And this lovely blog is from Rachel Johnson...who we are delighted to have had back for a little while before she heads to London in the New Year to perform in a show she and her company have created...
So after three years at Uni I'm back in good old Wakefield and the last couple of weeks have been especially nice getting involved in another yew tree project, seeing vampire story and just generally being around the team again after so long!
Being asked to write this blog made me think back to when I first left Yew Tree to start Uni back in 2011. I clearly remember feeling very lost and unsettled while I was in my first term at Warwick and then coming back to Wakefield for my first weekend visit since leaving. I went to a gold company session while I was back and I remember feeling so at home again and comfortable and happy there and everything and everyone was familiar and I really did not want to go back to uni after that! It's funny because, after three years of getting properly settled into university, that has become the place I associate with as home, and now that I've graduated and moved back to Wakefield with no grand plan of what's coming up next, it's here that I actually feel those lost and unsettled feelings I'd had three years ago! But what's lovely in all of this is that when I went back to Sarah and Gemma to work on a yew tree project the other week, (and got to spend an evening catching up with some Yew Tree members), I felt that settled and at home feeling again, straight away, the same I'd had when I visited that gold company session years ago. And trust me, feeling part of something familiar like that is such a relief when you're in this weird just graduated don't know what I'm doing with my life stage! Yew tree will always have that welcoming, almost community/ family feeling to it and it's so nice to know that whether I'm hundreds of miles away or just a car ride away, Yew Tree will always be a place where you feel at home.
Anyway, less of the soppiness. The project I worked on with Yew Tree was a conference for people who work in the mental health sector for the NHS. The short script we performed then prompted a discussion with these workers. The discussion itself was so interesting and it was lovely to hear that people ranging from drama therapists to clinical psychologists believed we really captured a lot of their thoughts and feelings within the piece. It was so good to be back working on something practical and getting into a bit of straight script acting again after so long, although actually pretty scary too!
Aaand finally, I'm gonna wrap it up with just mentioning Vampire Story that I saw the other night. I never saw the play when Yew Tree did it the first time round for connections so it was completely fresh for me unlike some the people who I went to see it with who performed in the original one. The play itself was a really brave choice and quite harrowing at times! It was nice to see lots of fresh faces and there were some very impressive performances from people I've never seen before (as well as from old members of course)! Well done Yew Tree and have a well deserved Christmas and see you all soon!
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