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This is the lovely George's farewell blog...

 I’m actually quite lost as to where to start with regards to writing this ‘farewell blog’. Without being quoting generic quotes, it hardly seems like yesterday when I first walked through the doors of Yew tree and being welcomed with open arms. In fact, it’s not even been a full year - which seems unbelievably strange especially now I consider Yew tree as part of my family.

Okay, so I know she’ll hate me for this but I feel I should use to opportunity to tell you wonderful readers about how much of an impact Sarah Osbourne has had on my life; when I first started I’d heard wonderful praise about Sarah and her work from friends and colleagues, but never really imagined this woman could propel my acting career to where it is today.

My first play with Yew tree was “Vampire Story”, being cast as a small supporting part, yet Sarah would spend just as much time concentrating on ensuring I was clear with my goals as a character, as the main characters were clear on theirs - this totally baffled me. With my experience of directors, they tend to spend the majority of the time focusing on the main actors and they tend to just expect the smaller parts to figure it out themselves - not Sarah Osbourne. Oh definitely not Sarah Osbourne. She would go to all lengths and measures to ensure I was completely comfortable with what my character entailed. This was something completely new to me as an actor, which if I’m honest, left me with a new found respect for Sarah, as it was clear she wants to develop each member of Yew tree as an individual and as a collective cast.

Whether it was being part of Black company or being part of the professional touring side of Yew tree, I’d never fail to be impressed by Sarah’s professionalism and dedication to this company; to think she’s established Yew tree from scratch and brought it to where it is today is absolutely staggering; Sarah puts her whole life into this company and this blog doesn’t really do justice to how much I owe to her for everything she’s done. Don’t take my word for it, if you just watch one show - whether it be from the younger side of the company to us oldies - and you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about.

I’m now about to depart for Drama School this September down at Guildford School of Acting and if it wasn’t for Sarah, I honestly wouldn’t be heading down to study my passion in life. Just to put this in perspective, Sarah single-handedly volunteers her time on a regular basis to help us aspiring actors get to Drama School. She will happily spend her free time, ensuring we’ve got monologues to absolute near-perfection (one thing that Sarah’s taught me is that with Drama School monologues, you’ll never get perfection because there’s always something to be worked on). You know the famous saying about how those that volunteer in their free time, live the happiest life? Say no more…

Whether you’re reading this as a parent of a child at Yew tree or even someone wanting to work with Yew tree be absolutely content that this company is run with heart, soul, passion and a little bit of blood, sweat and tears. Okay, I’ll stop with the generic quotes, but you get my meaning.


Sarah doesn’t run this company as a business - she runs this as a passion and it’s clear how much she cares for every single person in this company and I’d just like to say, on behalf of Yew tree, thank you Sarah - thank you for everything.

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