Brian and Zoe speak to Finola Southgate about her experience with making musicals from song cycles and why you should always start with the story before writing the songs.

Finola is a British songwriter credited with vocals and keys on the 2017 Monroes album and her 2021 Sister Session EP. Finola and Rosie Dart wrote We’ll Have Nun Of It, which was featured at the Edinburgh Fringe and had a 2-week run at The Other Palace in London. The show is an actor-musician piece, which follows the story of four friends navigating their final year at St Anne’s convent school. Set in 1967, it explores themes of Irish emigration, sexuality and faith with a folk-rock soundtrack.

From 2022 to 2025, Finola lived in Brussels where she co-founded the Brussels Musical Creatives and co-wrote Knocked with, among others, Zoe. She also directed Knocked’s first run.

Finola shares her insights into original forms of musical theatre, the benefits of collaborations and starting small.

The episode features clips from her songs Vines, Not Blinded and Ghost, with authorisation. Listen to her album on Spotify and Apple Music. The theme for our show was written by Brian Strohmetz.

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Find us on Instagram @MakingaMusicalPod and @BrianStrohmetzMusic. Finola is @finola.music. And if you like the show, consider supporting us on Patreon.