Tom's blog for this week
There’s a look I get, when I describe my typical week at yew
tree. It’s a cross between sheer amazement and slight worry for my sanity, as I
list every day of the week being filled with a variety of activities. But the amount
I do gives me experiences very few people have access to, and so this blog is
going to be my attempt to allow you a rudimentary insight into what I do.
Because frankly, I wouldn’t change it for the world.
Now, we start at Sapphire Company, who this year are
performing “The Princess and the Frog” as their Christmas show. It’s a play
that follows the traditional Sapphire style of subtle wit and fast paced
dialogue, but it comes with its own brand new set of challenges. One in
particular, being the 3ft frog puppet that must be operated by 3 man team. Lip
syncing, stance control and movement are all skills the teams have had to
master, and I have to compliment Gabe in particular for the hard work he’s
evidently put in to make the whole
thing come together.
We then move on to Tuesday, where we find ourselves on a Yew
Tree trip to the Lowry, to watch Splendid Productions take on the Greek text
‘The Odyssey’ and their usual brilliant thing of turning it into an easily
accessible text that meant anyone and everyone in the audience could understand
what is, in reality, a pretty tough story. Through audience interaction and
thought provoking questions, the 3 actors created a, well, splendid production
Right, we’re halfway through, and we have arrived at the
delightfulness that is Jade Company. They are sharing their Christmas show on a
very important date in the Osborne diary (10 points if you can guess what it
is) and we are currently in the frantic stage of tracking down reindeer ears,
discussing fairy outfits and making sure Rudolph has his nose. Because I
volunteer at this session as an assistant, I’ve had to delve into the directing
world, which hasn’t been particularly easy for someone who spends the vast
majority of their life on the other side. However, it’s been quite enjoyable,
and the kids are definitely going to have a performance that they, and their
parents, can be proud of.
Thursday night was a sad night at first, as I wasn’t able to
be at Orange Company which is the other company I help out at. However, I was
back in time for the second of my regular sessions, Black Company. This year,
Black Company have wandered a little off the beaten track with a sinister
physical theatre representation of the classic that is Little Red Riding Hood.
Telling a story using both voice and body is always a little tricky, as your
brain Is remembering two things and trying to do them both at the same time,
but the company have not disappointed and as well as expressing the original
script brilliantly, have also found time to create a preshow, which is actually
one of my favourite things that I have created as member of YTYT.
And now Friday night brings us to Scarlet Company who, as
the dancing section of the youth theatre, are in the process of preparing Once Upon
a Fairy Tale, a tale of magic and princesses and jesters and all that good
stuff. Acting is not most of Scarlet’s first discipline, so it’s extremely
impressive to see the graft that goes into making the script that gets put in
front of them come to life. With over 350 tickets sold already, this certainly
is not going to be one to miss.
It’s the big one now, as Saturday appears with a triple whammy
of artsy goodness. Gold Company kick us off, with their take on The Snow Queen,
which is looking pretty good. Each cast member has found their own way of
taking the script and running with it, meaning the end result has become
something fantastically diverse, with a cast who know their roles superbly. We
then fly across to Performers UK (with a brief sandwich stop on the way) who
have been working on the retelling of Peter Pan. We ran act 2 this week, and
while it was no easy task by any stretch, it certainly showed great progress in
every single person. This is a show that utilises so many different aspects of performing,
with acting, singing, dancing, sword fighting and physical theatre that if the
cast weren’t working together the amount they are, we could’ve been struggling
an awful lot. And then we hit the home straight. Connections 2015-16. Eclipse.
It’s the second rehearsal and already scene one and two are up on their feet
with both casts. Double casting is an odd thing, because another person is
taking the exact same lines and moving with them in a different direction,
sometimes entirely the opposite to your own. Never the less, each character has
found their niche, and it’s going to be one heck of a show by the end.
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