Connections 2020 - Completed it mate!

A final word from a simply excellent Connections cast...

Connections 2019 has been my first Connections experience and wow,, what a treat. Chaos is the most beautiful play and despite confusion at the start, we carved an intricate path through the script. There will never be a time, when I’m not in awe of the talent displayed by the cast and crew and I felt beyond honoured to act alongside them. Through this production, I have been braver and bolder with my choices, not only as an actor but as a person. I’ve made friends, learnt new character skills and become a more confident person, in the big wide world. To everyone that came to see Chaos, thank you; without you, we would be a bunch of young people shouted beautiful things to some empty chairs. To everyone who worked backstage; thank you, you brought our play to life in such a brilliant way. And finally to the cast, thank you for helping me reach my potential and having such a supportive and kind environment - y’ll lovely. – Chloe 

I’ve enjoyed doing connections this year, as I have learnt some new skills. I have also loved the experience and performing with some amazing people. - Lauren

With connections 2019 being my final connections I just want to say, if you’ve ever thought or are currently thinking about connections please please do sign yourself up- it’s an absolute amazing journey and one which you’ll benefit from for the rest of your acting career! Over each connections play I’ve been involved in I’ve developed so much as an actor, my skill set and my technique is so much more advanced than it was when I first started and I can’t recommend this experience enough. Chaos was an absolute joy! The script, the action and the theme all fit perfectly and created a piece of theatre that I’ll treasure forever. The connections cast this year formed a bond that is simply like no other and the friends I’ve made and the leaps I’ve seen people take are astounding and I couldn’t be prouder to be a part of such a brilliant cast. So Thank you, to the cast, to Sarah, to the venues we performed in and most importantly to every single person that supported our production from start to finish, whether that be in rehearsal, support at home, or coming to see us perform, without any of you this wouldn’t have been possible, so thanks for making my last connections to out with a bang!- Ellie 

This year was my first time doing NT connections and I can’t believe I’ve been missing out on such an amazing experience the years before this. Connections has expanded my performance skills immensely and I believe it has made me a much better actor. However, drama isn’t the career path I’m going down. Yes it was nice to improve my performance skills and become a better actor but doing connections has meant so much more to me than that. I have come out of this experience feeling so much more confident and not just in acting but in myself and in anything I want to achieve, I have learnt things about myself that I never knew and I feel like I’ve ended this experience in a much better position in life and as a much better version of myself. I am so grateful to have been a part of such an amazing cast and it’s been some of the best months of my life. insert song - Never Forget by Take That - Dan

Connections this year has been amazing. I remember, about two years ago, watching the Connections play ‘Three’ and thinking ‘I want to do something like this is my future’. The year after, I got the chance to do a workshop with some of the people from the cast of ‘Ceasefire Babies’ and, also getting to watch it the same night. I was still thinking, as I left the drama studio, ‘This is what I want to do.’ Little did I know that, the following year, I would be doing Connections 2019. I had a really lovely reminiscent moment last week. As we finished our performance of ‘Chaos’ at Crofton Academy, I saw a group of year 8s swarm Ellie, asking her about Yew Tree. It just reminded me of myself from last year. They seemed so enthralled by what we had shown them, and it made me realise something; this is why I love performing. Just seeing the audience’s faces light up with happiness, because we’re doing what we love, is amazing. Their smiles, their gasps, their laughter, fuels us to keep on going. From the scenes that I have done, I’ve seen smiles, I’ve seen sighs of relief and I’ve also seen gasps in amazement. It’s joyful, as an actor, when you see the audience react in such a positive way to something that you love doing.

The other thing that I loved about Connections this year are the people who I got the chance to work with in the, sometimes gruelling, rehearsals. The cast that did Connections this year ranged from the youngest actor being 13 years old and the oldest actor being 19 years old. I, myself, am only 14 years old and enjoyed gaining some experience and some inspiration from the older actors. For some people in the cast, it was their last Connections with Yew Tree and are moving onto the new chapter in their lives. For some people, like me, it was their first ever Connections experience with Yew Tree and loved every minute of it. For others, it was their second or third Connections, and they showed their endurance throughout this experience. It just felt nice to work with people I’d never thought I’d work with. I’ve created such a bond with the people in the cast that it will be even harder to say goodbye to them before they leave. It will be different next year, but its best to think about the present cast and not the future one, as everyone will be different to the one before it. I am definitely doing Connections 2020 and, I know that it will be amazing! Bring it on! We’re ready for it! – Lucy

I have absolutely loved my second year of taking part in connections! After the success of last year when being asked to perform at the National Theatre in London, this year has been just as amazing. I feel that connections is a way to really challenge yourself and you will leave the experience knowing so much more. Chaos by Laura Lomas is such a beautiful play and I had the honour of playing the part of Imogen and one of the sisters from the scene ‘Late’. I loved the challenge of taking on two parts who were contrasting characters as I felt this really stretched me as performer. The whole cast and everyone involved worked so hard and this definitely paid off when hearing all our feedback after performing at York Theatre Royal. Performing at York was the cherry on top as it was an amazing way to end our connections experience and we all had such an amazing last day as a cast. – Lara

‘CHAOS’ finished on Sunday 5th May at York Theatre Royal and after giving myself some time to comprehend the journey I’ve been on since November, I’m finally ready to write about it. After the ultra-success of ‘Ceasefire Babies’ and the level of knowledge I gained as an actor during Connections 2018 I knew that I was always going to do Connections until I physically couldn’t. However, it’s safe to say that Connections 2019 was an uphill battle for me. A journey filled with many obstacles that I had never faced before. You see, for the first time since joining Yew Tree I was given a role that I didn’t want/audition for. Originally, ‘CHAOS’ was a play that didn’t even want to do. I chose ‘Salt’ and ‘Ageless’ as my picks. This was down to me, like many, not understanding what the play was about and that lack of knowledge disheartened me to the play. The only character that I had any sort of attachment to was Aleph, as the story between him and Michael was one that I could comprehend. So, when auditions came around for ‘CHAOS’ I went in there and performed Aleph and Michael’s first scene alongside my good friend, Dan. Later, I would discover that Dan had secured the role of Michael, but the part of Aleph would go to Dec who also had auditioned for him. When I found this news out, I congratulated them both and we agreed there were no hard feelings between us. Obviously, I was upset by the casting because I didn’t know how to deal with this news. Instead of Aleph, I was casted in the role of Mo. A character who appears in one scene and mostly says “I know but…” if you couldn’t tell I wasn’t happy about this. In fact, I was so unhappy with the role that after the first rehearsal of ‘CHAOS’ I stayed behind to talk to Sarah about why I was given the role and seriously debated quitting Connections. Now I didn’t end up quitting as I’m writing about it all currently, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t hold the resentment I had for the character. In fact, I held it so much that it was one of many factors that led to me stopping Black Company for a short period of time. My displeasure with ‘CHAOS’ reached its peak on the first day of Connections Week when, during our lunch break, I asked to leave and take break for some fresh air. Now I know that doesn’t sound important or in any way troublesome, but I promise you it was. In that moment, I was so close just packing up my things and leaving Yew Tree in its entirety. This was due to me going through a very rough patch in my life and not feeling like I was part of anything. The exact opposite feeling I had during ‘Ceasefire Babies’ In which, I finally felt like I had friends I could always rely on. It wasn’t until Sarah came out and told me to remind everyone of the Connor that made them like me in the first place that things started to look up. It was the third day of Connections Week when everything sort of fell into place for me. Mo was suddenly, a character that is desperate to understand and help his friend, Chiarra, but gets frustrated and angry that he just can’t understand her. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? It’s strange how life can do things like that to you. Taking you on these journeys where you can’t see the end of it and then everything comes full circle. From then onwards, everything felt enjoyable. The performances at the Cluntergate Centre were my favourite performances since ‘Comet’ and the Horbury Academy performance was so good considering the conditions the cast was put up against. Which brings us to York. I’d like to add that the day before I got slated during notes for the rehearsal before. This was due to me being content with my work so far meaning I was in autopilot mode the whole time. I just assumed I was giving a decent performance because I had before. I didn’t. But this meant I had something to prove at York. That was if I could get there. I make this joke because if you look at the cast photo before everyone got on the coach, you’ll notice I wasn’t there. Why’s that Connor? Because I’m an idiot, that’s why. I believed that the coach was due to set off at 11am, when in fact it set off at 10am. At this time, I was posting on my Snapchat about how excited I was for the day. Then I get a message from Sarah asking where I was. I explained how I needed to go shopping with my parents first and then Sarah responded with the fact that the coach was about to set off and I got the biggest feeling of dread I’ve ever felt. After five minutes of extreme begging to my parents I convinced them to let me catch the train to York. I arrived at the theatre with around five minutes before we were set to watch a performance of ‘Flesh’. My intelligence decided to stay at home that day. As I managed to get lost in York twice whilst trying to find a Sainsbury’s, I lost a ball in the changing room causing me to have to climb into a locked storage closet that didn’t have a roof, leading to me knocking the roof off one of the showers in my changing room, I then left that ball in the changing room when I went to get my earphones in the room just before techs and that meant I got locked outside the studio theatre for around three minutes as I waited for a member of York Theatre Royal’s staff to come save me. The performance feels like a blur after all that ridiculousness. From what I recall, it was amazing and I remember feeling so proud afterwards. 

I’m going to save my thoughts on the cast for my Instagram as I want to make that a tradition. But to summarise, they’re all incredible and you should all feel so proud about what you were able to accomplish. I wish I could’ve been there for the Nando’s meal, but I have plans to make up for that. ‘CHAOS’ ended with me sat on a coach, wrapped in fake flowers, while holding onto real flowers and listening to Ben Platt and I feel there’s something poetic about that. I couldn’t tell you what exactly that is, but I feel it. ‘CHAOS’ was certainly, wait for it, a “chaotic” journey. I’m sorry, I had to. But it was a journey that I will look back on with a lot of fondness.

Connections isn't just a show, it's a journey in which one can develop far beyond what they thought they were capable of. Chaos is the epitome of this concept as over the past few months, I have had the pleasure of being apart of a cast with such a diverse mixture of those with connections experience and those without, however the fact that by the end I saw everyone performing to an equally amazing and somewhat inspiring standard is a true testament as to how far the process can take you. Connections is a leap of faith in terms of your ability as you must push yourself and show your true strengths as an actor. Therefore it is unsurprising that it brings out the best in many of us and so i wouldn't change it for the world. I have done it twice now and at the end of chaos I asked myself whether I'll be doing it again and I simply thought, without a doubt.  - Ben

This was my second year doing connections and it was just as amazing if not better than the first. I've learnt so much and absolutely loved the play "Chaos". It has been such a brilliant journey with the most amazing people and I couldn't have asked for a better cast.- Mia

Connections 2019 has been very good.  I have enjoyed every single part and the cast have been brilliant. Connections has made my confidence grow a lot, bring on 2020!  Heidi

Being a part of the connections cast this year has taught me a lot about acting that I hadn’t realized before, working on a new piece of theatre made for young people is an eye opening experience whether it’s working on something for a large period of time or watching the rest of the cast improve along side you. - Jensen

Well, my Connections has definitely been a different year for me. I started out doing all the sound for all the shows down at The Cluntergate Centre which also opened my eyes to the other side of what goes into a show. However, with Jacob going to America when we had our York performance, this meant I stepped in. Not going to lie, learning an entire show in 6 hours worth of rehearsals before performing it at Crofton Academy was one of the biggest challenges I’ve had to face so far but I learnt so much from it. Chaos definitely taught me about the importance of ensemble work in making a scene and the imagery within that work as the past connections plays haven’t had too much of that. It showed me how beautiful you can physically make scenes with a storyline without having to say a word at all which I believe is vital in theatre. This however is my last Connections. After playing Siobhan in Hacktivists, to Jane in Eclipse, Lena in Three, Jamie in Ceasefire Babies and “2” in Chaos I’ve had the most amazing opportunity to play such diverse roles and storylines that I would never have had the chance to play if it wasn’t for Sarah putting in so much time and I can’t say thank you enough! Now I’m so excited to see what the 2020 Connections cast come up with!! - Emily

My connections experience has been a pleasure and I’d like to say thank you to everyone in the cast as well as Sarah and the people working behind the scenes.  From the auditions in November to performing in York has been such an amazing journey for me as well as the rest of the cast and it’s been an absolute joy working with you all – thanks a bunch – Lyla 

Connections 2019 has honestly been a joy and I feel so lucky to be involved with such amazingly talented actors putting on such an amazing play. Being one of the youngest of the cast meant there were lots of people older than me who have been role models and people I can look up to.  Not just for the acting but because they are people I aspire to be like altogether.  Doing the journey from the start has been truly rewarding to everybody because the hard work and dedication that is put into every single rehearsal to make Chaos the best it can be is unbelievable.  Since November I feel like I have grown as an actor and my skills have kept on developing from the beginning.  Thank you to everyone who has supported us and I want to say good luck to everyone who is moving on.  Bring on Connections 2020 – I’m excited – Violet

I’m so pleased and privileged to have taken part in Connections 2019- having such an amazing experience and loving being part of an amazing cast. Learning from others helped me learn more about an industry I hope to get involved in from different angles, and I’ve never been more grateful for an experience of such calibre. I felt that Connections has really challenged me as a performer, with the whole cast and everyone involved having put so much effort into creating our piece ‘Chaos’- concluded with an amazing experience performing in York. Cheers to every single one of you. - Taylor