The lockdown musical project poised for Edinburgh Festival

Musical director Vicky Clubb worked remotely with friends to create the new musical

A music teacher has told how a chat about sword fighting sparked a lockdown musical project about to be shown for the first time at the Edinburgh Fringe.

Blodlina tells the story of two Viking sisters vying for territorial control after the death of their father.

The score, the songs and the script were all created during the pandemic.

The 11-strong cast and band will be performing the hour-long show at The Pleasance Dome in Edinburgh from 3 August to 29 August.

Musical director Vicky Clubb, from Colchester, said the idea for Blodlina grew out of a chat she had with the Southend-based composer Marcus Wood.

"I was talking about the fact I do a lot of historical sword fighting with Hema (Historical European Martial Arts) and he said, as a stage combat person, he'd always wanted to write a musical with historical sword fighting," she said. "I told him I'd always wanted to do that too, and that was the start of it."

The pair then brought in script-writer Nathan Rees, also from Southend.

The entire cast of Blodlina are trained in stage combat

"We did this almost completely remotely," said Ms Clubb, who had to shield during the pandemic because of asthma. "We started the script about a week before we went into the first full lockdown.

"I was up in my studio, Marcus was in the office next to his home and Nathan was in his flat - and that is how we worked.

"Even when we created the demo album - it was all done remotely.

"Because of the lockdown, we ended up with a lot of talented people who were very stuck and felt very bored and wanted to be involved in something. So everybody recorded their parts and then sent them to me and we put everything together.

"We've got the love interest in which two of the cast do this beautiful duet with the most incredible harmonies and they had never actually met."

Stage combat actor Kathryn Taylor-Gears (left) defends a strike from the sword of actor Ed Tunningley

The run at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe will be the first time the musical has been performed in front of an audience.

"It is a big gamble," said Ms Clubb, who spent 21 years of her career as a head of music and director of expressive arts in schools.

"But we've been very lucky in having two associate producers on board who have done fringe for many years and who have taken us under their wings. We wouldn't have been able to do it without their guidance.

"It was an unusual pitch but we've been very lucky and got a good slot in a very good theatre."

Although the musical tackles serious issues such as responsible leadership and working as a community, it includes comedic elements with two teenage Norse Gods - Thor and Loki - watching events unfold as though on television.

"It is looking phenomenal and it sounds phenomenal," said Ms Clubb.

"Every single member of our cast is a stage combat expert and we have proper full on fighting in various numbers and in various places.

"Having just done a week of rehearsals I have to say it looks pretty amazing."