-
After an exhausting day on Friday (4 workshops with primary school children followed by 3 workshops with dance students) I finally got to my last workshop of the day – rehearsals for “Maybe This Time.” We had a number of things we needed to do that included choreographing a foxtrot but the main thing on the agenda was to stage the final scene of the play…we dutifully ploughed our way through it however by the time we got to the end it was obvious that nobody was really “feeling it.”

We didn’t do much…talked in groups about the characters people were playing and how they connected with each other and then my trusty mirror exercise. However when we ran the scene again it was immeasurably better.

This caused a number of thoughts to fire off in my head of varying significance…Firstly it’s more than rewarding when a technique I take for granted is experienced for the first time and the full force of its ability to transform/enlighten or develop is felt. For some in the MTT cast the mirror exercise is a familiar friend but to others it was entirely new and an experience that took a leap of faith and more focus than is perhaps normally demanded. Secondly it reaffirmed that in order to fully engage with the text it is essential to occasionally disengage from it.

However the most significant thought wasn’t fully formed until the next morning when I was reflecting with one of the cast members…it’s not a new thought but it’s an important one…the opportunity drama offers is unique - it allows you to have a holiday from yourself…to think and behave as someone else for a short time, to see the world from a different point of view…often the people who find this the most difficult at first are the ones that benefit from it the most…

I think there were some actors in Friday’s rehearsal that got a taste of that feeling for the first time and others that got a stronger taste than they’d had before. It was a good feeling to see the repeat run of the final scene after the character work…there was so much more focus, understanding, energy and belief… actors allowed their character to exist rather than clinging onto their selves through a reluctance to let go …such a good good way to end a long long day…

Comments

  1. Chinazo14 June 2009 at 23:17

    Foxtrot?! I need to find out when this is being performed... Great read as per :) x

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yew Tree Youth Theatre15 June 2009 at 09:18

    19th of May Chinazo...3 performances 3.30, 5.00 and 7.30 and thank you Chinazo...

    ReplyDelete
  3. Unknown15 June 2009 at 12:46

    *July

    ReplyDelete
  4. Yew Tree Youth Theatre16 June 2009 at 21:59

    yeah...July...what a rubbish person I am...

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Chloe's Leavers Blog - finally :)

-
  Please excuse how this was written, I do a very silly drama school course, and I haven’t had to write more than my name in 9 months. I’m sat in my silly dorm bed writing me this on my DSA laptop (a win for the mentally ill girlies), realising how utterly bad my ability to Words has become. Anyway.. Leaving YTYT was one of the oddest experiences of my life, and yet, I don’t remember it at all. I’d spent the last few years, waving off some of my closest friends as they went on to conquer their dreams, in a tearful circle, yet all I have is a fuzzy memory and a video saved in an instagram highlight. I’d sell a kidney to try and bring back that experience, to do my final show unclouded by new medication and intrusive thoughts, but as that isn’t possible, I thought I’d finally write my leavers blog, even if it is a year late. I started Yew Tree in 2017, as a way to explore drama outside of the agonising GCSE setting, and across the years, it became a lifeline for me, providing confidence,
Read more

Arwen's Leavers blog

-
I made a start writing this leaver’s blog when I was on a bloody needed holiday over a month ago, on the glorious Isle of Islay in Scotland. I’m re-writing it now, because I think it was naff to be honest. And I’m not in the same mindset as I was then. Also I might have had a few too many drams of whisky whilst writing it there, so there’s that. A line I’ll keep from it however is: “How am I meant to do justice and summarise in my writing the enormity of an impact that Yewtree has had on me these last 5-ish years?” How can I articulate all the skills that I've learnt and developed? The experiences I’ve had? There’s so much, where and what do I start on? So I’ll do just that, and put some of the skills I’ve learnt into use: “You can’t be a creative, a critic, and an editor at the same time” But in fairness - I don’t think I could share and articulate all those things. And I’m not sure that I want to, they’re for me. I can’t put that expectation on myself. The past year I’ve felt as
Read more

Celebrating the past in the present...

-
  Next year Yew Tree Youth Theatre will be 30 years old.   We haven’t quite decided how we will celebrate - any suggestions would be gratefully received. No doubt there will be some nostalgic perambulating down memory lane and some haphazard but joyous celebrating of three decades of creativity we have shared.   Some variation of those two themes would feel fitting. This blog however is something different. This blog is a celebration of the present of those who attended YTYT in the past. Alumni, graduates, previous members – I can never seem to find the right term – but whatever word is chosen I know for sure they are part of the fabric of the youth theatre and I’m grateful to have known all of them, mainly because I have learnt so much from them.   I also can’t put a number on how many people have spent significant time with YTYT over the last 29 years.   I know we started with a group of 8 and now have about 80 members, I know at our peak just before COVID we had about 130 young pe
Read more