From Surbiton to the big stage – a new musical takes flight

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Writer and composer Tamiko Dooley, who lives in Berrylands near Surbiton, made a bold career change after the pandemic, stepping away from a successful career as a City lawyer to pursue a long-held dream. The result is Flyology, a musical that weaves together the lives of pioneering women Ada Lovelace, Emmeline Pankhurst and Ethel Smyth, all tied to Surrey, with a contemporary story about technology, creativity and the legacy you leave behind.

We catch up just before Flyology embarks on its first full run in London, having already wowed audiences with sold out shows at The Other Palace and Camden People’s Theatre. Tamiko is understandably excited. “I always dreamt of writing a musical. I saw Jason Donovan in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat when I was a child and I adored the show. I always wondered if I could write one but I didn’t follow that path – I did languages at university and went on to law school. I loved it but when I had my two children I found I was at home more. Then Covid hit and I started writing poems…”

Those poems marked a turning point. After being published, Tamiko’s writing career quickly gained momentum, leading to five books. Already an accomplished pianist, she soon began combining music and words, entering a Radio 3 carol competition, and winning. She was hooked and signed up with the ATG’s Surrey Musical Theatre Development Programme.

“That was really the beginning of everything, teaching me how to write a musical, how to structure it, and then giving me a platform to showcase my songs.”

The programme pushed Tamiko out of her comfort zone, particularly when it came to performing her own work. “But I thought, I have nothing to lose, and this is my time to push myself forward. And it worked… The creative joy you get out of the process – you bring a song, get some feedback, and make it better.”

Working alongside industry professionals including Neil Marcus & JJ Almond, Tamiko began shaping ideas. Walking through Surrey, she found inspiration in its history –  particularly in the stories of women who had made a lasting impact. “I am drawn to strong female stories, so I started to think about women like Ada Lovelace and Emmeline Pankhurst.” Surrey was a hotbed of the suffrage movement and houses in the area provided safe havens for Emmeline. Ada lived at Ockham Park and Horsley Towers. Tamiko started to create songs around these figures.

The result of the ATG programme was Sing a Song of Surrey at the Rhoda McGaw Theatre in Woking, with HRH Prince Edward in attendance. One of Tamiko’s songs, Don’t Look Down, was selected for the performance. But she still had lots of songs leftover…

“I realised I had all these songs about Surrey women which hadn’t made it into the show. And I thought that maybe they deserve their own musical… but I don’t write script. So I got in touch with a friend who writes.”

That collaboration led to Flyology. Drawing inspiration from H. G. Wells’ The War of the Worlds, also set in Surrey, the pair developed a story that blends history with science fiction. It asks, when efficiency becomes the goal, who gets erased first?

“Cathy Farmer and I were already having lots of conversations about AI and tech: the jobs it is helping and the jobs it is taking. So then we were thinking about people like Mark Zuckerberg or Elon Musk, and whether through AI and tech they’re changing how we view history. AI scrapes the internet for information and it won’t necessarily consider all the women’s stories that aren’t typically studied at school.”

The result is a time machine type narrative that places historical figures in today’s context. “In our story we have a tech bro called Callum who’s delighted with this new AI simulation that he’s made, and it ‘works so well’ because there’s no chaos and no friction. So he’s pitching it live to the audience and then three dead women from history infiltrate the proceedings.

“The theme is about making your mark, your legacy, and what you want your story to be. It’s also about art and emotion. AI can replace many jobs but it cannot replace art. Art is a mirror of the person who created it. That is the point of it.”

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While Lovelace and Pankhurst are widely known, Tamiko is particularly passionate about shining a light on Smyth – a composer whose work and influence have often been overlooked. Despite being a contemporary of Edvard Grieg and Robert Schumann, Smyth, who lived in Frimley Green and Woking, remains far less recognised today. She also played a personal role in history, nursing Emmeline Pankhurst back to health after a hunger strike.

The local connections of the show run deep. After sharing news of the musical in a neighbourhood WhatsApp group, Tamiko discovered that Pankhurst’s granddaughter still lives in south west London, and will be coming to see the show.

The production itself has grown organically, rooted in the local creative community. Early rehearsals took place in Tamiko’s home, with singers volunteering their time and talent. “Who knew there were so many brilliant singers who would want to get involved with new writing? It’s a great match because often they want to sing something different.”

From those beginnings, the team created a demo and staged an initial performance in a bar. A chance meeting on a train with the owner of Markson Pianos led to recording opportunities, helping the show gain further traction.

Workshops followed, including sessions at Laine Theatre Arts in Epsom, and at Winchester and Lincoln universities.

Now, Flyology is enjoying a full run, marking a major milestone for a project that began in a living room in Berrylands. Even with the show’s success, she is not slowing down. Tamiko has ideas for a musical about Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon. She has also signed up for a second year with ATG, working on another Surrey-inspired project.

For Tamiko, the shift from law to musical theatre has been transformative. Having spent long hours in a City office, life now looks very different, and much closer to home. “I’m doing so many things, which is really fun and it works around the children because I’m home at the piano writing a lot.”

“I miss the camaraderie and I have so many friends from my law days, so I’m really grateful for that, and I really enjoyed it when I was there. But this is so completely different. When I stepped into that first session at the ATG Surrey group, I had a huge sense of creative fulfilment. This is actually the dream: creating and being part of this community of people who love music and don’t do it for any reason other than they just love it. There’s not usually that much financial gain from musical theatre. You’re just working with people who want to create something and tell stories.”

Flyology runs at Union Theatre, Southwark from 5-8 May 2026.