In praise of openness and generosity!

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Taking a break from all things YTYT is not something I care for and so it doesn’t happen very often, however this weekend I did just that.  Needless to say I missed you all lots and the fantastic blogs from Crimson have underlined that greatly but I have to say I had a brilliant couple of days.
Firstly I went to the Directors weekend for Connections –it was marvellous  I met up with old acquaintances that I have at some time worked or trained with, I met new acquaintances and discovered connections with them and I discussed our play which is going to be a wonderful challenge.  As an added bonus I’ve brought back a whole bag of physical and vocal exercises and techniques to enrich our productions and enhance our skills.  It was great to have some time to reflect on what we do and how we do it and think about what else we can do to ensure our work is as inspiring and brilliant as possible.  What struck me throughout the weekend was the generosity and openness with which practitioners, teachers and writers shared their ideas and insights.  Rarely do you get the chance to meet with so many like minded people and benefit from their wealth of experience.   Incidentally the playwright that has written our play – Sam Holroyd is possibly one of the most generous and responsive writers I have ever come across…we chose wisely!
My second stop of the weekend was to Knaresborough where a group of actors assembled to learn about the craft of acting with me as the tutor.  Now having arrived back in Wakefield from London at 12.30 this morning it was somewhat of a wrench to leave it again before 8am but I’m ever so glad I did.  18 people from as far from Knaresborough as Whitby, Sheffield, Bradford and Bingley in addition to more locally based actors devoted their Sunday to the exploration of voice, physicality and characterisation.  Once more I was treated to a full blown display of generosity and openness as they jumped in feet first absorbing information, experimenting with techniques and reflecting on their experiences.  We covered so much ground in the 6 hours we shared it was a truly brilliant day.
Happily my break was both productive and stimulating needless to say however I CANNOT wait to get my hands on Sapphire tomorrow!


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