2013 - A Review

As this is the last blog of 2013 I have been trying to decide what my ultimate highlight was – it’s a tough call as because it’s been our busiest year yet there are so many great events to choose from…

Before the year was three months old we had performed our connections play, “Tomorrow I’ll Be Happy,” and three companies had performed at Wakefield Theatre Royal in “One Night Only,” what stands out for me about these plays is the vast range of styles – from the fairytale feel of “Princess of Glass,” to the honesty and insight of, “Words,” to the informative mayhem of, “The History of Theatre,” each one had such a distinctive feel.  We also got to perform Princess of Glass at the Hepworth, which was an added bonus.

The second quarter of the year brought with it our annual trip to Kendal, which was as ever idyllic.  Our time there is so rich with the chance to perform our Connections play coupled with the chance to watch other youth theatre’s work…and of course the welcome we receive there is so wonderfully warm.  In addition in June we were able to give our own warm welcome to Laerlingan a music ensemble from Norway.  This performance is definitely a contender for my highlight as the caliber of musicianship from our visitors was a something very special to behold.  It was such a privilege to perform with them.  We also managed to fit in performances from four companies in “Reprise,” at Wakefield Theatre Royal.  “The A to Z of Shakespeare,” “Red” which would go on to inspire Black’s Christmas show,  “These Feet of Mine,” and “Giraffe’s Can’t Dance.”  The latter of those was performed by Orange Company and if you had seen their little faces after their performance you would have definitely called that a highlight.  In addition YTYT created an original musical with young people from Lupset called, “Something Special,” it was all that it’s name promised and we were honoured to have the brilliant Cheryl Camm as our resident composer and musical director...I think it has to rank up there as one of our greatest achievements.  Not content with all of that we managed to squeeze in our tenth Open Mic Night.

The third quarter of 2013 brought with it our performance of “Party at the End of the World,” a play inspired by the real events at Nostell Priory in 1914 – happily this will be performed again next summer, so if you missed it you’ll have chance to catch it then.  It was quite the responsibility, telling the story of people who had lived their lives in the very place we were performing…thankfully the weather held and the response was more than warm…it was a beautiful night of memories and stories.

The final quarter was probably the most frenetic…we haunted the attics of Nostell whilst a madcap witch tried to prove herself the greatest in the whole of Wakefield.  We paid tribute to Miners that had lost their lives as a result of their work at the Miners Memorial Service.  We performed in Ossett Town Square bringing physical theatre to the shoppers of a Saturday afternoon.  Writers and physical theatre performers had the pleasure of performing with Stems at the Festival of Fire and Light at the Orangery, Purple Company performed Robin Hood in Eastmoor community gardens and we created original scenes for Plays and Pints at St Austin’s theatre.  Amber Company performed their vision of Christmas for their family and friends.  All of these performances culminated in a set of Christmas Shows at the Phoenix theatre that some audience members called the best yet and an Open Mic Night that was the epitome of festive cheer!

They were the performances but it’s worth remembering that in addition to all of those we held at least 9 sessions every week of term for the entire year where young people had an open invite to come and be creative, to play, to stretch themselves and be reminded of how great they are and have the potential to be…

You can see why it’s impossible to pick just one highlight…so I’ll cop out and celebrate the fact that every week something about YTYT is the highlight of my week and so another year of being part of that is a very lovely prospect indeed!

What I’d really like to know is what was your highlight?  It might be one of the things I’ve mentioned or something that I missed completely – I’d genuinely like to know so go on tell us…on a comment on here or on the facebook page or even tweet…it doesn’t matter if you are a member or a supporter…just tell us what you’ll remember most about YTYT 2013!