What's happening at YTYT

On Friday night after our performance in Ossett I was approached by a number of the audience who wanted to tell me how professional the black company are (they said other nice things too but they all commented on our professional approach …this happens whenever they perform and my response is always to say,” Well yes…” as what surprises them is simply what I expect…the conversation is always a little awkward as I do understated low key pride to their genuine surprise… In some ways I felt a little guilty on Friday as while others were complimenting my lovely actors I was remembering that about an hour ago I had been stood outside the hall reprimanding them for whispering…and whispering very quietly at that…I really am a perfectionist and for that I’m sorry…well a bit sorry…to be honest not that sorry… because it’s this strive for perfection that means our youth theatre’s reputation gets stronger with everything we do which means we get to challenge ourselves further and further…Our name...

Rachel's outgoing blog...the last of the leavers this year... I don't usually volunteer to write blogs with great haste because I wouldn't say I'm the wittiest, most creative writer blog-wise... but this one has to be done because lets face it, I have a lot I want to say. If anything, this is the hardest one to write because I really don't know how I possibly put in to words just how ridiculouslyyyy much I am going to miss Yew Tree. Yew Tree has, without a shadow of a doubt, the best, most talented and wonderful family of people I have met and will ever meet. I have never known a place that offers young people so much experience and opportunities and I feel really proud and priviledged that I've had the chance to be involved in all of that and that's all thanks to Sarah, Gemma, Danny and Oz, so thank you for all that you do. I called Yew Tree a family because there really isn't a more perfect word to describe it. To be part of something where everyone ...

Jess Moore blogged about Open Mic Night 7... This week it was Open Mic Night 7, one of my favourite Yew Tree events. It’s really nice to see people’s other talents that they might not have chance to share normally. And each year more people decide to perform and it’s brilliant! I promised myself I wouldn’t be a shambles this year, but if anything I was worse ha! For some reason singing in front of Yew Tree is harder than singing for anyone else ha, however I will be semi organised for the next one… I promise ha! It was such a nice night though and rather emotional when it came to speeches and ditties that were related to leaving us. It’s always sad when people leave but the thing is they never really fully leave as they come back for certain sessions and Nostell and Open Mic Night’s etc… I suppose it makes you appreciate people more when they aren’t there all the time! So many people came to support Yew tree this year and it made a brilliant atmosphere! I’m hoping I shall still be ma...

So in Black Company we are trying to pull off 3 pieces of Children’s theatre in a very short time to perform in three different venues at three different events…it seemed like such a good idea when I said we would and in a way it still is as the pieces are delightful and we’ll really be able to showcase the youth theatre’s talents…however it’s a much more demanding process than I envisioned. It is, however, at times like this you notice how brilliant people are. As we were trying to piece together Lost Happy Endings together again with a number of new cast members and a number of gaps the outgoing cast started this brilliant thing…it started with things grinding to a halt and having to call on their expertise, as the process went on they started not to need to be asked but instead were automatically demonstrating, guiding and problem solving and then they anticipated where there would be problems and were ready to fix them in advance. It was the nicest thing to witness, whenever I g...

The wonderful Hannah Speke not saying farewell... Well I kinda feel like I should’ve dramatically titled this ‘the farewell blog’ or something. But it’s not really, I might be going to university but you won’t get rid of me that easily  But I’ve been at Yew Tree since I was about 9, which means I’ve been here for 9 years, which is half my life. Scary. So I’m a bit sadder about leaving Yew Tree than I was about leaving college. I remember joining Gemma’s session when it was at Drury Lane Library absolutely ages ago, and my first ever performance at Yew Tree of The Tempest in Thornes Park. And then Helen joined, because I’d told her Yew Tree was brilliant and we had lots of fun. And then it moved to the church where we had to set up the chairs for mass at the end of each session, ha. Eventually we had to move up to Gold, mainly because we were about a foot taller than everyone else in Gemma’s group… I’ve done loads at Gold and Black: trips to Kendal, Connections, the Shakespeare fe...

First of all I wanted to say how lovely it is to be back…and with record attendance in the first week…it was so good to see everyone and welcome new members. There is so much to do this term, the autumn term at Yew Tree is always the most hectic but also one of the most enjoyable…(to be fair though I love each one equally…just depends which one I’m in the middle of…) I’m so aware that at the start of each session I’m bombarding you with so many announcements but then I suppose the positive side of that is that this profusion of information is a direct reflection of the huge amount of things Yew Tree are doing…before the end of October Yew Tree will have performed 6 times with 4 different performances…in addition to the usual sessions within which 4 companies are in the early stages of their Christmas productions (and will be joined by Black after their festival performances) we are either in rehearsal or development for 2 extra projects – the Miners Memorial Service Performance and H...

Ash wrote a blog...yipeeee Today was the first day back after the summer holidays, and with it marked the first rehearsal of Briar Rose, the first session for a few newcomers, and one of the final sessions for some of the Yew Tree veterans. This was set to be my penultimate appearance at Gold, but i have been fortunate enough to be able to stay and do all things yew tree for another year. The session this week was very relaxed, consisting of a few games, a creative task, a read through of the script and finished off with an always pleasant game of the laughing game. It was very enjoyable to hear the script out loud and to find so much of what was devised in there too, although suprisingly none of what mine and Jonny's group devised for the dream sequence was in there, I really thought we were on to a winner... Joking aside it was very nice to be back, infact more than nice it was great, and after having such a large role last year im looking forward to seeing what the younger c...

By rights I should be writing this blog about Tuesday’s play in day because it’s the most exciting youth theatre thing that I was part of this week and because it was a brilliant day but James has done this admirably in his blog leaving me free to pursue a more tangential theme… On Friday night I had the pleasure and privilege of watching an outstanding piece of theatre…it was thoroughly entertaining in the best sense of the word…the cast and company had taken the play (Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing) and used the full extent of their creative talents (which were many) and produced something utterly delightful…I left the theatre uplifted and inspired so I thought I might share some of the ways in which it’s going to influence this term at Yew Tree… Firstly it was an affirmation that culture and company is everything in theatre, something I’m certain you’ll have heard me going on about. The cast worked as a true ensemble with an ease and smoothness that was unbroken through...

James B blogged about our brilliant Play In A Day... Right, so play in a day. Loved it. To put it shortly. Not sure that will do for a blog though. So here it goes. We started with the basic idea of street café and then sought to develop into a piece. Starting with street café we investigated the different characters you might get coming along this street. The first time it was as outrageous and hilarious as it normally is but. But the second time we sought to focus on the less attention grabbing, but equally as important characters. That was really interesting as it gave a completely different street café to what we normally produce. From there it was about choosing a character and delving deeper into his/her back story, their reasons for being on that street at the particular time. From then on I could see background of the piece we were to produce. Then it gets even more complicated, from all these new people in the room, that suddenly exist, it was time to suss out who y...