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Showing posts from March, 2010
This week the blogs just don't stop...Rob with his reflections So 2010 connections slash not...Sparkleshark...Karamazoo I could very easily get self-indulgent about how Sparkleshark has affected me (believe me I am very good at this)...I could also tell you how I have said goodbye to my very last connections but I may just cry... What I want to do is talk about what Yew Tree achieved this weekend...Due to an extremely talented Youth Theatre we had to double cast Sparkleshark meaning we had 18 actors...unfortunately even that wasn’t enough for such a talented bunch of people so we had the addition of Karamazoo...and what a call that was... What Yew Tree did was just stunning, we had a performance that wasn’t just a few characters swapping over but was a whole cast swap...A WHOLE CAST SWAP! This meant in effect devising two performances, obviously the process becomes easier with 18 people working on the same script but they were two very different representations. This meant we had

What I miss tonight is...

So tonight feels a little bit rubbish...I shall tell you why…at this time of the evening for the last 3 nights…it’s all been kicking off…the heroes of Sparkleshark have just been about to go into battle which means I’m about to get to watch 5 minutes of theatrical mayhem before a brilliant story comes to it’s heart warming end…and before this utterly engaging scene I have had the privilege to listen to a brave and inspiring twenty minute monologue by one of three talented actors and been introduced to the worlds of nine characters who I can pretty much guarantee will stay with me forever…and that’s both versions of them…on top of that I’ve got to spend time with some of the most inspiring, creative and talented young people I know and work alongside the brilliant team I am lucky to have at Yew Tree…it’s not hard to see why I’m more than sad that it’s all over… Luckily there is a little ray of light visible to combat the loss I feel at the end of the run…in a little over two weeks I get
Hannah's take on the whole Sparklesharkkaramazoo shebang... Well, Karamazoo is without a doubt, the scariest, mental, most amazing and brilliant thing I have ever done. When I saw how long it was I thought ARGHH! This is impossible. But we all did it, and I’m soooo happy, ridiculously happy. I never thought I would be able to learn 8 A4 pages!!! The worst bit was definitely sitting waiting while all the audience came in, that made my legs go numb, which wasn’t good. And one of my ‘friends’ thought it would be a brilliant idea to text me while I was waiting … I wanted to throw my phone at her. But it went well : ). And Sparkleshark is such a feel good play, me and Ashleigh were in hysterics when the umbrella broke at the end, but my mum thought that was supposed to happen, so that’s good. My brother tried to pretend he didn’t enjoy it, because he was forced there against his will … but he wasn’t fooling anyone. I love Yew Tree.
Lucy wanted to add some thoughts... I wrote a blog last week, but I want to write a short one this week too, because my weekend has been utterly fabulous. Why? Because of Sparkleshark of course! I’m not going to write about what we did, because you already know what happened and how amazing everyone was. I’d just like to say a huge thank you to Sarah and Danny for letting me be a part of it. It’s been an amazing thing to be involved in and I’ve loved every single second of it. Since the auditions all I’ve been able to think about is Sparkleshark, even now it’s still all that’s on my mind. I’ve learnt so much over the last few months. And all the effort every person put into it was so worth it. That was proved on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Everyone was so brilliant! And I’m really, really going to miss those members of the cast who are leaving this year, you’re all fantastic! The last few months have been simply amazing. Thank you so, so much for making my first Connections this won
Tom with his thoughts on the week …I can not begin to say how amazing this day has been for me and everyone involved with Sparkleshark. From day one all of us knew that we had a chance…an opportunity...to create something truly brilliant and something all of us could be really proud of...The play itself is a wonderful read with so many great moments and characters you can relate to on so many different levels but for me…working with eight great people in my cast since last December, after auditioning for the production, getting the part of Jake, rehearsing through the most of February and performing with both companies over the last three nights has been just as rewarding and time well spent and enjoyable as the overwhelming emotions I felt after coming off stage tonight…Nothing can compare to it…I will never forget the amazing times I have had and I will keep these memories and experiences with me long after I leave Yew Tree… …After our opening night on Thursday I was really happy wit
This was waiting for me when I got home...and almost...almost made me cry...Emma Fretwell reports in on her Yew Tree dominated Birthday... Fantastic day. Sparkleshark; what can I say? I’ve had the best time ever. And today was the best day. For starters, it was my birthday! I couldn’t have spent it in a better way. I went to the Crimson Company and we had cake and they sang to me. Stayed for news, but then had to buzz off to Sparkleshark! Oh it was amazing. Had a really nice sausage roll too. But anyway, everything got underway and the ball was rolling at top speed. I was doing Karamazoo in the matinee, so I sat on stage waiting for the house lights to go down. Seriously, last night, I was bricking it. Kept waking up and thinking ‘It’s my birthday. Oh my gosh, Karamazoo!’ So I was sat on stage all worried…. Then the lights were in my face. When I realised that actually I couldn’t see, I wasn’t nervous anymore. I did better than I thought I possibly could, which pleased me no end, and m
Holly with her review of a certain YTYT production: Sparkleshark - where do I start? It was absolutely amazing! I went in not really knowing what to expect, I mean, all yew tree productions are immense, but I'd never seen a connections one before. Now, I'm gonna try and write a review of it, so here we go... Right, I'll start with the actors. I loved all the characters, and the actors played them so well that, maybe it's just me but you kinda felt like you knew them? Everyone knows a geek, a 'turbo dream babe' and 'the popular girl', and this play had it all. Each actor had their own little bit to bring to the part as well. Which is always good :) The set was dead impressive. It actually did give you a feel of a neglected, forgotten about roof-top. It was as though every little detail had been thought about, which it probably had - the trolley, satellites and even just pizza boxes - really made a good scene. The last thing to point out is that this play
Nathan sent this in on this historic day of the opening of Sparkleshark... So it's Thurday, opening night for Philip Ridley's Sparkleshark, and so I'm writing a blog about the experience in between learning lines in the vain hope it'll distract me from my nerves. Having only been at Yew Tree a year and a bit this was my first Connections project and, quite upsettingly, as I'm moving to Cardiff in October it'll be my last as well. But I can honestly say I have nothing but good memories after the experience. I've not at any point regretted giving up all my Saturdays for two months or the whole week in the middle of February (admittedly I had nothing else to do). In fact I enjoyed every second of the rehearsals and am slightly annoyed that they've finished. In the play I play the part of Shane (the cool, the brooding, the let's paint my bedroom black etc.) which for the most part entails me standing in the corner sulking. This in itself presents far mor

Send In The Clowns...

…or don’t, I just thought maybe it could be a clever blog title, oh dear, I guess that outlines the rest of this blog, 2 minutes you will never get back (or 5, or 1, could be 10, depends how fast you read, never mind me, I’ll just be quiet). You may, or may not, it’s up to you, know that us at Sapphire love a good laugh (seriously, bad laughs are lame), so we obviously have been doing some clowning...sorry, I slipped on a banana skin, and we helped out Cathedral school by being part of a performance, because you know clowns perform … sometimes. I must say, all members of Sapphire put their heart and soul into this performance (as we do every performance, because we are, as they say, awesome) and it was spectacular (apart from the audience being miserable and not even laughing, parents have assured us we were funny) and I wish I had been able to see it. However, Sapphire, being as truly amazing as we are, were not the stars of the show (for once), the crown (or crowns) have to go the th
Just when I thought the blogging was done for the week the brilliant Ellie Moran sent me this... So ... I go to the Gold Company on a Saturday morning and this morning, we had the Crimson Company with us. And it was the most inspiring thing. I absolutely loved it. We did a lot of physical theatre which is something i don't really usually get a grasp of, but today i just got on with it and it is so magical. There were so many things I liked but so many little things that just made it one big brilliant thing as poorly as I just explained that. Also Sparkleshark ... it's only on Thursday THURSDAY!! But it's the most exciting thing. There has been many things in this week that have led me to see the talent that people who attend Yew Tree hold. Seeing the Crimson Company in Saturday morning was amazing just to see such talent. This is only a short ramble of emotions from me but i'm just so inspired. Hurray for Yew Tree. It is pure magic.

This week at Delightful Yew Tree...

This week a number of things have delighted me about Yew Tree Youth Theatre so I’m going to tell you about them…although for many of you my recollections were witnessed by you first hand so for you they will serve simply as reminders…perhaps from a slightly different angled lens… I’ll start with today…joining the Crimson and Gold Companies was a risk…mainly because of the size of the space, the room wasn’t guaranteed to hold everyone…and also because we knew we were asking for a degree of bravery from the Crimson Company to come to a new location and join in a session facilitated by two people they hardly know – one of whom has been called the dragon lady…however the result was delightful…particularly when we did blind leading and continuous images…the atmosphere in the room was a wonderful combination of creativity, restoration and trust…just brilliant But was that all Yew Tree did today? Ohhhh no…we had a 5 hour dress rehearsal…yep you read right 5 hours…and by the end of it everyon
Hiya, I’m Emma, and I’m from the Crimson Company. This is my first ever blog, so it’s all a bit exciting… I’m not going to talk about my week at Yew Tree. Instead, I’m going to talk about my year at Yew Tree! I’ve been attending Yew Tree since I was a very tiny tot and I love it very muchly. As I said, I’m part of the Crimson Company on Saturday afternoons. After a busy build up to Christmas, we had a bit of a breather and played a lot of games. Now we’re working on a piece called Fragments. The script is really thought provoking; I think we’ll be able to do loads with it! Last December I auditioned for this year’s Connections play, Sparkleshark. It was quite nerve wracking, what with it being my first Connections play ever…but I have made friends with some fantastic Yew Tree-ers that I otherwise wouldn’t have even met. The cast have become almost a little company of their own, I can’t describe the supportiveness of it. Sparkleshark itself is a really funny play - if you don’t already
Lucy Tranter with the first blog... This is my second attempt at writing a blog. Can’t say I’ve got the hang of it yet, but I’ll crack on anyway... So, as I was sat in my bedroom the other day, I started thinking about Sparkleshark, and just how much fun I’m having doing it. I then realised that it’s actually nearing an end, and I have to say this upset me rather a lot. So I picked up my script, had a read through, and by the end I found myself in floods of tears. Not because there’s a sad end to the play, or that I’d just been listening to the depressing song from Titanic, but just the fact that this amazing journey is nearly over. So just for the record, I have to say; working on Sparkleshark has been the most fun I’ve had in an age, I’ve met some absolutely brilliant people who I hope to know forever (ha! unlucky for them) and have so many fabulous memories that will be pretty hard to forget (not that I want to forget them) So after my little crying session I started thinking of eve
Another Blog from Robert Girgis - inspired by the Sapphire Company and I promise I hadn't read his before I wrote mine...great minds and all that... I guess this would be the right time to plug my up and coming gig at Kent studying Sociology...So if you want to just leave a comment along the lines of ‘Well done you are brilliant Robert’ that would be fine... Anyways Monday nights are ridiculous! It’s stupidly funny! It’s not like certain people are funny, everyone is funny, it’s just FUNNY CENTRAL. Game for discussion = Park bench... I was laughing so hard and it wasn’t just ‘haha’, it was the loss of legs laughter (if you don’t get what the loss of legs laughter is just watch me next time I have an intense fit of laughter). The thing is it wasn’t because people were almost aiming to be intentionally funny, it wasn’t down to some scripted piece that had been well thought out and written...there was no grand master plan to make something utterly hilarious. It was young people just g
Gath, despite her cough, has provided us with a bonus blog this week and for that she is utterly appreciated... So, here’s me, Gath, writing my first EVER blog. Well technically that’s not true because I have written one before, but then the computer crashed and my blog was lost forever- so that one doesn’t count. 5 months ago, Saturday mornings just meant a general display of sloth like behaviour from my part and a nice happy content feeling that I don’t have to go to school for the next two days. These days however I have to get up much more earlier but I also have something much more worthwhile to look forward to too- the talented, funny and simply fantastic people of Yew Tree and just the Youth Theatre as a whole. So, this week at Yew Tree we had the usual round of “Best and Worst”, which is becoming a sure favourite of mine, our creative task which involved Unicorns, Stationary Pots and Disco Lights and then our half term Script Writing Project. And at this point I have to mention

Laughter

So something that has occurred to me this week is how much laughter there is at Yew Tree…genuine and unasked for laughter…the good kind of laughter the kind that appears spontaneously…the kind that is shared…the kind that is evoked from shared experience and that strengthens the bonds between individuals and engenders friendship. The laughter that is born from unadulterated joy at the company that is kept and the events that ensue. Whether it be the unbounded mischief and merriment of the Sapphire Company, the more sophisticated yet impassioned laughter of the Black Company, the anarchic , energetic laughter of the Gold Company or the crafted, generous, performance provoked laughter at the brilliant Sparkleshark casts…I am continuously delighted by the opportunity to be amongst and within the laughter that Yew Tree Youth Theatre creates. Today I spent over 7 hours with the youth theatre and yet I have enough energy and enthusiasm to finish my day by writing this…this motivation is de
Couldn't be happier that Ben from the Sapphire Company has stepped up to do the guest blog My Mondays before Yew Tree were dull to say the least and I've been attending for quite some time now but never written the blog. So here goes. Tonight's session had a nice vibe to it and everyone seemed to enjoy the session. We worked that hard water was in need for the committed performers of Sapphire Company. This clown performance is so fun and enjoyable as some people can really let loose and in a strange and explosive way relax. It sounds weird but when people come into their element they relax more than ever. Hmmm people are weird. Does that make sense because it does in my head? But anyway seems that everyone is enjoying it even the people who aren’t usually as loud as others are getting stuck in which makes an atmosphere that’s amazing to be part of. Now down to business. The highlight of today had to be the one the only park bench. I think it’s a great invention. Well it

What a brilliant night Sunday was...

It’s the final set of Open Mic Night 5…the evening has been truly magical…well worth all the preparation over the days and weeks before…and the clearing up that will need to be done the following day…all through the evening I have been wowed and humbled by the extraordinary talent on display…every one of the performers did something of such hight calibre...I have seen people in new lights and I have appreciated how other performers have developed; their talents grown hugely since the last time I heard them sing or watched them perform... Then Charlotte Scott steps up to the Mic…now I knew a little of what was coming…I’d been lucky enough to watch her sound check…but others had a surprise in store…so she’s standing there…this person who I have never heard sing, who I didn’t even know could sing…and as the technical kinks are sorted she’s looking pretty nervous…but once the introduction starts to play her demeanor shifts and all of a sudden there’s this performer standing there…this con
The wonderful Laura Tosney with some thoughts about Sunday's Open Mic Night... There are certain things that you have to occasionally physically leave behind, but always carry a certain precious spot in your heart. Seabrook’s Worcestershire sauce crisps. The North of England. The Yew Tree family and all its little branches (...that one was for you Danny, some sort of misguided pun attempt). So...when the opportunity arises to gently poke two badgers with one spoon, you don’t really say no, do you? The Yew Tree Open Mic night may have been a small amount of trekking to get to...but it is always very definitely worth it. For a start there’s amazing singers. Oh, and amazing musicians. Plus some amazing slam poets. And amazing random stand-up comedy routines involving every British accent you’ve never been able to pull off yourself. And an EIGENHARP. I hope you’re sensing a theme here: they’re all amazingly talented. Yew Tree members honestly never fail to impress; they’re professional