Worth it's weight....

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I’ve been directing Youth Theatre on a Saturday morning literally since I graduated so that’s 17 years – first for Bretton Hall, then for Yew Tree, then for Pilot and for the last 6 years for Yew Tree again (it’s worth mentioning that the latter two groups were one and the same in people – only the name changed.)  Friends my age are a little bewildered as to why I would want that kind of imposition on my time, I can’t help thinking that if they came along to a Gold Company session they would understand instantly.

I’d missed out on Gold for the two weeks leading up to yesterday – a rogue workshop for the West Yorkshire Playhouse and the celebration that was Flock to Ossett had taken me away. To say I missed it was an understatement and it was so, so, so lovely to be back.  There are new starters and people who have been there for a large majority of those 6 years and together they are literally a recipe for the most sunshiny start to a weekend.

After the usual playing of games we got stuck into devising Cinderella.  It’s such a brilliant story to play with and the angle we’re taking of the Fairy Godmother’s story is providing us with loads of material.  What impressed me so much yesterday is the way all 30 people present listened intently as I outlined where I was in the script.  For about 10 minutes I explained the decisions I’d made, what had happened so far and where the next scenes would need to go.  That was all they needed to produce fairytale brilliance.  Its such a joyful creative process…I set the creative problem to solve, the youth theatre present me with a myriad of elegant solutions, I go home and write the scene. 

The thing is I get to write the scene with a head buzzing with inspiration and it’s lovely.  It doesn’t end there though…some YTYT members are generous enough to request to read the work in progress and give feedback enriching the process even more.  The whole thing is utterly fulfilling for me as a writer and I hope a learning and enjoyable process for the company and what’s more we get the joy of anticipating going into rehearsals in September.

So now the blog is written I reach for my Aladdin notes from Monday to do the same with that script for the equally lovely Sapphire Company as I want to be able to watch a certain tennis match this afternoon…and then tomorrow I’ll get stuck into Nostell…phewwwww it’s all go…

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