Two lights, one tear
A key-art study: a stage on one side, a street on the other, torn down the middle.
One light source each side, and neither crosses the tear — a rule that will hold
from the poster all the way to a lighting desk.
Next — putting people into that world
She never
gave him up.
Kristin is sixteen when she leaves her newborn son at a hospital with a note: I am coming back. Eight years later she returns with a barrister and a case the law cannot dismiss.
Written in the 1990s. Recorded in 2001. Being rebuilt now. I am assembling the first company — singers, players and makers — in and around Newark, Nottingham and Lincoln, and anywhere that can record.
An open build
A musical written in the 1990s, recorded in 2001, and rebuilt now — in public, in the open, mistakes included. Everything I make, as I make it.
Follow the build →A company to build
Singers, players and crew in and around Newark, Nottingham and Lincoln — or anywhere, if you can record. I am beginning to assemble the first recording company now.
Register your interest →A teenage mother, a note, and a courtroom eight years later.
Torn is a sung-through British musical, adapted by Jordan Reed-Poulson from the original stage work and score by his mother, Rona Ryan. She wrote it in the 1990s. It was recorded in 2001. It has never been staged professionally.
It is set inside a history this country did not name for fifty years — and named at last on 2 July 2026, when the Prime Minister apologised in the House of Commons to the mothers and children of Britain's forced adoptions.
The show was written before the country was ready to hear it, and finished in the year it said sorry.
FormSung through
Set1975 – 1983
Written1990s
StatusIn development
My mum sang every part on that recording herself.
She had no one else. In 2001 she took Torn into a studio and recorded it live to disc, singing every character, every harmony, every opposing voice — because there was nobody there to sing them with her. I was seven, and I sang on it too.
Twenty-five years later I am putting it back together: that recording taken apart track by track, the score reconstructed, and the voices she never had, found.
Right now it is mostly one person doing this, which is exactly why this page exists. I am looking for the people who can turn a 2001 demo back into a living piece of theatre.
Jordan Reed-Poulson · Newark-on-Trent
Rona Ryan
Wrote the book, music and lyrics, and made the 2001 recording the rebuild works from.
Jordan Reed-Poulson
Rona's son. Sang on the original recording as a child; adapting the work for the stage now.
I am coming back.
Nine words on a scrap of paper, left with a newborn. Everything in this show is downstream of them.
I am putting the whole thing back together, in the open.
Most new musicals arrive finished. This one is being rebuilt in front of you: a twenty-five-year-old recording taken apart track by track, a score reconstructed, a company being assembled from scratch, starting in a Nottinghamshire market town.
The build log is the honest version — what worked, what didn't, and what is still waiting on a hard drive in a box. If you want to see how a musical actually gets made, this is that.
The colour of two mothers
Deep crimson for one, pale institutional green-grey for the other, and never
anything between them but paper. Settling a palette turns out to be a question
about the story, not about taste.
Next — the identity in one colour
Fifty-two songs, separated
Every track from the 2001 recording pulled apart into its component stems —
voices from instruments, line by line. It is the first step to hearing what
was actually written, underneath a quarter-century-old mix.
Next — new voices on the first five
The build log runs on the mailing list and on #TornTheMusical.
Five songs first.
Five songs from the original score. Five new recordings. The first public proof that Torn can live again — made from Rona Ryan's 2001 masters and from scratch, with voices that were never on it.
- Torn
- Goodbye
- My Child
- Forever and Always
- Dodging Bullets
Music and lyrics by Rona Ryan. Released under her name — no date announced yet. Join the list and you will hear it first.
Singers, players and makers wanted — Newark, Nottingham, Lincoln, or remote.
Torn is sung through, so everyone in it sings. You do not need a CV, an agent, or a conservatoire. You need to be over 18, able to get to a rehearsal or record cleanly at home, and interested in something that is going to be difficult and worth it.
This is not a finished production looking for bodies. It is a musical being rebuilt from its foundations, and you would be early.
What you would be joining
The first recording
Five songs, recorded properly. A small group of voices, players and people who can capture it. This is real, it is happening, and it is the work in front of me.
Singers · Instrumentalists · Recording · Mixing · Film
The stage company
Putting the show on its feet: a company, a band, a creative team, a venue. That is further out and depends on funding. Register anyway — I will keep you on the list for it.
Actors · Musicians · Creatives · Producing · Technical · Venues
Singers
Principal roles, ensemble and character voices will be developed from the original score. You do not need to know which part suits you — that is not settled either.
- Tell me your voice type and comfortable range
- And what kind of material you actually enjoy singing
- Any recording of you singing — a phone in a kitchen is fine
Pit band
The aim is an eight-piece pit with a distinctive, melodic British musical-theatre sound. The final instrumentation is genuinely not settled yet, so tell me what you play even if it is not on an obvious theatre-pit list.
- Your instrument, and whether you read
- Depping, one session or the long haul — all useful
Everything else
A show is mostly the people who are not on stage, and I mean this genuinely — no theatrical experience needed. If you have a useful skill, tell me.
- Recording, engineering, mixing
- Film, photography, design
- Producing, fundraising, admin, rehearsal space
Newark, Nottingham, Lincoln and the surrounding towns. Rehearsal and recording in person.
Anywhere, if you can record cleanly at home. A quiet room and a decent microphone is enough.
A rehearsing, performing company — East Midlands first. No date yet.
Being straight with you about money. This is a development project at pre-funding stage. There is no fee yet. What there is: your name on the work, the finished recordings, and a written contributor agreement covering your credit, what the work can be used for, and what happens if the project later moves into funded production. I am actively going after funding, and paying people properly is the goal — not a promise I am making today.
What happens after you register
Register
Tell me what you do and where you are. Two minutes, and no audition attached to it.
Talk
I come back to you if there is a useful next conversation, recording or audition. It may take a week or two — there is one of me.
Build
Some people come into the first recordings. Others become part of the wider company as the project develops. Nobody is put on a shelf.
Register your interest
The questions I keep getting.
Do I need professional experience?
No. You do not need a CV, an agent or a conservatoire. Some of the
people on this will be experienced professionals and some will not, and both are
welcome. What matters is that you can do the thing and you want to.
Is this paid?
Not yet, and I am not going to dress that up. This is a development
project at pre-funding stage. You get your name on the work, the finished recordings,
and a written agreement covering your contribution. I am actively going after funding
and paying people properly is the goal — but it is not a promise I can make today.
Do I have to be in Nottinghamshire?
No. Rehearsal and in-person recording will be in and around Newark,
Nottingham and Lincoln. But if you can record cleanly at home — a quiet room and a
decent microphone — you can be anywhere.
What happens after I register?
I read it, and I come back to you if there is a useful next
conversation, recording or audition. It may take a week or two. Registering is not an
audition and it does not commit you to anything.
How old do I need to be?
Contributors must be 18 or over — that is about agreements and
safeguarding, not about the work. Separately, the show itself is recommended for
audiences aged 16 and over; see content and access below.
Can I hear any of it?
Not yet. The first five recordings are being made now and they will
go to the mailing list before anywhere else. The honest position is that today you
would be joining on the strength of the story rather than the sound.
The music, the build, and the first dates — before anywhere else.
What is in the show.
Torn is recommended for audiences aged 16 and over. It contains references to sexual exploitation, coercion, childbirth, and the forced separation of a child from his family, and it ends without resolution.
I would rather you knew before you booked than found out in the room. Ask anything about the content of the show and it will be answered plainly, in advance.
This is the audience guidance. It is separate from the requirement that contributors to the development are 18 or over.