-
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 the financial barriers in to higher education have just been raised post 2012. Consequently, what we have is an environment that discriminates young people due to their legislative inability to vote and lobby for change.
However, beyond this governmental failure and morbid image is YTYT; an institution that breaks paradigms and offers unique services. Where community advice schemes are being removed YTYT acts as a medium for direction. Where local arts funding is being cut YTYT provides the opportunity to explore theatre for peanuts. Where local support networks are being suffocated YTYT provides a sense community and belonging.  
Yew Tree represents YOU! While society continual fails to acknowledge the ever increasing social, cultural and economic barriers for young people; Yew Tree aims to readdress this structural imbalance. Whether it’s advice on career opportunities, the chance to act in films, create performances or increase your sense of self...Sarah, Oz, Danny and Gemma offer an enriching environment fair beyond any requirement or obligation.
So I guess my key points are as follows.
Love Yew Tree. Appreciate it. Enjoy it. Embrace it. Nurture it. Grasp it. UNDERSTAND IT...Because it’s a positive force we need to value, in an unstable and complicated time.
One Love x  

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Celebrating the past in the present...

-
  Next year Yew Tree Youth Theatre will be 30 years old.   We haven’t quite decided how we will celebrate - any suggestions would be gratefully received. No doubt there will be some nostalgic perambulating down memory lane and some haphazard but joyous celebrating of three decades of creativity we have shared.   Some variation of those two themes would feel fitting. This blog however is something different. This blog is a celebration of the present of those who attended YTYT in the past. Alumni, graduates, previous members – I can never seem to find the right term – but whatever word is chosen I know for sure they are part of the fabric of the youth theatre and I’m grateful to have known all of them, mainly because I have learnt so much from them.   I also can’t put a number on how many people have spent significant time with YTYT over the last 29 years.   I know we started with a group of 8 and now have about 80 members, I know at our peak just before COVID w...
Read more

Yew Tree Youth Theatre. 2024 - Fred

-
What a year (That's a good thing, by the way). My favourite shows, my favourite rehearsals, my favourite year; so you can hopefully gather that I've enjoyed it all.  But in all reality, my blog should start in 2023, as National Theatre Connections began then.  I had been cast, along with Izzy, in the role of Noush, which quickly I became attached to. As the rehearsal process continued into the year of 2024, I only grew to like the role even more. Kiss/Marry/PushOffCliff - as the play was called - soon shaped up to be a fantastic show. The year before (I know, this is meant to be 2024, but everything, after all, is interconnected) I'd shown interest in NT Connections but had shied away, thinking I was not capable enough for such a task. This time, however, I was prepared - or brave, or optimistic, or however you could describe it - and chose to take part. It was indeed the right decision. Never before from a show had I received such enjoyment, even from rehearsals. Every tim...
Read more

Robin's Connections Blog

-
 Kiss / Marry / Push off a cliff was my second connections play that I have done with YTYT. As soon as I read it, I fell in love with the script. Although it’s not everyone’s cup of tea, it drew me in with its pure weirdness and mystery. I was so intrigued as to how we would tackle many of the problems that were initially presented to us. After all, showing someone getting pushed off a cliff while inside of a sleeping bag in a youth theatre production isn’t a simple task. However, with the combined effort of an equally talented crew and cast, I believe we were able to do a pretty good job. I could ramble all day about how much I love characters as a whole. In truth, they are what drew me to connections in the first place. I love being able to delve into their motivations and fears in detail and develop a whole other being rather than myself. I remember there was one character that stood out to me in my first reading. I knew from the start that Marco would be a tricky character. B...
Read more