What's happening at YTYT

This week’s Summer Days were ridiculously dichotomous (enjoy looking that one up!)   As I journeyed home on Friday night I was left reflecting on the strength YTYT has to accept and enjoy such a wide range of disciplines, approaches and ideas.   The important word there is enjoy, nobody forces them…they just like to do it, they even come back from university to dabble once again in the constant stream of creativity we aim to offer... On Wednesday we had a full day of Games and Improvisation, which attracted the most participants of the summer (apart from the Nostell week of course.)   On the surface it seems like an easy option, like it’s the easiest day to commit to but you only need to read Mel’s guest blog to see that it isn’t like that at all.   For a lot of people stepping up in Improvisation is still a big step out of people’s comfort zones and this was true in the workshop not only of less experienced participants but also of the veterans....

And the second is by Ellie... I love Yew Tree, I miss Yew Tree and I think I'm probably just gonna quit Uni and go back to Yew Tree haha.     I did the Impro and Games day and it was aceee, loved every minute of it, going from talking about an anorexic snowman to a spotty iguana was defiantly a highlight.  It occurs to me when I go back every now and again that no matter how long you are away, you always have a family to go back to. No matter what you decided/needed to leave Yew Tree for, there is always somebody there waiting to say hi and how are you? How's things? And we've missed you?  I've been a part of Yew Tree for a long long time, and from the first day that I didn't want my old papa too leave me on my first session and crying my little eyes out until now, I love them like my own more and more each time I go.   The day was ace, seeing everybody was ace and Yew Tree in general are just the best thing in my life. Just because I had to get on, leave an...

First of two guest blogs this week inspired by the Games and Impro day by Mel... I have to say that usually I hate the thought of improv, but that by far was the most hilarious session EVER! Yes- and it ended up with me in Hollywood dancing with Beyonce, creating a new underwater world with the Smurfs and praying in the Taj Mahal! Instant improv meant that I got robbed by Mikey (physically picked me up and just ran)! And then devised improv with Hannah Speke, Charlotte Clayton and Michael Brown can only be described as disturbing as they delivered a baby calf! That was just the afternoon though. The games morning was deffo one to remember! The camp Griffin is the new addition to king of the jungle - "I'm a lion aswell" and then naming Aarons child Tabernacle Darling literally left everyone in stitches and Danny Keane rolling around on the floor crying with laughter. And, just remember "This is a joyous circle"   Love, Love, LOVED it!

Amy said I should write the blog today on her and how lovely she is…I think not…but it did get me thinking… Quite often when I’m searching for a theme or idea for the blog (on the occasions where there isn’t an obvious one) the main images I get are of people who I’m particularly pleased with that week - for whatever reason…I normally dismiss these as being pleasant but unhelpful in the whole business of creating the blog…however there is perhaps a wider theme… Each week YTYT to some extent or other allows people to be impressive…there’s so many ways this can happen which means I can safely say that not a week goes by without somebody impressing me greatly…this week some of the ones that stand out are Michael with his consistent helpfulness and talent with the filming, Mikey who has cast and organized a whole branch of his family to ensure we can get another scene filmed, Jack Iredale who is possibly the most loyal, committed and helpful person I have ever met ...

Jack Iredale blogs about Summer at Yew Tree  So...little blog here from Jack...obviously...anyways Sarah’s asked me to blog about my Yew Tree moment/highlight/experience/whatever of the week. It’s definately got to be Tuesday’s stage fighting workshop. The fact that there were so many Yew Tree members there, young and old, in their first year of being a member or their god knows what. And a guest appearance by Ed’s sister Alice, who had just taken a leap and tried out something new.   Of course, it’s not just the people that there that make an experience. It’s what they do. We played games (finally won ninja warrior btw), did some basic stage combat skills, and then looked at some physical theatre stuff.   Then we combined the two. It was brilliant. I’m not going to go into detail describing the piece, considering it’s on YouTube, but give it a watch here:  physical theatre day film  It’s great It shows that Yew-Tree isn’t just a youth theatre. It’s much more....

This week YTYT has been abuzz with all sorts of exciting stuff…someone forgot to tell us it’s supposed to be a holiday… We had the intriguing new workshop day “Creating Characters” which was founded with a spark of inspiration from Jess.    Participants spent the day following, in a small way, in the footsteps of Leigh and Stanislavski with a sprinkling of Boal for good measure.   The result was the creation of a cast of original characters and the start of a filmic story that had so much potential.   I thoroughly enjoyed the attention to detail and what that offered us as theatre makers. It’s definitely one of those things that was good but could be even better and so I’ll be able to build on it next year and make an even better experience for the participants. Then we spent two days filming…17 scenes – which meant 17 locations, casts, scripts etc etc.   I was so impressed with the professional way each actor conducted themselves making our job as eas...

The Sinister Square... AKA: Risk and Resilience Blog - Sam Winder Good day everyo- Ah. After only the first few words, Word is telling me that my grammar is incorrect when quite frankly it is not. I should know. I love grammar... yeah. So, after a day of filming (and not-filming) for the spectacle that collectively will be called “Risk and Resilience,” I find myself sitting in front of the TV writing a blog. I do so on a laptop with a keyboard that would be better used as a pillow than a piece of hardware required to insert alphanumeric characters into a general purpose device that can be programmed to carry out a finite set of arithmetic or logical operations AKA: computer.   But seriously, whenever I need an O I have to paste it in due to the ineffectiveness of that particular key. So, ideal conditions for typing a web log, I am sure you’ll agree? After what you may consider an arbitrary opening I think that I should cease spouting this twaddle and continue... ...

This week at Black Company we created stories inspired by the idea of chance encounters...I've tried to capture them...you'll need a cup of tea and half an hour or so... Heartfelt I’m sat by Sally’s bedside fixated on her breathing.   It’s regular now and gratifyingly easy… albeit aided by the tubes that are attached to her face and body…I can’t help but be repulsed by the sites where man made plastic meets human flesh and I’m embarrassed by my squeamishness.   I’m trying to come to terms, or at least catch up, with what’s happened today.   This morning everything was as it should be…we’d spent too long over breakfast planning our weekend…a trip to the market, a bbq, maybe invite some friends…maybe keep ourselves to ourselves and relish each others company…so she was late as she left the house…grabbing her keys as she hurried to work. I’d listened to the slam of the door and the engine of her car start…the latter is not a certainty of our day…I added visit...

Rob is our guest blogger this week: Yew Tree Youth Theatre is F.A.N.T.A.S.T.I.C! Anyone from my university friends to my home grown homies know of my devout appreciation for it. You only have to attend a session, performance or workshop to experience its visual, artistic and somewhat spiritual delight. However there is another less obvious reason why I love it; a reason that is not often discussed at youth theatre sessions. The UK is currently at the mercy of a Conservative government (sense my bias). A government that is cutting the public sector faster and harder than any previous or current government...Why is this an issue you may ask? It’s an issue because you and I as young people suffer at the behest of an economic system that we had no role in messing up. Subsequently, young people are losing services such as EMA, Aim Higher, DLA, Sure Start, community schemes, arts funding... the list goes on. Additionally youth unemployment is at an all time high and th...