Fern's blog for 2023

 My Blog

 

Considering how much of a hectic year this has been for some, I think it is important to write down our thoughts and feelings. This is my first blog for Yew Tree Youth Theatre so I would first like to mention about in January I took my Grade 6 LAMDA exam and came out with a distinction! Hanging on my wall is my medal which I am so proud of with my two speeches I did. My first speech was To Be or not to Be monologue performed famously by Hamlet in Hamlet by Shakespeare, it was a challenge to work out what it meant so for anyone who doesn’t understand old English monologues there are plenty of old English translations that helped me answer my questions a lot. My second speech was Chaos where I described a scenario of a butterfly at the train station where I essentially had to decide what the dramatic effect was of the monologue.

 

 Participating in To Write A Monster with Gold Company later in June was an interesting experience with such talented actors that I was so lucky to be apart of. I remember my friend Robyn playing the writer Mary Shelley talking about the Frankenstein book and how amazing they spoke it; let us also not forget during the Frankenstein scene Sam had to fake strangle me on stage, I love playing the victim every time showing the tragedy of Frankenstein. I think what I regret most about the performance was my fear in my capabilities because I requested a small part in the play due to me taking my GCSE’s further in the year, I wish now I had gone for more leading roles and not stress so much about my studies, but we move on. 

 

I enjoyed playing my role as Lanyon because I didn’t know anything or read about Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, so I learn some new stuff everyday (especially in Yew Tree)! I remember pointing out how Mr. Hyde was a monster, dark and twisted, shown physically by the rest of the cast and I described the transformation from Mr. Hyde to Dr Jekyll.

 

Later in September, I had to say goodbye to a lot of my Yew Tree Youth theatre members that I had known and performed with, I was the youngest among them and this was a joke in gold company as I was 14 years old joinng a lot of 16–20 year olds to create plays in 2020. Now that I am 17 years old it was sad to wave goodbye to them all and I wanted to mention it was an amazing experience to creatively work with them all.

 

At the same time in September, I decided to put myself out there and join Black company as well as Gold company whilst also volunteering at Sapphire company. Everyone that I worked with have been friendly and have made drama be an escape from the realities of real life. In Black company, we started devising our Christmas play ‘Love Languages’ where each of our characters would be sending out notes to someone during the Christmas holiday period. This was very creative as we had our own freedom to create our own character; I decided on Juliet who had just recently had a fallen out with her boyfriend and believes the two has broken up at Christmas, I loved the depths I could go at discovering her character and perform my creation to an audience.

 

Next was Gold companies play the Worn Out Shoes, this was an incredible play to say the least. I loved being a part of the 9 princesses with Worn Out Shoes and being the eldest among them ordering around how things should be done. I believe I loved playing Anastasia so much is because of how I felt her character would react to certain situations, I decided during the rehearsal process that she was a dramatic character that depended on her sisters to do her biding and they were beneath her status. The princess cast reacted to my character as if they knew what my character was thinking at the time was incredible, the princesses worked so well with eachother and bounced off of each other showing a clear dynamic between all 9 sisters. On the night of the show, I was so relieved I never had to do the dancing scene for the princesses again, I love playing a posing obsessed diva, but that dancing was a bit much.

 

After all I had been doing, I also volunteered for Sapphire company who performed Pinocchio. A riveting performance to see on final night with me manning the sound for the show. Seeing the shows progression with Sapphire was an inspiration to watch and help out, my favorite scene to watch every single time was The Greatest Showman scene with the cast playing puppets for a puppet theatre and showcasing their newest moves to Pinocchio, who is stunned by their performance. I loved manning the sound for the company and learning how to quickly cut and implement music as it really makes a performance incredible. Seeing the final show, I could delve into the mistakes I made with the sound however all I should really say is Well Done Sapphire company for your excellent performance!

 

Now with my final word of my blog I would like to say how wonderful 2023 has been for me because of Yew Tree with making friends, seeing inspiring plays and discovering new characters to become, it has been my perfect escape from reality, and I have Sarah Osborne to thank for creating such a theatrical safe environment whenever I am in Yew Tree.