Enjoying the view from the top of the mountain

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It’s been a glorious YTYT week – so manyChristmas shows…so many brilliant performances, so much support…so many lovely things said about the work we do…there really is nothing quite like it!

I always think, as I watch the shows, how amazingly brave everyone is as so many of the actors are overcoming huge challenges to be where they are…whether it’s juggling academic demands with their extra curricular ambitions, or managing the responsibilities life throws at young people, transcending the issues that come from a lack of confidence or sidestepping the myriad of other things that can get in the way of people achieving their potential.  Each one of the performers from the smallest to the tallest gave everything they possibly could to make the Christmas shows as good as they could be…that effort and energy was, as it is always, entirely appreciated…

As a result of that bravery, effort and energy this year people sang on stage who had never sung in public before…people made characters come to life with a truth they haven’t managed to find before…people found a voice more powerful than they’d ever produced before…in short so many people climbed their own, personal mountains and were able to thoroughly enjoy the view from the top of it…


As a final thought I’d just like to mention the frog…a lot of people loved him and he was seen by some as the star of the show…if ever there was an example of brilliant team work it was the 4 young people that made the frog come to life over the two nights…puppetry is something brand new to YTYT and we’ve learnt it’s really, really, tricky…nonetheless Gabe, Beth, Ben and Sara managed it with elegance and eloquence…for the two performances (and a whole lot of rehearsal before)  Sara scrabbled on her hands and knees to make the frog walk and dance and leap – most of you won’t even have noticed her…that’s because she was doing her job properly…to all of you who, like Sara, made the challenges look easy I salute you…

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