A decade to remember...

It’s nearly 9pm and there is a sense of anticipation about the Yew Tree base this Sunday night, for tomorrow is a very special day…tomorrow we will embark on the first day of our week of rehearsals for our Connections production – Hacktivists.   It’s a great play that makes you think about things you take for granted...the internet, social networking and our ability to do what is right when faced with a difficult decision...if you’d like to come and see it, which I heartily recommend you do, all the details are here….

This cast and all the individuals within it are the next in a very prestigious line of young people who have grafted hard and grown tall as part of the Connections plays and I find myself remembering all of the individuals that have been part of my connections history tonight…

The first connections play I directed I picked up halfway through the process when the director who had worked on, “Asleep Under the Dark Earth,” for Pilot Youth Theatre moved away…it was my job to get the play ready for the regional showcase.  It was a baptism of fire but an excellent foundation for what was to come…plus it gave me the opportunity to work with YTYT legends of the future such as Danny Bell, Jonny Hopwood and Sam Sherratt.

As “Asleep Under the Dark Earth,” went so well I was allowed to do the next Pilot Youth Theatre Connections alone and from the start…this was “Mugged” and I loved working on it…it was a brilliant piece of writing and some of the tension created in the performance was breathtaking.  I enjoyed the challenge of realising a piece that was about personal tragedy in a media dominated world…I enjoyed it so much I am going to redirect it again this year as part of our 20^th Birthday celebrations…

Next was "Shut Up"  a difficult second album...for both director and playwright...still under the umbrella of Pilot Youth Theatre...I quote phrases from it even more and although it had it's difficulties it was had as many brilliant moments...the most memorable of which was when finally Dexter uttered a word...

My official third Connections play, “DNA” was an independent venture as I was now directing under the banner of YTYT not Pilot Youth Theatre.  Written by the brilliant Dennis Kelly this sharp, hard hitting play looked at just how far people are prepared to go to protect themselves and included some jaw dropping moments and exemplar performances…so many YTYT members who have gone onto be successful both within and outside the acting industry were involved…

And then we come to “A Vampire Story” a play recently revisited by Black Company as there 2015 Christmas show…at this point actors such as Alice, Joanna, Dee, Jess and Rob walked onto the YTYT connections stage…and Danny became my assistant director – a partnership that was to last for 5 connections shows…I know I shouldn’t have favourites but if I did, this would be one of them…I loved the story, the cast, the writing and the design…such a happy time.

The fifth performance was “The Heights” a strange and at times surreal play that I really struggled with at first but we got there eventually and in addition to producing one of the most disciplined and sharp regional showcases I have ever seen we also managed to perfect a sequence of gun juggling, stage a character falling down the stairs with no stairs and who could ever forget Fat Matt and Fat Pat…

The following year there was no Connections festival as the National Theatre took a break to regroup…but we were not to be thwarted…we got round the lack of new work by delving into the back catalogue of Connections and pulling out “Sparkleshark” in fact we did two versions of it as we had two casts.  I loved directing the words of Phillip Ridley and it was a great honour that Giles Forman came to see it and talked to the cast about their work.

This brings us to year six of producing Connections plays where we delved into the world of witchcraft with “ Shooting Truth,” In this play a story hundreds of years old was layered with a contemporary story to brilliant effect as high school children explored the history of where they and revealed the fate of a young girl accused of witchcraft.  We were so inspired by the theme of it we made a brand new play to compliment it.  “Shooting Truth’” was another brilliant play, wonderful cast and performance to be proud of…

“Journey to X” was the next Connections adventure – set against a backdrop of reality TV this play looked at how children can be thrust into having to make grown up decisions way beyond their years…the result was something both funny and poignant and marked the end of an era as both Alice and Dee bowed out of Connections after their performance in it.

The following year we took on possibly the most challenging Connections play to date.  “Tomorrow I’ll Be Happy,” was an important story of prejudice and violence…it was dark and demanding and it stretched me as a director and the cast hugely.  I was proud of it and the actors that pulled it off with genuine sensitivity and gravity, they pushed themselves further than I think they knew they were capable of.  I was also immensely proud of Danny who by the time we performed in Kendal knew he was going to go and train as an actor in Manchester.

Which brings us to last year’s gorgeous production of “The Wardrobe,” a new cast most of whom had never performed in a Connections play before – a new assistant director and a brilliant concept of a play…after the dark intensity of the previous year the production was a breath of fresh air…such raw, wonderful talent who worked so hard and produced an unforgettable journey…

And so here we are…ready to find out what Hacktivists is going to turn out to be…it’s no wonder we are excited…