What's happening at YTYT

In amongst all the lovely things I’ve done this week one of my main victories has been finishing the script for, “Remember the Oaks.”   It’s been dancing around in my head for quite some time now and it was such a relief to get it out on paper.   All credit goes to my excellent cast, who have supplied me with so many excellent ideas enabling me to write something we can all be proud of. It occurs to me that one of the most interesting things about my job is that I get to walk in the shoes of people of all ages, from all ages.   To write this play I walked in the shoes of most brave, steadfast and genuine people and it was such a privilege…men who gave their lives for their industry and the women that lost them.   The generations that followed in their footsteps, the ones that forgot and the ones that have a sense of where they have come from.   It’s a play about the importance of remembering…of knowing where you cam from…it’s about havng pride in your commu...

Lucy Crawshaw ladies and gentlemen... First blog: here we go… After a rather stressful two weeks packed with exams, it is an absolute pleasure to return to Gold. I always get excited when I wake up on Saturday and realise I am able to spend my morning with some truly amazing people. Lit on the Lawn is now fully staged and it is fantastic. There are many joyous moments throughout this piece, some of which you have heard many times before (the Chaucer Rap has been mentioned frequently). However, my favourite part of this performance would probably have to be the Pride and Prejudice section. This might have something to do with some very dramatic reactions to our ‘brooding Mr Darcy’. Lit on the Lawn has given me a long list of books to read over my long summer. The list of literary greats is constantly growing so I’d better start reading these now so I can try and catch up. My Saturdays aren’t only filled with Yew Tree. I also attend WY Performers. Today we were slightly short on nu...

I often get asked what it is actually I do – people tend to know bits of it but are aware that there are other things going on.   My answer to the question of what my job is varies according to what hat I’m wearing on that particular day.   Obviously I direct and write youth theatre shows and have the privilege of working with young people from YTYT, WYTDC and performers each week.    However although incredibly important to me this is just a part of my professional portfolio. In addition to the lovely things listed above some days I get the honour of training doctors and health professionals.   I write plays.   I help organizations to recruit the right.   I help people with mental health challenges with their recovery.   I also do a lot of work in schools trying to ensure that within the mayhem that is education policy the curriculum remains something that children and young people can find something valuable in and succeed within. The m...

Bobbie is our guest blogger! So this week was slightly quieter than most Yew Tree weeks, with only Black going ahead due to Gold taking a week off for half term whilst the Hepworth selfishly celebrate their 5th birthday so there is nowhere for us to go… And while I don’t normally go to Black, it’s the holidays for this Uni goer and so I thought I’d hop along and help with the Remember the Oaks piece and let me tell you... It’s shaping up a treat.  For the last few weeks we’ve been focusing on the opening physical theatre bit (which usually results in my dying in a corner by the end) but I think that’s shaping up to be such a powerful opener and I’m sure it’ll only go from strength to strength. But Thursday was a quieter session. The midst of exam hell seemed to dwindle the numbers of Black Company down to 8 and so we took the opportunity to start brainstorming ideas for the script, the structure of which was already written, but needed filling. Hannah, Amy O and I were sat ...

As I left Gold Company yesterday I re-realized that one of the excellent things about being a Youth Theatre director is that you get the luxury of making new work all the time.   As I type - in YTYT alone three brand new pieces of theatre are in various states of readiness - all to be performed in the coming months.   On top of that another new piece of theatre, that I wrote the script for, is in rehearsals with a different company.   Making new work is exciting enough in itself but making it in collaboration with such a creative, resourceful and generous team of collaborators makes it the most joyous process.   Every script I write has the input of the actors of YTYT and that is how I keep writing at such a prolific rate, enjoying every minute of it… The most recently started new work is a retelling of Hansel and Gretel – I started this last Monday with Sapphire Company.   It will eventually be their Christmas show but before that we have to decide on ...

Tom O is the guest blogger this week... It’s been a rather busy few weeks at Yew Tree for me, with a number of projects both finishing and beginning. Last Saturday for instance, we wrapped the Detective Collective, a film done with Gold Company which Bailey and I had been working together on. It’s a comedy about a group of amateur detectives who try and solve a mystery surrounding the Hepworth gallery. Its filled with equal parts self indulgence and brilliant story line, created by Bailey and brought to life by the actors who’ve spent the last few months working really hard. So a huge thank you to them. Hopefully, the Detective Collective will be available for public viewing in the very near future We then move on to Monday and the delight that is Sapphire Company. It was an exciting session as we began the process of devising for our Christmas show Hansel and Gretel. Sapphire company has a very different look to what it was when I first joined, and its been a pleasure to watc...

This is kind of a part 2 from last week’sblog …next week normal service will resume and if you are more interested in the fun and frivolity of the youth theatre Toni’s blog this week is a corker – but if you’re as passionate about children and young people and their education this might be of interest to you… I spent a lot of time last week with children and young people, all of them still in various stages of assessment stress and anxiety that won’t be going away soon.   It occurred to me that the first victims of this state of being are life’s essentials so this is a kind of nudge to everyone to make sure that anyone reading doesn’t fall foul of this sad state of affairs.    The first essentials that are at risk are the physical essentials – food, water and sleep.   I see people forgetting to keep themselves hydrated or nourish themselves with food and sleep and then wonder why the world seems such an awful place.   Top tip – drink water, eat well an...

Toni is our guest blogger This week at Gold we accomplished 2 things: the filming of The Detective Collective is now finished (*round of applause and whooping*) and we now have around 3/4 of Lit on the Lawn, our next project, set. If I may say so myself, it's fab! And not just because of a rap about Geoffrey Chaucer and a Pride and Prejudice section - although they are my highlights so far. Each week seems like a culture lesson, learning more about British Literature scene by scene - or rather century by century and we even now have a future reading list in the form of a script.  It's also interesting to see the crossover of literature and film/television, for example, yesterday we staged the Sherlock section in the late 19th century. Undoubtedly we involved a herd of fangirls (and fanboys) fighting over who's future husband Benedict Cumberbatch would be (sorry Sophie Hunter you best watch out for Grace Sanders and Jacob Dore). It made me wonder what the fan culture ...

It’s that time of the year when I want to close down schools – for at least a month - force them to shut so that teachers, students and parents can take a break from the relentless preparation for SAT’s, GCSE’s, AS and A levels.   Sadly I don’t have that kind of power so instead I am forced to watch the young people of YTYT buckle under the pressure of excessive assessment and unreasonable demands. What does that look like?   Well some people choose to step back from things they enjoy – like YTYT – until their exams are over – essentially putting their life outside of education on hold.   There are some that ring in sick more often that they have ever done – because they feel horrible and are trying to claw back any time they can to sleep, recover, run to ground.   Others manage to get out on an evening to drama club - looking tired and overwrought when they arrive but a little more nourished by the time they leave.   All of them spend our opening to sessio...

Ruby Palmer, Sapphire Company Maybe This Time was a pleasure to watch, there is no doubt about that. The amount of effort that black company and Sarah had put into this production shone. Through. The plot of 'Maybe This Time' was so well organised and thought through that even I understood everything that was going on, from the secret deal between the Gabrianos and the Votellies to the horrific kidnapping of the innocent showgirl.  My favourite part of the production has to be the forbidden love story of Ruby and Edward, not only how happy they were but also the reaction of the other characters when they found out. The magnificent performances of the showgirls were obvious highlights, the 20s style modern songs being a bonus.  One aspect of the production that was really perfected for me was the divide between the sexes, this radiated in the script as well as through the characters reactions as well. Status was very well portrayed as well, through the idea that the lead...