A WRITER who has penned his own musical is appealing to the public to help ensure the show can go on despite the lockdown delay.

Ben Barrow, from Ulverston, has co-written a musical alongside friend Lucy Ireland, set to premiere at the Chiswick Playhouse in London this summer throughout July.

Entitled 'From Here', the musical interweaves a plethora of tales about several characters each grappling with concepts of love.

Originally scheduled to coincide with the country's full reopening of arts venues, the musical is set to run from July 1 until July 31 at the west London venue.

However, following Monday's announcement, the venue is no longer able to run at full capacity and audiences will have to be socially distanced for the first two and a half weeks.

In a bid to make this option financially viable, Ben and Lucy are calling on the public to help make their musical theatre dreams a reality.

"This is by far the biggest opportunity we've had for our work to be seen," Mr Barrow said.

"It's our first professional production - we've written all our own songs throughout lockdown and put a lot of hard work into this.

"The musical is loosely inspired by coming out of the pandemic and how we're reacting as a society and country.

"As soon as it was confirmed that there was a month delay to lockdown being lifted, we put contingency plans in place to try and make sure we could still go ahead.

"The venue only has so much flexibility so it really is now or never for the show."

Mr Barrow described the premiere as his 'dream opportunity' after years of hard work.

"Every effort has been made to run our own show," he said.

"Because capacity has been reduced so much, there's less potential for ticket sales so the show isn't as financially viable. Because of this, we set up a Just Giving page and really have been overwhelmed with support.

"This is new work, new writers with a new production company so for people to get behind us like they have is amazing.

"The performance industry has taken a massive hit in the past months, and there's been little room for new work, so to be able to do something so new and fresh is amazing."

If you would like to make a donation, visit: www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/fromhere.