardians, and technicians. Those not performing satisfactorily are culled by Mordaent. Among the cadets, Sam, Jill and Alex have lost their friend Helen to the cull. Influenced by Marion’s pirate broadcasts and Helen’s illicit literature and activism, they fear they will also be culled so plan to escape.

Sam ventures to the bottom tiers to scope out an exit route. He also hopes to liberate Helen. There he meets Chrissy and the two fall for each other. He becomes intent on freeing her.

Meanwhile Marion learns of Ankh’s betrayal, which will lead to Chrissy’s death. Marion struggles to break away from Ankh’s control and her fear of Mordaent. 

Mordaent learns of Ankh and Marion’s duplicity just as the cadets’ and lab rats’ worlds collide.

Act Three ... (See the show)