Reaping the rewards...

-

This week was YTYT connections week…you might have heard…or noticed…or come across it…we’ve not been quiet about it…

For those of you that don’t know what Connections week is it’s an intense set of 5 days of rehearsals 10 – 4, Monday to Friday where we take a play that’s good and turn it into something truly remarkable…until this week 17 of the cast of 19 didn’t really have a concept of what connections week is as only 2 of my cast this year have been involved before…they certainly do now…this process however isn’t necessarily easy for the actors – it involves an awful lot of…”That was good now try this…” from me…I’m aware that the demands placed on the actors are immense – the script is challenging…the director is demanding…the expectations are exacting…especially when I decide to throw in curve balls like making the cast perform in the round for good measure…but the rewards…once you reap them…well they are quite something…

My reward was reaped tonight…I gladly and confidently handed over the play to the actors and the crew and was happy in the knowledge that my job is done – well most of it…the cast and crew have come so far and made so much progress and now I get to continue to enjoy even more rewards as I watch them share it with fellow Yew Tree members, family and friends…I honestly can’t wait…

But just as I left the rehearsal room I had this twang on my heart…and I wanted to share it…times like these…experiences like these they are rare…members of the past 9 connections casts will tell you there is nothing quite like it…yes you’ve worked very hard and made sacrifices and been challenged but you have done it with a set of the most loyal and lovely people you have ever met…and so my wish for the cast in these next few days is that you put any doubts, worries and petty grievances aside and enjoy performance week utterly and selflessly seeing the value in every member of the team because The Wardrobe wouldn’t be what it is without every single member…relish every moment…enjoy every second…take care of yourself and each other because time is running out…it would be so sad to have missed out on any of it…I for one have felt privileged to be part of it…

Comments

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