As one way of supporting the album Joyful Songs of Leonard Cohen, Tom created an evening's worth of music, theatre and spoken word, all woven into a seamless piece of Cohenesque performance fabric.

To maintain focus on Leonard's words, Tom sings accompanied only by his acoustic guitar.  His theatre colleagues are all fresh young actors some of whom are stars of the TV series Madison.

With four actors in The New Step, and four understudies who also do readings, there are nine people on stage.  The Director is Stephen Fanning, and the Assistant Director is Joshua Lamb.

The New Step appeared in Flowers for Hitler and again in Leonard Cohen:  Selected Poems 1956-1968.  It is a "ballet-drama in one act", according to Cohen.  It runs about 20 minutes, with mostly dialogue and a few brief dance pieces the way we do it.  It is a very humourous play with a strong clear theme of personal liberation, especially liberation from the severe laws of fashion and body-image. - Thanks to Valleri Murphy for the introduction!

Tom Nortcott says on the back of the program: "My desire is that this Cohen collection illuminate the humour, gentleness, and joyousness available in Leonard's work.  Even where the background is dark, I feel it is to help me better appreciate the light.  Thank you for joining me in tonight's exploration!"