The legacy of a ridiculous weekend...

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I was considering the constancy of Yew Tree YT last week. Within that frame of constancy some people are part of the youth theatre and then go off onto the next stage of their lives… some of them return again, some of them check in occasionally… and still some of them do neither but go off to live the rest of their lives independently from us. I was considering all of this in light of the fact that this has been happening, in some form or other, for the last 14 years. FOURTEEN YEARS!!!!

I suddenly had a moment of self doubt because the last thing I would want is for Yew Tree Youth Theatre to stay static… So many questions consequently followed…does constancy infer stasis? Does reliability engender torpor (it means apathy… and dullness)? Does consistency inspire complacency? It wasn’t a nice moment…and, in fact, it lasted longer than a moment…

The thought of Yew Tree being predictable, commonplace and therefore devalued was all a bit of a nightmare really…

But then last weekend happened and I realised that there was nothing to worry about…the proverbial sunshine came out and all was well with the world… Because despite the consistency, familiarity and dependability it was reaffirmed that everything is changing all the time, which means each week, each term, each project, each year has its own identity…everything is different all the time…

Partly this is due to the members…as people come and go the make up of the group alters and shifts…and what’s more continues to grow…the surprise on the faces of some ex members of Gold Company when they came into the session to perform “Conversations” was testimony to that… it’s so much bigger now than it was, with so many new faces amongst those who’ve been constant devoted members for years and years…

Also those constant members alter, develop and mature bringing with them new challenges, issues, joys and qualities…I’m always so aware that I can never take things…and people for granted…I’m never sure what is going to happen next…

The other thing that shouted at me to put my mind at rest was that our ambition constantly changes…in two days we performed 2 different shows…to hundreds of people in two different cities…in two different counties…ran and attended workshops outside of our normal sessions, ran 4 youth theatre sessions and watched a performance…not bad for a weekends work…

As long as we keep balancing these qualities of constancy and ambition, aspiration and contentment, achievement and play I reckon we’ll keep moving forward in such a way that we’ll make past members proud…current members engaged and future members enticed for years to come…


So then…”What’s next?”

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