What's happening at YTYT

It’s difficult to know what to write about as there is just so much Yew Tree Theatreness going on. I’ve had so many brilliant moments at youth theatre this week and equally it has been a week full of challenges. Sapphire are struggling towards consistency, their high points are an absolute pleasure if they could always work at their best they’d be breathtaking. Green are well on their way with their new project and inspired me to start writing their script after their session on Monday. Gold are trying to attain the excellence they know they are capable of and the read through of “Shooting Truth,” was a delight to be part of, so full of potential. And those are just the things I’ve done…there are two versions of 12 days of Christmas in rehearsal, Crimson are in the final throws of their rehearsals for Cinderella and the writers are preparing to be all ready for their sharings at Nostell Priory and Open Mic Night. However I think I’m going to focus the remainder of this blog on the...

Emma Fretwell makes an appearance as this weeks guest blogger... Yew Tree, hey. Today has been a clumsy clumsy clumsy day. I’ve fallen, slipped, fully face-planted… So there was very little hope for me in the brilliantly choreographed dance to the Bolero. But I have to say, it’s looking good. I think we might all finally be getting it! The Worn Out Shoes is going to be spectacular. All the Christmas shows are going to be spectacular. Mili (Purple Company) is so excited for their play too, and she tells me "We're going to be fantastic!" But the Worn Out Shoes, it’s coming on a treat. Ed puts in a consistently brilliant performance as the King, and he’s really grown into the character. Every session there is a new level to his performance and it’s just so great to watch. The ensemble are excellent with their physical theatre and this week it has sharpened up. Worn Out Shoes, yesssssssssss. There are very, very few sane, rational people in this play. Ever. And when you’re in...

All the shows I’m directing are finished in that they now have all the nuts and bolts laid out in the right order that will enable us to make a performable piece of theatre out of…so Hurrah for that. However in order for them to create a performable piece of theatre that people will understand, engage with and enjoy a number of things sometimes quite tricky to define have to happen. One of the things that has to happen is that everyone on stage has to start responding absolutely and entirely in every moment of the production. The amount of things they need to respond to and the amount of energy and concentration that requires is quite awe inspiring. Firstly the technical stuff they have to respond to the basic requirements of being heard and seen in the way the production demands which involves both vocal ability, effort and special awareness. Next taking that special awareness even further they have to respond aesthetically with an idea of how the stage picture looks at times. Af...

Rachel who plays the central of Jub in "Lost Happy Endings," feeds back on Thursday nights performance experience... Soooo the first performance of, "The Lost Happy Endings!!" Everything seemed to happen so quick...one minute we were in the middle of a rehearsal, next minute we are told that we’re up next!! So it was a little frightening that we ended up going on quicker than we expected, but being Yew Tree and being so very professional, we all got ourselves in the zone and went on to perform the best that we ever had done!! Playing Jub has been really exciting for me...mainly for the fun and drama of climbing on and up many members of the Black Company (who can say they’ve done that eh?). It has been one of those performances where you spend so much time being creative devising the actual physical theatre part of it that you don’t have as much time as usual to establish your own character. I think establishing my character really happened for me properly for the...

Tom from the Black Company, with some thoughts about the premier of Lost Happy Endings Hello all…Just thought I'd write a little blog about the Black Company's first performance of, "The Lost Happy Endings," at The Phoenix Theatre on Thursday evening and is also our current project for this years Christmas showcase and Nostel Priory performances as well…The performance went amazingly well for the Black Company and we all had a very enjoyable time performing at The Phoenix again. One of the things that struck me during this time, between our short tech run and after we came off stage finishing the performance was how sudden and fast it all went for the cast. However it made the experience of performing The Lost Happy Endings for the first time that more special, especially when we where able perform a very different style of performance than some of the other companies who had performed that night who had singing numbers or dance numbers etc. We took the audience in a...

Danny Southern once again Ladies and Gentlemen YEW TREE HOUSE MASSIVE!!! It’s me (again) and I’m gonna tell ya’ll what happened at Sapphire Group on Monday. Well… where to begin?? We did a quick round of best and worst early so we could get cracking with the script this week. Unfortunately, Danny couldn’t be there cos of his injury and shizzle, but we still managed to cope without his insane anecdotes of the week. After rapidly setting the session off with woes and groans, and cheers and chuckles, we started with the almighty Princess and the Pea. Now, being a narrator, I’m pretty much on stage all the time, so I can see what’s happening more-or-less all of the time from an audience and actor’s perspective. I really couldn’t fault much this week. Everyone seems a lot more confident in what they are doing, people are learning their lines and characters seem stronger by every scene. All we need to do now guys is to keep up the energy from the first half of the play – well saying that, th...

I can get more than a little obsessive about pace…as a director that is…not just randomly in life…that would be weird… At this time of rehearsals when everything is staged in broad brush strokes and its time to polish the run throughs of scenes into performable pieces of theatre it becomes one of the many things that I become obsessed with. This morning I had one of those glorious moments when the cast found the natural pace of the piece and things instantly fell into place as a result. It’s hard to describe the effect that this has on me. It’s a state of both relaxation and excitement because it’s just right…it feels, looks and sounds right and then I don’t worry about how to make it right anymore because it is. The flow of the words is in synch with the action on the stage and the meaning behind both of these things. It’s such a delight when you watch it happen…such a joy… So Gold company have reminded me what it is I’m aiming for in the 6 pieces of performance I’m working on for...

Natalie from the Gold Company accepted my challenge this week to write her first blog...and it's lovely Okay, this is my first ever blog so I apologise in advance if it is terrible! At the moment, in Gold Company we are rehearsing for our Christmas show and I would basically like to use this blog to point out how impressed I am with it. I have taken part in so many plays over the years and I may even go so far as to say that this is the best one. From the beautifully choreographed dance routine to the fantastically sadistic character of the king, I love it all. I am incredibly pleased to take on the part of Georgia because like all the other princesses she is such an intriguing and complex character. The high standard and overall team effort means that it is almost impossible to single out just one part due to the fact that it is all so brilliant. This team spirit is echoed throughout the work of the youth theatre and I would just like to comment on how wonderful I think Yew Tree i...

Hey, Bobbie, from the Green Company again, this is my 2nd blog. On Wednesday we started to get 'Children's Excursion, platform No. 5' up and running by creating our characters for Sarah. Before, however we played a few games like the 'yes and...' game to get us in the right frame of mind to create a character. Sarah then asked us, after the 3 or 4 games, to sit on our own and close our eyes. She then started to ask us questions about what our character would be like, and obviously, what our character would be called. After this we had to get into pairs and tell the other person about our character then in turn ask them 5 questions about theirs, so we could add more depth to them. We then had to go into different pairs and tell them, again, about our character but add on what we answered to the questions that had been asked before. Then Sarah asked us to tell her about our characters and she would make links between them all, like Katie Hart and Sarah Day's chara...

Process versus product. This week’s late blog (sorry about that) is inspired by the Sapphire Company; specifically last week’s rehearsal of The Princess and the Pea. Each company of Yew Tree Youth Theatre has it’s own distinct personality, and each one of those personalities is pretty complex. I like this about the youth theatre, I think it gives the whole organization a richness and I also think that it means people can enjoy different experiences. One of the things that sets Sapphire apart is the ridiculous age range with the youngest contingent being 10 years old and the oldest 17. Another feature that is incredibly prevalent in the company is that they are so very process driven. The bonus of working with a process driven group is that we have such a nice time, they’re so happy to play and watch each others work and compliment each other. They’re so very generous with kind words and they make the most out of every moment…time in the sessions goes so, so quickly and the session...

Danny Southern is no longer laptopless...this is good good news and means the following is once again possible Hello my avid Yew Tree-ers! What happened on Monday in Sapphire group you cry? I don’t suppose that you’d be interested in crazy characters, struggling storms and a cripple named Danny? No? Well tough, cos you’re gonna get it anyway. Our story begins in a high school far away where the sacred place of the Yew Tree-ers gather every Monday. But this night, oh this night, a storm was brewing. The assembled crew hustled close as fortunes past and future, good and bad were told to one another. Then, all fell silent. Heads turned to look at a young man sat upon a chair, his leg shielded from view by a brace. Eyes flickered between his injury and his face, but none interrupted his anecdotes of the week. He, whom we shall name Danny (mainly because that’s his name), propped himself up and informed the ensemble that his injury was sustained from foul play at a football game. I’m sorry ...

Hurray for Beth from the Green Company writing a blog This session was extra special because we had Gemma and our hoodies came :) We did best and worst to start with. We played the Ha game and the King of the Jungle and the one where you're in 2 teams and the same number have to grab the scarf, all of them were fun. Then we played a game where when one person says a word you have to think of a word associated with it, this then developed into pairs plays, where you could say one word at a time, this was well cool but hard at the same time, but they all looked really good :) At the end we sat in a circle and Gemma told us about Open Mic Night and the Christmas Performances, then we played Cowboys and Indians (what a great way to end a great session)