From the sublime to the ridiculous...

This week’s Summer Days were ridiculously dichotomous (enjoy looking that one up!)  As I journeyed home on Friday night I was left reflecting on the strength YTYT has to accept and enjoy such a wide range of disciplines, approaches and ideas.  The important word there is enjoy, nobody forces them…they just like to do it, they even come back from university to dabble once again in the constant stream of creativity we aim to offer...

On Wednesday we had a full day of Games and Improvisation, which attracted the most participants of the summer (apart from the Nostell week of course.)  On the surface it seems like an easy option, like it’s the easiest day to commit to but you only need to read Mel’s guest blog to see that it isn’t like that at all.  For a lot of people stepping up in Improvisation is still a big step out of people’s comfort zones and this was true in the workshop not only of less experienced participants but also of the veterans.  However all that said step up they did and the whole day was absolutely joyous.  A morning full of play: game after game after game…from Ninja Warrior to Funky Seaweed, from Ratchet-Screwdriver (the one time I’ll play it this year) to King of the Jungle.  The whole thing was a delight and it was followed by an entire afternoon of making, starting with making one prop into another prop then instant improvisations and eventually longer devised pieces.  I was left shattered but utterly uplifted by how much energy there had been in the room…it was definitely a day to remember.

Friday however was a very different feast as we played with the words of Shakespeare instead of our own.  Unsurprisingly the take up was significantly less for this however this mattered not at all…if anything it gave those that attended the opportunity to really delve deep. 

We began with a foray into Hamlet exploring possibly one of the most well known soliloquies…however we did not stay in familiar territory…we explored Gertrude’s imparting of Ophelia’s death to Laertes followed by Hamlet’s shunning of Ophelia and we seasoned the mix with a couple of Gravediggers.  That was just the morning.  The afternoon saw us duping Bendick and Beatrice, sparring as only those about to fall in love can do and finally demanding unequivocally the death of Claudio.  There were significant demands placed on the actors, challenges that resulted in discussions about the richness of text, the heightened nature of the drama and the bravery needed to pull it off.  The end of the workshop saw me shattered once again but this time thoughtful with the words of Shakespeare and the actors that had played with them all day revolving in my head.

As you can see another good week, another set of days that both demanded a lot from the participants but gave back in equal measure.  It’s impossible for me to pick a favourite out of them but I will pick a favourite thing about the week in general and that’s the feeling of being impressed by people taking the challenge, stepping out of their comfort zone and discovering something new.