The Trail of Choices

In January 2026, I directed The Trail of Choices for City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and MishMash Productions: an interactive, choose-your-own-adventure concert for six string players, with a script by Kate Wakeling.
 

The structure gave young audiences real agency over how the story unfolded, with the musicians responding live to their choices as the adventure — and the peril — developed. The audience loved being in control, and became increasingly invested in each new chapter, decision and piece of music.
 

As a director, the central challenge was to create a piece that felt genuinely responsive and full of possibility, while keeping the structure theatrically clear and practically manageable. I had to find ways of offering meaningful choices without allowing the amount of material to spiral out of control, and to help the performers move confidently between music, story and audience interaction.

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The musical world of the show included repertoire by Reena Esmail, Maurice Ravel and Grażyna Bacewicz.

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The result was a playful, high-stakes concert adventure in which chamber music became part of the story’s machinery: unlocking doors, raising the danger, revealing new worlds and helping the audience feel that their choices really mattered.