Leavers blog 2019 1: Lucy

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I joined Yew Tree in October 2014. Back when Gold Company was on a Saturday. A friend and I wanted to do more acting and there weren't many opportunities near where I live. Yew Tree came on my radar and I decided Gold would be something I'd like to try. The Christmas shows were in rehearsal and this was the year of 12 Dancing Princesses for Gold. My first show was something I will never forget. Being given the opportunity by Sarah to be the Queen despite only being there a short while is something I will never forget. I received one of my favourite pieces of vocal advice at the dress rehearsal of this show: You have to make your voice reach the very back of the theatre. An important piece of advice for everyone I think. My other favourite performances with Gold company include A Fairytale Like No Other and Ella. A Fairytale Like No Other was a great opportunity to talk to Sally. We were absolutely definitely concentrating through every single rehearsal. Yep. Definitely. And Ella. I think Gloria has been my favourite part to play. She was a character I got to create and develop and one I had to know the ins and outs of in order to maintain her through long scenes where I had limited dialogue. It is impossible for me to leave out of this blog Ceasefire Babies from last year. It was my only Connections play, I had been desperate to take part in Connections since I saw Hactivists. The stars aligned and I was able to make the rehearsal days that I needed to. I auditioned, dragging along my little brother who probably didn't want to be there, and was given the part of Mary (coincidentally being given one of my favourite lines: "The apostrophe is in the wrong place"). I spent my Saturday afternoons with a group of people who just wanted to have fun and put on a high quality show for friends and family. I never expected that this would be the year that Yew Tree was selected to perform in London. It's crazy to think now that on Monday I had my final Maths exam and on Wednesday we were on a train bound for London. One of my favourite parts of Ceasefire Babies was watching my brother grow. He gained so much confidence and watching him in the scenes by the wall with Dec and Conner, I couldn't have been more proud. For the Summer Celebration this year, Black Company performed The Tempest. Performing alongside 12 actors who put in so much effort and time and who have so much talent and skill has been amazing. Maybe Gonzalo isn't such a bad character after all. I still don't fully understand him and I probably never will, there is so little yet so much to go on in Shakespeare, but I think I gave it a good go. I think The Tempest was challenging for everyone but watching everyone grow has been amazing. Watching from the side of the stage in the final performance was amazing. I hope everyone is proud of themselves because they certainly deserve to be, every single person did an incredible job and the experience would not have been the same without them. It doesn't feel like any time has passed since I joined Yew Tree. I have made many friends, learned, gained life changing skills and just had a generally cracking time. On to the next chapter of my life, Maths, with acting on the side. Guess things won't change too drastically then.

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