If you know Jason Robert Brown’s The Last Five Years, the name 41° immediately rings a bell—it’s the exact angle Cathy bends her arm during "A Summer in Ohio." But for Charlotte Hunter, Alex Boulton, and Freya MacTavish, meeting on a production of that very show was more than just a shared credit; it was the spark for an ambitious new venture.
Together, the trio has launched 41 Degrees, a production company with a distinct two-pronged mission: building a vibrant community for early-career creatives through socials, parties, and networking events, and directly using those connections and funds to produce runs of bold, new writing. With a particular passion for new musical theatre, 41 Degrees is set to break down traditional industry barriers and create a sustainable pipeline for the next generation of storytellers.
We sat down with Co-Artistic Directors Charlotte Hunter and Freya Mactavish, alongside Executive Director Alex Boulton, to learn more about the company and the vision ahead.
How did you guys meet and decide now was the right time for setting up 41°?
Charlotte: We all met during our time at the University of Leeds, where we all were involved in, and then on the committee for, the Leeds University Union Musical Theatre Society. It was an intense society, producing 6 shows per year, plus an original musical. This meant it was the perfect environment to meet fellow creatives - Freya and Charlotte both took shows to Edinburgh Fringe in the same season! It was when we reunited, having all moved to London, that we realised that all of us were in the same boat. We were hungry for opportunities to meet fellow creatives, put on new writing, and offer career advice and networking to emerging artists. After freelance producing some shows around London, I decided that I could continue this in my name and start a company - and the rest is history!
What core ethos or creative gap in live theatre inspired you to found/lead 41° Productions?
Charlotte: Theatre is such a beautiful industry, and I am so proud to work full-time in it, but I do find it to be a little Catch-22 at times: you can’t get jobs and opportunities without experience, yet you can’t get experience without the opportunity. Being from the Midlands, too, meant that when I moved to London, I was starting in a brand new city, with no creative connections, but was desperate to make work to build my portfolio. Hopefully, 41° will serve as a stepping stone for creatives to meet like-minded collaborators and make new work!
Charlotte: Theatre is such a beautiful industry, and I am so proud to work full-time in it, but I do find it to be a little Catch-22 at times: you can’t get jobs and opportunities without experience, yet you can’t get experience without the opportunity. Being from the Midlands, too, meant that when I moved to London, I was starting in a brand new city, with no creative connections, but was desperate to make work to build my portfolio. Hopefully, 41° will serve as a stepping stone for creatives to meet like-minded collaborators and make new work!
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| Charlotte Hunter. Photo by Flavia Fraser-Cannon. |
Freya: Having been lucky enough to have received training at the London School of Musical Theatre over the past year, I wanted a place where I would build and share this knowledge with fellow early stage creatives. As an actor, I believe having a space to nurture your craft and have your own creative agency, in a world of uncertainty and compliance, is so important to keep passion for the industry alive.
How will you determine whether a piece fits the 41° Portfolio? What themes, narrative styles, or voices do you find yourself repeatedly drawn to?
Charlotte: At the minute, we are not drawn to a particular theme. The main thing we look for is passion and enthusiasm! Of course, we will always have a soft spot for musical theatre; the art form that brought us together. In my case, I am an extremely multidisciplinary artist, and come from an Art and Design and English Literature background. Anything that blends art, music, and literature will always catch my eye. I am also a sucker for a good horror narrative!
Charlotte: At the minute, we are not drawn to a particular theme. The main thing we look for is passion and enthusiasm! Of course, we will always have a soft spot for musical theatre; the art form that brought us together. In my case, I am an extremely multidisciplinary artist, and come from an Art and Design and English Literature background. Anything that blends art, music, and literature will always catch my eye. I am also a sucker for a good horror narrative!
When you first read a new script or score, what is your process for discovering its visual and emotional language?
Freya: Really good writing paints a picture for the reader. When I read new scripts or listen to new music I always like to trust my first instincts in terms of the visual identity of the show (colour palates, lighting, aesthetics etc.). As a director, I love reimagining shows, playing with opposites and bringing an unexpected setting to a new script. In terms of discovering emotional language, the best way is to get a group together to read a script to get voices and personalities in the room. Through this company, we hope to facilitate this and get scripts and scores “on the floor”.
Freya: Really good writing paints a picture for the reader. When I read new scripts or listen to new music I always like to trust my first instincts in terms of the visual identity of the show (colour palates, lighting, aesthetics etc.). As a director, I love reimagining shows, playing with opposites and bringing an unexpected setting to a new script. In terms of discovering emotional language, the best way is to get a group together to read a script to get voices and personalities in the room. Through this company, we hope to facilitate this and get scripts and scores “on the floor”.
As a creative, how do you balance maintaining a clear, unified artistic boundary with giving actors and designers room to experiment?
Freya: It’s all about collaboration. The first step is understanding each other’s vision. At the beginning of a process I love to hear from cast and designers to understand their process and hear their first impressions of the piece before sharing my own artistic vision. I believe in trusting an artist's instincts, and if the world we’ve created is clear enough, they will usually be correct and result in the most authentic portrayals of their characters.
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| Freya Mactavish. |
Independent and immersive theatre often requires non-traditional staging or storytelling techniques. How do you approach risk-taking when staging high-stakes or emotionally intense material?
Charlotte: I think taking the risk of unconventional staging can pay off massively. Look at shows like Cabaret, with their immersive pre-show - audiences love something unique! I also would love to see theatre in more unusual spaces - there was a show in New York set in a climbing gym, performed in a climbing gym! That absolutely fascinates me as a creative, and is not as much of a financial “risk” as hiring a full theatre would be!
What are the biggest logistical or operational hurdles 41° faces as an independent company, and how do you navigate them without compromising artistic quality?
Alex: I think as with any independent company (or any resource-constrained project for that matter) securing funding, finding affordable rehearsal and performance spaces, and balancing limited resources with ambitious artistic goals is always going to be a challenge. We achieve these goals by being resourceful, collaborative and very deliberate about where we invest. We keep our infrastructure lean so that the resources we do have can go directly into the work: our artists, the rehearsal process and the audience experience.
Alex: I think as with any independent company (or any resource-constrained project for that matter) securing funding, finding affordable rehearsal and performance spaces, and balancing limited resources with ambitious artistic goals is always going to be a challenge. We achieve these goals by being resourceful, collaborative and very deliberate about where we invest. We keep our infrastructure lean so that the resources we do have can go directly into the work: our artists, the rehearsal process and the audience experience.
In the world of experimental and independent theatre, what does "artistic failure" look like to you, and how do you protect your team’s willingness to take big risks even when a piece doesn't fully land?
Alex: For us, artistic failure isn’t simply when a piece doesn’t connect with the audience, it's when we stop taking meaningful risks. We want to create an environment where experimentation is genuinely encouraged, so a piece that doesn’t fully work can still be valuable if it teaches us and our community something new. We protect that by making the process collaborative and reminding the team that not every experiment needs to be a success to be worthwhile.
Alex: For us, artistic failure isn’t simply when a piece doesn’t connect with the audience, it's when we stop taking meaningful risks. We want to create an environment where experimentation is genuinely encouraged, so a piece that doesn’t fully work can still be valuable if it teaches us and our community something new. We protect that by making the process collaborative and reminding the team that not every experiment needs to be a success to be worthwhile.
What qualities do you look for in collaborators?
Charlotte: Passion, kindness, and a willingness to collaborate!
Freya: No inhibitions, curiosity, and an open mind!
Alex: Enigmatic, enthusiastic, and inspiring.
What can you tell me about the forthcoming Scratch Like A Pro event happening in September. The event promises a mix of musicals, monologues, songs, and plays. How do you structure a single evening so that such diverse performance styles flow seamlessly for the audience?
Freya: Our job as artistic directors is to curate a varied evening and within that find through lines and small ways to group our numbers. A lot of this will be informed by the range of writers who apply. I also think people who come to scratch nights are expecting a really varied evening, it is exciting and will definitely keep the audience on their toes!
Freya: Our job as artistic directors is to curate a varied evening and within that find through lines and small ways to group our numbers. A lot of this will be informed by the range of writers who apply. I also think people who come to scratch nights are expecting a really varied evening, it is exciting and will definitely keep the audience on their toes!
What development stage should submitted scripts or songs be in? Are you looking for completely polished short pieces, or rougher fragments that specifically need audience testing?
We are absolutely not looking for completed bodies of work. This event is an opportunity for people to test their new work in front of a supportive audience - and they can chat to each other in the pub afterwards!
We are absolutely not looking for completed bodies of work. This event is an opportunity for people to test their new work in front of a supportive audience - and they can chat to each other in the pub afterwards!
Where did your own theatre journeys begin and how will you put that into the work of 41°?
Charlotte: My first experience of live theatre was watching Oliver at Theatre Royal Drury Lane, when I was six or so. I sat in the back row of the upper circle, and watched the entire show through a shared pair of binoculars with my brother! I was obsessed with Nancy, and had a red “Nancy” dress that I would wear from then on. I even named our family cat after her. If I can create a strong female character that young girls can connect to in the same way I did, that would be an absolute dream come true. It introduced me to Charles Dickens, and I read “Oliver Twist” before I was 10. The power of theatre to introduce young people to classic literature is not to be understated, and is why I am so passionate about adaptation.
Freya: My first experience of theatre was watching Mamma Mia when I was living in Spain, age 7. We hadn’t comprehended that any of it would be translated into Spanish, but sure enough we watched a fully Spanish book and score of ABBA songs. I love how theatre transcends language and borders, and the greatest shows remain relevant years later to totally different audiences. Having studied politics and social sciences at university, I find theatre's ability to hold up a mirror to society, inspire, encourage reflection and, in some cases, change, truly fascinating.
Alex: I was a bit of a late-comer to the theatre world. I saw various shows when I was young but the thing that really inspired me was playing in a production of Jesus Christ Superstar. The energy I found in the pit and on stage was absolutely electric and I haven’t been able to get enough of it since. A lot of my connection to theatre does come through music as that is a great passion of mine, whether musical theatre or diegetic music in a play. Music is an incredible storyteller in and of itself and combining it with the magic of live theatre can create some really powerful emotions.
You can follow 41° on their Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/41degreesproductions/
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| Alex Boulton |
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