Sue Casson
Witty lyrics and soaring melodies
The Big Issue
A writer of music and lyrics and singer of songs, Sue Casson has played and sung in cabaret and on BBC radio, writing her own shows alongside commissions for TV and radio as well as for the stage both in the UK and abroad.
Whilst studying English at Oxford, she made her radio debut singing topical songs at the piano which were featured on Pick of the Week and Stop the Week (BBC Radio 4). Following an appearance on Round Midnight with her trio Premier Cru whilst they were at the Edinburgh Fringe, they were invited to perform regular sessions for NightRide (BBC Radio 2).
Later she was one-half of Casson and the Brannick Academy who played in cabaret throughout the UK and in New York. Together they wrote and recorded two CD's including Tutankhamun all Wrapped Up which was distributed to 65 thousand visitors at the 02 Tutankhamun exhibition.
Casson drew on her literary background for her first musical Two Tigers based on the life and works of pioneering modernist writer Katherine Mansfield. It was the first by a woman to be a PRS Vivian Ellis Prize finalist and staged at the Edinburgh Fringe 1988. Re-imagined, it returned to Edinburgh in 2023 for the centenary of Mansfield's death.
Her stage work continues to be inspired by the written word and includes a series of collaborations with Tom Blackmore notably The Happy Prince based on Oscar Wild's short story which toured nationwide, its cast recording released by Dress Circle. A 30th anniversary production was staged in Edinburgh, Dublin, and London.
Most recently, they have created Dreams of Peace & Freedom, a song cycle for female voices with musical settings of poetry that inspired Nuremberg prosecutor and human rights champion David Maxwell Fyfe, to tell the story of the birth of human rights in Europe after the Second World War.
Casson's satirical writing has continued on stage in Requiem, a political revue, with Guardian poet Simon Rae, and she has also written songs for his satirical plays The Life and Crimes of President Ubu and A Right Royal Visit, as well as for his children's shows in The Pirate and Potato series.
For CBBC Casson wrote songs for Melvin & Maureen's Music-a-grams, Millie's Models and Super bods, and she has also written and performed songs and incidental music for BBC Schools radio dramatisations. Between 2001 and 2010 supported by the ROH Write an Opera project she worked with pupils at her local 'outstanding' OFSTED primary school to write and create over a dozen shows.
As a voice-over Casson has a long association with the British Library voicing soundpoints for exhibitions including The Silk Road, Henry VIII, Magna Carta, Magnificent Maps and Illuminated Manuscripts. She is also the voice for their award-winning Turning the Pages series with over a dozen titles to her name, some of which are also available as e-books, as well as installations at The Royal Society and Down House.