When Words Fail, Music Speaks

Producer Peter Curran and Blanche Girouard, who teaches in a mainstream school, capture an extraordinary musical collaboration between school pupils with complex educational needs and professional musicians (William Carslake and Patrick Stockbridge), as they create and perform an original show together.

In this programme, they develop a musical about food, the senses, and being lost in the jungle. It's a noisy, funny and inspirational process.

They have just 48 hours to write the show from scratch, before a performance in front of the whole school. We hear the thoughts and reactions of pupils and composers as they put their shoulders to the task.

The programme also offers a powerful illustration of the skills and effort by dedicated teachers and carers at the school in Telford, as they shape classes and creative experiences around the changing, often complex needs of each young person in their care.

Producer: Peter Curran

A Foghorn Company production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in December 2017.