Children Being Brilliant

-
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 more reductive the powers that be make the education system the more important it is to battle for the place of arts in the curriculum.  Education should be about inspiring people to learn more, it should make them hungry for knowledge and a belief in themselves that they can be more than they are.  It’s also supposed to be about unlocking and celebrating the brilliance in children. Those principles have been demoted by those in charge and unless a school is prepared to work really hard and really imaginatively they are going to end up becoming a place where children are only made aware of what they are not good enough at. 

A school that has powered so much effort and imaginative into making sure this fate does not befall their students is Kings Oak in Barnsley.  In the project I’ve just done in collaboration with them we were lucky enough to have a film maker (the brilliant Nick Singleton) to capture and celebrate some of the brilliant children’s journeys and joy…so for those people who ask what I do and anyone who is interested in education, the arts, drama and affirmation please watch this film. 


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Celebrating the past in the present...

-
  Next year Yew Tree Youth Theatre will be 30 years old.   We haven’t quite decided how we will celebrate - any suggestions would be gratefully received. No doubt there will be some nostalgic perambulating down memory lane and some haphazard but joyous celebrating of three decades of creativity we have shared.   Some variation of those two themes would feel fitting. This blog however is something different. This blog is a celebration of the present of those who attended YTYT in the past. Alumni, graduates, previous members – I can never seem to find the right term – but whatever word is chosen I know for sure they are part of the fabric of the youth theatre and I’m grateful to have known all of them, mainly because I have learnt so much from them.   I also can’t put a number on how many people have spent significant time with YTYT over the last 29 years.   I know we started with a group of 8 and now have about 80 members, I know at our peak just before COVID w...
Read more

Yew Tree Youth Theatre. 2024 - Fred

-
What a year (That's a good thing, by the way). My favourite shows, my favourite rehearsals, my favourite year; so you can hopefully gather that I've enjoyed it all.  But in all reality, my blog should start in 2023, as National Theatre Connections began then.  I had been cast, along with Izzy, in the role of Noush, which quickly I became attached to. As the rehearsal process continued into the year of 2024, I only grew to like the role even more. Kiss/Marry/PushOffCliff - as the play was called - soon shaped up to be a fantastic show. The year before (I know, this is meant to be 2024, but everything, after all, is interconnected) I'd shown interest in NT Connections but had shied away, thinking I was not capable enough for such a task. This time, however, I was prepared - or brave, or optimistic, or however you could describe it - and chose to take part. It was indeed the right decision. Never before from a show had I received such enjoyment, even from rehearsals. Every tim...
Read more

Robin's Connections Blog

-
 Kiss / Marry / Push off a cliff was my second connections play that I have done with YTYT. As soon as I read it, I fell in love with the script. Although it’s not everyone’s cup of tea, it drew me in with its pure weirdness and mystery. I was so intrigued as to how we would tackle many of the problems that were initially presented to us. After all, showing someone getting pushed off a cliff while inside of a sleeping bag in a youth theatre production isn’t a simple task. However, with the combined effort of an equally talented crew and cast, I believe we were able to do a pretty good job. I could ramble all day about how much I love characters as a whole. In truth, they are what drew me to connections in the first place. I love being able to delve into their motivations and fears in detail and develop a whole other being rather than myself. I remember there was one character that stood out to me in my first reading. I knew from the start that Marco would be a tricky character. B...
Read more