Rallying call to back new musical inspired by Chesterfield’s Crooked Spire

​Producers of a new musical which is set during the building of Chesterfield’s iconic church spire are on the hunt for sponsorship.

source: Derbyshire Times By Gay Bolton

Martin Coslett, co-writer of The Crooked Spire murder-mystery musical, with a model of St Mary's Church, Chesterfield, as it would have looked when the spire was first built. Ashgate Heritage Arts believes it is the only model which depicts the church with a straight spire.

​The medieval murder-mystery is based on Chris Nickson’s novel The Crooked Spire.

Just a short years after a global pandemic, popularly known as the plague, ravaged the country, the spire is rising above St Mary’s and All Saints Parish Church in Chesterfield. The story tells how John Carpenter comes to Chesterfield to work on the new spire in 1360. He finds a friend in a young boy, Walter and falls head over heels for Katherine. But death and intrigue strike the construction site and John is suspected of murder. He is faced with a life and death struggle to clear his name and bring the guilty to justice.

​Peter Gray, a director of Ashgate Heritage Arts, said: “We are going to assemble a company of 15 professional actors and musicians and recruit local choristers to put on the show at the Pomegranate. This story is perfect for Chesterfield. Our Crooked Spire is an icon for the town. What better way to mark our recovery from the Covid pandemic than to stage this family-friendly, life-affirming show?”

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