Distanced Travelled...

This blog could just ramble for a good strong amount of time about how wonderful you all are…The last weeks has been tiring to say the least but so very rewarding and left me “chock full” of nice things and happiness to share with you.

However over the last week I’ve had a really strong sense of what I wanted to talk to you about in this blog…it’s been such a strong theme of the weeks leading up to the shows and the performances themselves…because to me the last few weeks have been all about distance travelled…

Yew Tree has never been about who is better than someone else, partly because it’s entirely against our culture and values, and partly because it’s a ridiculously subjective measure anyway.  It’s about rising to the next challenge, it’s about making discoveries, it’s about gradually gaining confidence, self belief, control of your body and voice, opening up, being bold enough to try things, to stretch your creative muscles, being brave enough to invest all you have…so easily said (or typed) but so infinitely more difficult to actually do.

The Christmas Shows have allowed people a rich opportunity to do this and some of you have taken the opportunity with both hands and made the absolute most of it…this blog is in honour of those people…never think that I don’t recognise your efforts and achievements…however low key or slight…as I hope you know I think you’re all magic…but what follows are some of the journeys of this term that I’ve been particularly impressed with:

The first journey is about confidence and determination…Dillon and Josh are my heroes of the Christmas shows…both of them victims of self doubt and both of them looking like they might not be able to do their parts 2 weeks before the show.  However, both of them listened to advice and direction and put in an immense amount of graft ultimately creating performances that they could be utterly proud of…

The second one is about never thinking you’re as good as you can be…let me bring on Mr. Michael Brown for my example of this one…someone who already had found a level of quality in his acting skills but who invested all of it, every drop into creating an unforgettable performance…and as a result emerges a better performer than he was at the start of the process.  A mention needs to made here of Nick who stepped out of his comfort zone and into a whole wealth of brilliance. Week in and week out he got gradually better and better and becoming the perfect companion to Michael.  As a team of narrators they were second to none, an absolute pleasure to watch.  Related to this there is the journey of the Keepers of the Legends…two actors who have nothing to prove, whose track record is more than good but who worked hard and took nothing for granted…and in so doing created acclaimed and unforgettable performances…

I can go on and on and on and on…as there were actors who found their voices for the first time…actors that pushed through physical barriers…companies who produced some of their best work yet…teams (for example my brilliant Jack and the Beanstalk doors) that made memorable performances out of the most humble of material…

I put on the facebook page last night I adore Gold company, this is true but it needs to be noted that in actual fact I adore the entirety of my youth theatre…the companies I direct and the ones I just get to visit occasionally. I have the best job in the world and am constantly astounded and amazed by you (see what I did there) You inspire me and fulfill me and I want the absolute best for all of you as a consequence.  I invest all I possibly can…hence the high demands and the challenges I sometimes hand out…but you never cease to make me feel like the luckiest person in the world.  So yeah YTYT, take a moment all of you to feel immensely proud of yourselves…every single one of you…and then when you have fully enjoyed that think about what your next challenge might be…the next thing you’d like to achieve because if I possibly can – I’ll help you get there…