The Wardrobe - Connections 2014 - A directors perspective...

-

So you pick a play, you cross your fingers that you’re going to be able to direct it and that you’ll have enough actors who’ll want to be part of it…you cast it, you cross your fingers you’ve made the right decisions, you gather a creative team…you cross your fingers they’ll stick with you…

Then you start rehearsals, you experiment and play, you build characters and relationships, you challenge and make demands…you cross your fingers that at some point the pieces of the production you are creating are going to fit together.

Slowly, slowly your production emerges…there are frustrations and break throughs…there are crises and victories but all the time everyone in the production is growing sometimes slowly, sometimes in leaps and bounds.  They’re growing in ability, in skills, in understanding and in confidence.  They’re growing into young people who believe they have something to say and the voice to say it with.  They’re growing into theatre makers and creative minds…

Eventually you share it with others, the audience…you cross your fingers and wonder if what you’ve created in the rehearsal room will translate onto the stage and you’re delighted when it does.  You reflect on the response and you revel in the happiness of the cast as they acknowledge their achievements.

Finally you come to the finale – a performance in a venue bigger and more significant to an audience who owe us no loyalty (apart from the wonderful people who’ve gone above and beyond to support us there.)  You’re greeted with such warmth and loveliness from fellow professionals.  Then you watch the cast literally let the play fly with an eloquence that takes your breath away and you laugh at yourself for crossing your fingers because these young people are truly brilliant…there was never any need to fear that they wouldn’t achieve everything you hoped for them and more…you celebrate with them and enjoy their sheer joy at a world that offers such opportunities.

As a final bonus you spend the weekend listening to people tell you what you know to be true and enjoying every minute of it…that Yew Tree Youth Theatre in general and the cast of The Wardrobe specifically are some of the most talented and lovely young people you’d ever have the privilege to meet…there are no bounds to your pride and happiness…it’s the best feeling in the world.

Connections 2014 you have been something I’ll never forget…thanks to every actor, crew member, thanks to Mikey, thanks to every audience member…it’s been a brilliant 6 months!

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