What's happening at YTYT

The second blog of today is from Connor 365 Days-A retrospective of 2018 1 NODA Mini Bubble 1 Connection Week 5 Ceasefire Babies Performances 2 Remember Where You Came From Performances 1 Open-Mic Night Rehearsals 3 Companies I’ve Worked For 1 Comet Performance 2 Miners Memorial Performances 1 Theatre Trip 2 The Three Musketeers Performances 4 Are We Going For A Spin Performances 8544+ Hours Spent as a Yew Tree Member These are just the statistics I can remember from this year, without spending hours researching them, and it’s even more impressive when you remember that a lot of people have had an even busier year at Yew Tree. So, my forth blog as a Yew Tree member is going to be a look back on the incredible that was 2018. I’ll start the remembrance train by writing about my first experience with mining, with a little play called “Remember Where You Came From” written by the talented, Alan Wood. As a boy who was born and raised in Scarborough, I’ve never

First in the double bill for today's 12 days of Christmas blog is Dec! Another year and yet another Christmas blog... 2018 you have been a treat! Once again Yew Tree has given us even more opportunities and allowed some of us to undertake an unforgettable experience. And once again within the year new people have joined the Yew Tree family whilst others have flown from the nest. So here’s a snippet of my year at Yew Tree 2018. Yew Tree taking on the National - Connections 2018 Many people throughout Yew Tree past and present know what an amazing experience national theatre connections is. But imagine that experience being heightened by saying your going to be performing at the National Theatre in London... Well that happened this year. We started our connections journey in November 2017 with a newly written play, ‘Ceasefire Babies’ by Fiona Doyle. The cast ranged from members from black, gold and sapphire, some people who had never done connections and some who had done so man

10 year old Joe is our blogger today who walked into YTYT at the start of November and bravely on stage at the start of December! On my first evening at Yew Tree everyone was really friendly and I felt able to join straight in. I was given a part as soon as I said that I wanted to go back and immediately felt a part of the group. I was excited for the next week as I enjoyed it so much. Playing the warm up games made it so much fun and I really enjoyed joining in with rehearsals for the performance. Sarah was very kind and welcoming.  We rehearsed for our Christmas performance every week after that and had a dress rehearsal on the stage which was quite exciting. I was a fox. Then it was time for the real performance and it was even more exciting. I was a bit nervous at first but it was really fun to show everybody what we had learnt. I felt proud of our performance. The older members who help are very helpful and kind. Seeing their performances too was fun as we got to see what ot

We are half way through our Christmas blogs with still many delights to share...today's blog is from Maddie who casts her mind back to our wonderful fortune in being invited to perform at the National Theatre in London! This year has brought me so many opportunities and thanks to Yew Tree, has been one of the best years of my life. The Yew Tree team are absolutely incredible human beings and i am blessed to be part of such a wonderful company! One of my highlights from this year would have to be NT Connections. Performing Ceasefire Babies has really helped me stretch as an actor performing the home performances first and then the regional and we all thought that was the end to an amazing journey, but it didn’t stop there. We got the amazing news that we had picked to go to the National Theatre in London and perform our version of Ceasefire Babies! How amazing!!! When the day had come we all got the train down to London, had a lovely picnic, watched the Connections show that ni

Today's Christmas blog shows a parents perspective on YTYT which is always a joy! Thank you Gillian! I'm a parent of a Yew Tree member who started off with Sapphire company. She's now in Gold company and loves it so much she has started volunteering for a lot of the extra projects like the Miner’s Memorial Service which this year was in Pontefract. Everyone in this was good from the youngest to the oldest and they did it again at the National miner’s museum this month. I've noticed a big difference over the years in that she has gained confidence and can learn her lines well and loves to perform in front of an audience without getting stage fright. I enjoy all the shows that Yew tree perform especially the most recent ones which were the Xmas shows at the Phoenix Theatre where all the companies get to perform. Lauren has volunteered for next year’s Connections show for the first time so I’m looking forward to seeing my first connections show. Lauren enjoys dance and

Our 4th Christmas blog is from Tom - obviously he left YTYT in September to pursue his training as an actor at Manchester School of Theatre -  but on account of the fact he lives with the director he can't really escape it altogether...as you can see from this blog thankfully he doesn't see that as a bad thing... There’s a number of ways I could’ve taken this blog. A look back at 2018 in a personal sense, or a list of Yew Tree's achievements (of which there have been several) but instead I’d like to incorporate both of those things into a collection of 5 things that made 2018 a brilliant year. So here goes… 1.      The National: now this was always going to make the list, its something that has played on the mind of everybody who has taken part in any Connection’s festival. And it was everything I could have hoped my experience of performing at one of the coolest theatres in the world could be. But the main thing I took away from it was the cast. It was stacked to th

On the third day of Christmas Yew Tree gave to me - a blog by the lovely Chloe... (try it - it goes with the melody of the song!) 2018, my second year at Yew Tree, and my first in Gold company. Moving up from Sapphire was terrifying, despite moving up with many people I already knew from Sapphire company, so I spent the first couple of months settling in (to this day, I don’t know why I was so scared, Gold company are so warm and welcoming). We opened with Remember Where You Came From, which was a music and drama fusion, where we worked with the wonderful Alan Wood to create a piece of theatre, which we performed firstly as a whole show at the NUM in Barnsley, then as a shorter version at the With Banners Held High march in Wakefield. Despite both days being cruelly hot (black boiler suits aren’t the most fun in hot weather), both performances had an air of respect and companionship, which I haven’t ever felt in a performance before. After we finished Miners, we moved onto devisin

YTYT Alumni Amy Winder is our 2nd 12 blogs of Christmas author... Although Christmas blogs at Yew Tree Youth theatre would usually be a chance to look back at the year and reflect on what has passed, and what has been achieved, I haven't actually been at Yew Tree this year so first I'm going to throw the net back a little further. For those of you who don't know I'm Amy (Winder, and yes it is necessary to specify: I was at Sapphire company for the legendary time of five Amys) and I left Yew Tree a few years ago. I'm currently a mathematics student at Heriot Watt in Edinburgh, but let's for a moment throw back to me aged eleven. I was tall for my age and an academically successful kid, with lots to say but not enough chances to say it. I decided it was time to give up dancing, and I was looking for a new extracurricular activity. And I ended up at Sapphire company on Monday nights. Over the next few years I made short walk to Sapphire - feeling vaguely grown

Our first of the 12 days of Christmas YTYT blogs is from  Lewis Giemza aged 11. I joined Sapphire about 4 months ago and this was the best decision I've ever made. The group and leader were so welcoming and I now feel part of a very special bunch of people.  Yew Tree Youth Theatre is different to any drama group I've been to before.  I love how we are encouraged to be involved in script writing, our ideas are listened to and we help develop the drama piece.  Sarah gives good tips and advice on how to improve and develop in a patient and fun way. I love the way our group shares feedback with each other at the end of every rehearsal. I always leave every session feeling positive and that I belong. Being part of the recent Christmas show was amazing. Being able to share my experiences with my family made me feel so proud.  I was pleased that the parts were shared out fairly and that I got to show my skills as Jiminy Cricket in Pinocchio.  I'm looking forwa

13 years  7 connections 9 miners memorial services 4 summer schools 1500+ hours of regular sessions 4 Halloween projects 8 Christmas shows 3 LAMDA exams 2 summer celebrations 1 20-year anniversary celebration 300+ hours of volunteering 10 open mic nights 2 professional schools performances This is a look at my time at Yew Tree in cold hard figures (not counting my years sat at the side, most likely asleep, in a car seat) there has been countless other performances and one off sessions, extra rehearsals, tech rehearsals and emergency teaching cover, but no one has time to trawl back through the photo albums to find them all, and I am not enough of a mathematician to work out how much time that would equal. So, I’ve found what I can, to try and paint a very rough picture of the sheer amount of time that has been poured into Yew Tree. I’m not the only one who has chosen to dedicate precious minutes, hours and days to this place, but I’ve certainly done a fair

Our first leavers blog of the year from Sally who is going to Huddersfield University to study drama  I first joined Yew Tree in April 2015, having left an amateur operatic society that October and not performing at all outside of Drama GCSE my confidence was low. So, when I walked into my first session I was nervous to say the least, at this point Gold Company was large and I was one of the youngest there, so I felt quite intimidated by it all. But slowly I began to understand what YewTree was all about, I learned all the games, established friendships that would continue throughout my three years and soon Gold Company became the best part of my week.  My second year at Yew Tree had a great start when I found out that the Princess Bride was our Christmas play, as a fan of the film I was excited to put a Yew Tree spin on it. After Christmas Gold company began working on Bassett, a connections play from 2011, with other commitments and inconvenient holidays meaning I couldn’t tak

Summer celebration blog by Ellie So what a weekend we’ve had at yew tree!! LAMDA exams on Saturday where I took my grade 7, and then the Summer Celebration on Sunday and it’s safe to say the days festivities were an absolute joy!! So my very busy Yew Tree week starts off on a Monday volunteering at Sapphire company, where they were having their last rehearsal of “The Audition” a play based on an audition for Romeo and Juliet, with themes of revenge, competition and jealousy, the cast were up to the challenge. Sitting at my little sound desk (AKA Sarah’s computer and an amp) you could just see the determination in the group to perfect their piece. The simple use of just one song “I hope I get it” being repeated really allowed the narrative to be more focused. Then my first rehearsal of Tuesday night was “Standardisation” written by Gold companies own Becky Holderness and directed by Helena Wilkinson. Working on this piece has been interesting for me to work with a writer and director ot

It’s been a while since I blogged…a long while…but if the events of the last few weeks don’t merit a blog I don’t know what would… Unless you’ve been in social media hibernation you’ll be all too aware that YTYT fulfilled a long held ambition this summer to perform our play as part of the NT Connections festival at the National Theatre. (I imagine even, “…the dogs on the street,”* were fully aware) It’s been the most amazing experience for all of us…creatively fulfilling, exciting, enriching and educational – I’ve learnt so much, the cast have learnt so much and we’ve learnt it all having the nicest time.   I will be forever grateful for every bit of it…it was absolutely worth all the paperwork and logistics and time…genuinely something I will “Never forget.”*    On reflection although there were a myriad of things that made the experience unforgettable two of the main ones is that for the entirety of the adventure we were surrounded by kindness and generosity.   I want

And a third from Dec Kelly CONNECTIONS 2017-2018 completed it mate It’s hard to describe that feeling, the feeling when we found out we were going to the National. Remember Tom messaging me whilst I was at work and not going to lie nearly dropped the pizza... After 14 years of Yew tree youth theatre being part of the connections festival, we finally made it but the thing is it wasn’t just joyous for the ceasefire babies cast but everyone single past yew tree member who had committed to the program years ago. I guess it gave a sense of community for everyone coming together past and present to appreciate and join the journey towards this amazing experience. But who would have thought back in November 2017 that Yew tree youth theatre would have preformed at THE NATIONAL THEATRE??? ‘The ceasefire babies’ by Fiona Doyle, is a hard hitting play which explores theme which can be present as universal rather than locked to the location of the play. Having a play which we as a cast could rela

The second NT Connections blog is from Lucy! I am one of the lucky people who had the pleasure of travelling to London on Wednesday for connections (and I’ve got the t-shirt to prove it). Connections has been something I’ve wanted to do since I joined Yew Tree about four years ago. I just wanted to be part of this challenge that most of those around me had done the years before. The first Connections performance I saw was Hactivists and I just wanted to be part of something like that. It took far too long for half term dates to match up. From start to end, this has been something incredible; I couldn’t have asked for a better group of people to perform with. I think the best thing about this whole project has been seeing each and every person growing and improving. I may be slightly biased but I think one of the greatest transformations has been that of Nathan. From someone who hated performing and was basically dragged into the whole thing by his pushy sister, he’s now actually excit

First Blog about Connections is from Connor! I normally have a title for these but I'm going to keep this straight to the point. Connections 2017-18 was an unexpected gem in my life. I've already wrote once about how I wasn't originally going to sign up as I was worried about it taking up time that I would use to focus on my GCSEs, as well as the fact that I wasn't confident I was good enough yet. So, instead I'm going to tell you what was going on in my head from when I found out we were off to the National till now (A week after the performance). So, we received the news that we were asked to perform at the National on 16th May and I couldn't believe it at first. Initially, I thought it was one last appreciation post by Sarah but when it began with "message I've wanted to write for the past 14 years" I knew something was up. Then when it finally hit me I ran up and down my house for around 5 minutes, with the biggest grin on my face I think I ma

If you’d like an insight into how our connections plays are made...here Jacob!  Welcome once again to the rambling, but hopefully still enjoyable, blog of the one and only Jacob Dore. The topic for this blog is connections week, a very much enjoyable time of year for all those esteemed actors who take part in connections. What is connections week you might ask? Well it’s exactly what it sounds like, it’s a week of giving up your February half term to constantly rehearse the connections play from dawn to dusk. Now this might sound quite off-putting to anybody considering doing connections in the years to come but I’ll let you in on a little secret... You get food. Sure you might have to pay for the food and it’s nutritional value may be in theory only but nonetheless, a highlight of any thespians life. But in all seriousness I cannot express enough how incredible this week has been, not just for me but for all my fellow connections attendees. It is an amazing time where you are fully ab

Delighted to share Helena's end of half term blog with you! The first term of the year always brings an air of excitement with it. Christmas shows are over, and in Black company that means it’s time to decide what our next project is going to be. This is one of my favourite times of the year because it’s a time where anything is possible! New people move into the group, new voices and opinions appear and together, you begin to find the voice of the company. In Black, we’ve been doing a lot of exploring; trying to find the next play we would perform. In Sarah’s words we were looking for ‘a classic that isn’t Shakespeare’. After weeks of workshops, trying different styles, eras and playwrights out, we decided on Brecht’s ‘Fear and Misery in the Third Reich’. The play explores the lives of people living under Hitler’s reign during the Second World War. Having an episodic style means every scene brings completely unique challenges and potential. We’ve only just star

Connor's Yew Tree 2018 Life So Far I don't think I'll ever get bored of writing these blogs and getting to reflect on everything that's happened so far for me as part of Yew Tree. Last year was exceptional and so far in 2018 it's been no different. My life is basically revolving around Yew Tree but I don't think I'll ever complain. Especially when it offers so much for me as a young actor. I ended 2017 with the Open-Mic Night and the Christmas shows so my expectations were incredibly high going into 2018 and it hasn't disappointed. There's Connections where it's developed into a piece that I'm already super proud of. But has also challenged me as an actor more than any other piece that I've done in the past and I love it for that. We've got our first set of performances of Ceasefire Babies in early March and I know it's going to be amazing and a can't-miss. But that's not all! There's Gold company as well. Where

Dec Kelly with our first blog of the half term! 2018! Let’s just say that the start to Yew tree 2018 has been a challenge already… And what we’re only 2 months in. National Theatre Connections is just around the corner and the entire cast have been working so hard. ‘Ceasefire Babies’ by Fiona Doyle is a play which requires so many skills from the cast in order to create this amazing story about how traumatic events from past conflicts can cause such a large impact on modern society. The rehearsal process from day one has pushed us to our limits with our acting skills but also physical skills. During the rehearsal process so far we have been able to explore the characters within the play and relating these youthful characters to events of ‘Ballymurphy Massacre of 1971’ which the play is inspired by. The music we have being rehearsing with has given the piece a whole new gritty feels to the performance helping us as a cast understand the problems faced by a war-torn country. I must