And so we did...

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So it’s August 2015 and the YTYT National Theatre Connections company are excitedly planning our next Connections journey…

Let’s pick a play with only 7 parts even though 16 people want to do it, we said…let’s create two versions of the play even though we only have the same amount of time in rehearsals as we would if we were doing one, we decided…let’s choose a playwright who is really a poet and who infuses all of every line with ambiguity, we agreed…let’s also create a partner piece for the additional 8 actors who can’t attend half term week because term dates are different in the various local authorities they are educated in, we resolved…

And so we did…

Fast forward to February 2016 and production week is upon us – it’s been the most fulfilling journey – not always easy…not always clear but nonetheless excellent in it’s ambition, creativity, bravery and graft.  I’ll admit it there have been a couple of times when I’ve wondered why I didn’t just insist we picked a play that had as many parts as actors.  The simplicity of I spending all the time on one play would have been so luxurious.  However after watching both versions in their penultimate rehearsal run and receiving initial glowing feedback from a small invited audience I am so very proud of the fact that we strove to do something innovative.  Something that stretched me as a director and the cast as performers in equal measures and to be honest stretched us as people too.

This time next week the curtain (if we had one) would be about to rise on our premier performance – I can’t wait…the actors have excelled themselves and I have no doubt the audience are in for a theatrical and poetic treat of the highest order.  However what will be seen on stage is only half the story…what won’t be illustrated to the audience, that I have had the privilege to observe, is the resilience, the courage, the determination, the humility, the sacrifice and the commitment of a cast who quite honestly blow me away and inspire me.  I am in awe of them all and know I am the luckiest person to get the opportunity to work with them…


Come see it – it’ll be worth it…

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