What's happening at YTYT

Sweet mem’ries are made in joint endeavour; The magic inherent in meeting minds, Applied to making creative splendour Unity’s found in the glories we find. Rememb’ring this time will fill me with pride, Happiness found in finding fulfillment, Coupled with joy at the thrill of the ride And wisdom acquired from the lessons learnt. Now we concede this chapter has ended, Together we’ve sadly danced our last dance… But nought can eclipse the light we uncovered Beauty found in making the most of this chance. This time will remain in our hearts forever A bond forged, impossible to sever.

Eclipse/Darkness in the Light Kendal Blog written as tradition dictates by the Connections Company   This year’s connections experience has been unusual for me; not being a character in the actual connections play, I was in Darkness in the Light. And I think it has been one of the performances I have been most proud of. Being a part of a group that has managed to write and put together a performance which we can be incredibly proud of, with a little input from Sarah when we needed it, has shown me just how far I have come from when I first joined Yew Tree as a shy eleven year old, when I would practice my best and worst in my head all the way from school to home and then to Sapphire company. Kendal has been, as always, an amazing experience. A respite from college where I have performed, played ridiculous games like That’s Out! and a Shakespearean insult off and generally enjoyed myself with an amazing group of people. – Amy W Hi from Kendal (as Georgia specified in her Sh...

I don’t do musicals at Yew Tree – except when I get to work with top notch MD’s like Cheryl Camm .  I think if you’re going to do musicals you should do them properly and I don’t have the skill set…so yeah I don’t do musicals… Except yesterday I did…and it was joyous…we had dancing and singing , chorus girls and gangsters…we had love, loss, wisdom and wit.  We even had Jazz Hands!!  I was so proud of the cast whose talent in all areas of performance meant we pulled off a pretty damn good musical.  There was so much to celebrate about the performance of Maybe This Time.  The amount of support we got was immense – box office numbers exceeded everybody’s expectations.  However the quality of the support was worth more than the quantity…such genuine lovely comments…so many nice things said about the immensely talented cast in person and across the many social networking sites available for such purposes.  It was praise well deserved, for some this w...

Ellie is our guest blogger this week... So, this blog won't be to do with yew tree, but WY Performers, which shows are also directed by Sarah, and this years is Aladdin! We have a cast full of sunbeams, stars, wishes, the sun and moon for narrators, guards, Aladdin, genie, princess Yasmin, and a fearful villain Fahzim. There's so many roles for so many different ages and abilities all mixed into a show of acting and dancing to be put on in November! On Saturday we got into our very first week of rehearsals after auditions, which for me were quite nerve racking because I didn't know anyone there but, to start off Sarah, Sarah, Catherine and Victoria read out a list of roles and introduced us all so that we knew who was playing who and we knew who we each were a little better, which eased a lot of the nerves I had when I first walked in and made me feel a lot more comfortable. They then set us off in three small(ish) groups corresponding to our roles, this allowed me to fi...

There’s been a lot of inventing things at the end of this week which is always a joy…creating something out of nothing is one of my favourite things to do… The first helping was at Scarlet Company on Friday where in a very short amount of time we had choreographed a good third of a piece of physical theatre about dreams and aspirations from nothing but an inspirational song as a starting point.   After the intensity of “Once Upon a Fairytale,” it was refreshing to start something new…especially when all of the performers were working so well to make something engaging and revealing. The next opportunity to invent was at Gold Company.   In addition to the filming of “Detective Collective,” we were creating more material for our new production – “Lit on the Lawn.”   Such was the progress made we now have all the raw ideas ready and waiting for me to write up.   The last bit of inventing took the form of a quiz complete with teams, buzzers and points to be scor...

Bailey  is our very excellent guest blogger It was January in Leeds Art Gallery. Black Company had just finished their final performance of Little Red Riding Hood as part of a larger exhibition. Sarah had invited me to see some of the installations- it featured some fun conceptual film work that she knew I’d be interested in, as well as to support my fellow YT-members. As people are collecting bags and making their way out, I found myself, as ever, wondering where Mr John Broadhead had disappeared to. In this time Sarah asks me if I would be interested in making a film with Gold company. Our new home at the Hepworth is visually stunning, and we have a group of young people that were more than willing to help. It was a daunting task. I’d never made a short film, I’d never worked with actors that weren’t also my best friends. I’d never shot in a location as beautiful as the Hepworth. So of course I said yes. And so ‘The Detective Collective’ was born. It has been and continue...

My actors potentially get tired of my constant insistence regarding particular principles of rehearsals and workshops, I say potentially - the occasional rolled eyes I see as I’m being persistent, let me know that on occasion it’s entirely the case. My insistence that… ·       If somebody is talking to the room – everyone should be openly and actively listening ·       That attendance is non – negotiable – every absence has a negative impact on both the rehearsal process and the subsequent performance ·       That every action in the rehearsal room – whether you are in focus at that point or waiting for your moment has an impact – and that the same principle equally applies to everything you do back stage ·       That mutual support in a company or cast is vital to each actors confidence, creativity and concentration and that in turn maximizes the standard of what we do as ...

Amy very brilliant volunteer and member of Gold company is our guest blogger... When we first saw that there was going to be an Adventures in Hogwarts day, Toni and I were immediately envious of the group of age appropriate 6 to 11 year olds that would be exploring Hogwarts. However, we shouldn't have worried because a few weeks later we were attending the day as volunteers, along with Tom and Gee.  The day was a huge success, with a bunch of wonderful children creating a short play which that morning had not existed. After beginning our adventure into the magical world - the Hogwarts Express, house sorting and feast - the characters in the play came to the horrible realisation that someone had stolen all of their wands. It was there we paused to discuss where they might have gone in our house groups. As current head of Gryffindor, it was my responsibility to facilitate my groups discussion. The wonderful imaginations of the children meant they were bursting with ideas and the...