Ariella Gordon has been doing her PhD work in Australia and Coco Lefkow-Green has been taking a language course in Tunisia, though they are not so apart anymore. Tomorrow, Gordon and Lefkow-Green will be setting up shop at Edinburgh’s theSpace theatre, for the premiere of their new musical Ctrl+Alt+Deceit!

Written and composed by Gordon, and directed by Lefkow-Green, Ctrl+Alt+Deceit! promises to take its audience on the trip of a lifetime. The show, entered into the Edinburgh Fringe Festival by the Cambridge University Musical Theatre Society, depicts the online misadventures of Aunt June, an elderly woman who seeks community through an internet gardening forum that reveals itself to be part of the dark web. Already rehearsed and fine-tuned in Easter Term, the cast of Ctrl+Alt+Deceit! takes the stage on 12 August. 

Ahead of their debut, I’ve virtually interviewed both Gordon and Lefkow-Green, across time zones and digital mediums (perhaps very aptly, for the techiness of this show).

Ariella, could you tell us a little bit about the early stages of the writing process? How does this compare to what will be on stage?

"The move to online relationships were particularly heightened at the time I was writing"

I thought of the idea for the show in 2019 and wrote most of the first draft in 2020 during the COVID-19 lockdowns. The move to online relationships were particularly heightened at the time I was writing the first draft and I had lots of time to reflect about this during that period. The draft then developed in the following years with opportunities to perform parts of the script and score and receive invaluable audience and industry feedback. I now have at least 100 minutes of material and it was a challenge to cut the material down to the short 50 minute run that we have for Edinburgh fringe, but 'killing your darlings' is an important (although difficult!) exercise for a writer! 

What’s your favourite part of the show?

The show draws its humour from looking at interactions between very different personalities – technologically inept, trusting and naive Aunt June and her tech savvy, devious online friends on the Dark Web and her tech literate niece Andy. I spent time researching the dark web and it was really rewarding when my research paid off because, at the bar show, we had many members of the Cambridge University Computing and Technology Society (CUCaTS) who enjoyed the show and also said that it was accurate. I was so happy to see the members of CUCaTS at the show and so pleased that it resonated with them and I am very grateful for their positive feedback and support! This was a highlight for me.

Coco, how did you fall into directing this show?

 "It’s also just a really wacky show full of fantastic music and people getting high"

It was sort of a mix of two factors. I love musical theatre but I’m really not a singer, so directing was quite a natural pathway to being really involved, and involved in the creative process, and also something I very much enjoy [...] You know the 24 hour musical theatre competition? Ariella and I met through that and we really got on. We had one evening to write a song on a theme, ours was ‘A Trip to the Zoo’ [...] I knew her, and I knew what an amazing composer and musician she is and then I saw that she was on Camdram and Facebook advertising for a director and producer for the Fringe.

Could you tell us a little bit about your directorial vision? 

Through the process of having a cast onstage, there were a couple of things that quite drastically changed [...] I think my vision overall was to have a lot of fun with the music and the choreography to keep it quite interactive with the audience. Because, in the end, it’s also just a really wacky show full of fantastic music and people getting high. 

What are you most excited for at Fringe? 

It’s tricky to even consider the fact that it’s so close, because this project has felt so long [...] I’m most looking forward to, a mix of partly just being at the Fringe [...] and then very much just seeing the show on its feet and with a band. [...]  Also, everyone has worked so hard [...] and is so passionate and committed to the project, that having an audience and seeing that hard work pay off will be really rewarding for everyone. 

If you could tell an audience member anything about the show, before they go see it, what would it be?

Because it’s the round venue, whichever side you sit on, you get a different perspective of the show. 

Ctrl+Alt+Deceit! runs at theSpace at Edinburgh Fringe, at 18:20 from Aug 12-24 2024.