What's happening at YTYT

Grace is today's 2019 blogger My first year at Yew Tree has been absolutely amazing and an utter pleasure to work with such talented people. It’s been an incredible journey to try something new and explore new ways of drama. I’ve loved meeting so many new people and how they made me feel welcome as well as part of a family! If i looked at Sapphire when i first came and now, we’ve grown so much as a team and individuals. As well as doing two fantastic shows with Yew Tree, watching the other companies perform especially Black and Gold as they are extremely talented! They set such a good example for all of us young ones to aspire. My confidence has soared since i joined Sapphire and i’ve enjoyed every single second of it. Doing two amazing performances made me realise how much i adore being on stage and my love for acting. After all this, i wouldn’t be where i am without the lovely Sarah. Thank you so so much Sarah for helping me grow as an actor in Sapphire as well as Lamda! Tha

Lucy is our next 2019 blogger! 2019 at Gold Company! Well…sort of… You see I started the beginning of 2019 at Sapphire Company. During this time, I was also in the 2018/19 Connections cast performing the play Chaos. My decision to move from Sapphire to Gold wasn’t made entirely by myself. A change in my and my sister’s schedule led to my mum having to be able to be in two places at once. There were two solutions to this problem; invent a cloning machine to clone my mum so that she can be able to be there for both my sister and I (slightly impossible) or to move up to Gold Company slightly earlier than I had planned (more possible).  At the beginning of my time in Gold, I felt slightly alienated. The only people I knew were part of Connections or were in Sapphire during my time there. The other person I knew was Layla. I had met her the year before during the summer workshop doing Sleeping Beauty. We were (and still are) as crazy as anything. Even then, I still felt like a quiet

Here is Helena with her 2019 blog Christmas for the past few years has been signified by a few things 1. Retail working hours  ☹  2. Lots of chocolate and wine whilst trying to lose the winter weight before my grandparents visit 3. YTYT Christmas shows!  This year I got to work with three companies Black, Sapphire and Emerald. In Black we did two shows, Radio and Taylor Caddick’s play ‘Is This Christmas?’ Both brilliant in their own ways. Radio was fab because it was… well a beautiful piece and I think in these somewhat trying times, and they can be trying, it’s incredibly good to look back and see what others have been through. Our ancestors, grandparents etc. experienced so much toil and hardship. If they can get through that, I think we can do anything.  We’ve performed it a few times just on bare stages, so to do it with cool lighting was fab. I don’t know anything about lighting but Oz you’re a wizard.  This is Christmas was great because one of our own wrote it! Caddick’

Chloe is our next 2019 blogger Hiya! If you don’t know me, I’m Chloe, and I’m a member of Black company at YTYT. I’m going to take this opportunity to discuss 2019 as a whole, whilst keeping the main focus on Festive Fairy tales and Fables, so grab a beverage of your choice (go on, treat yourself and have a biscuit) as I reflect on 2019. I started 2019 in the lovely Gold company, preparing for the Shakespeare festival in summer, and I got the absolute joy of playing Shakespeare in Tom Stoppard’s 15 Minute Hamlet. I got to dress as Lord Farquad, and run around; speedily recreating one of Shakespeare’s most iconic tragedies. At the end of summer, I felt I wanted to start in a new place, so joined Black company. As the resident 12 year old, I was terrified of looking and acting out of place; seeming mature in a company of mature actors. But I didn’t. I felt welcomed by a group of individuals who not only allowed me to take part in the seemingly prestigious Black company, but also ga

Emily Berry is our next blogger! Where do I even start?  I was just going to write about the Christmas shows however a hit of nostalgia has taken place in me and I feel like I should share my thoughts on my whole year at gold (Sorry for the late warning Sarah). Why? Well, I feel like this year my development and growth as not only an actress but also as a person has been immense. So, get ready because we may be in it for the long run with this one!  Starting the year at gold was hard. It is for everyone when they are the kind of new kid however I felt out of place. I had started yew tree in the October of last year and I felt like I barely fit in. Almost the outsider and the kid who wouldn’t be good enough comparing to those around her. When I feel ill on the week on the 2018 Christmas shows that feeling deepened. I came back thinking about how everyone else would just see me as that kid who wouldn’t cut it and I was disappointed in myself. Yet somehow with a few workshops I f

A Christmas Blog from Georgina Waft! I’ve been coming to Yew Tree Youth Theatre since I was 5 and Gemma started coming to my primary school to run a drama club. I’ve been in Purple, Crimson and now Gold! I love Gold! I like spending time with my friends in Gold Company. I have been in Gold for nearly two years now. I love the games that we play. I love performing with my friends. Sometimes I find it hard to say what I want to say because my words get all muddled in my head and I get really anxious and stressed about it, but playing and performing with Gold has really helped me get confidence with my words and helped me calm down. Gemma is really nice, kind and funny and when I was younger I said she was like a second mum to me. Now I’m a bit older and I’m in Gold I have Sarah to look up to. Sarah is also kind, funny and helpful. I love how the Yew Tree people have always understood me, even since I was tiny, and helped to include me when it’s sometimes difficult for me. Ove

Our first Christmas Show blog is from Connor: Today is the day...for remembering my time in Gold Company: So, that’s it. My time in Gold Company is finished. 945 days to be precise. I came into Gold, thanks go my good friend Elliyah, thinking that I might get rejected so I tried selling myself the second I could. I told Sarah things like how I was doing GCSE Drama and Music at the time just to make myself seem impressive, little did I know Yew Tree is nothing like that. And so, began the next chapter in my life. Instantly, I was thrown in the deep end. With the departure of one member of Gold, this left a vacancy that I had to fill. Let me just say, I was terrified. I remember that the first rehearsal in which I took part in properly I was so intimidated by everyone that I couldn’t look up. I just stared at the ground as the section we were working on didn’t have any lines of mine. Then I met a boy who was very similar to me in that sense. He tended to be quiet and kept things t

Wow. 13 years of being a YTYT member is coming to an end. I genuinely don’t know where the time has gone or quite how I can put it into words how much it has impacted my life. However, I’m starting to write this blog on the 22nd July because I know for a fact that my original write up will have things missed out so I can insert them when I think of them. I first met Sarah when I was 2 years old at WYTDC when I danced in baby class (that lovely Little Miss Muffet and Spider duet:/) with Tom but then it wasn’t till I was 5 that I started the drama classes with her. Of course at 5 it wasn’t as though I was tackling Shakespeare (that happened 11 years later) but back then between that age and about 8 I believe I took away more life building blocks than if I didn’t have that teaching. Back then I was just a little girl who used to always butt in when Sarah was speaking (sorry Sarah!) because I got so giddy at whatever we were doing. I don’t quite remember what my first “play” was (Giraffe’s

So there we have it! 5 years at Yew Tree and I couldn’t be more grateful. Usually when I write a blog they’re quite short, so I’m sorry if I start to ramble but I think this one deserves a full breakdown of my years in YTYT.  First we start off in 2014, when I first walked into Sapphire company (I first joined to make friends and boost my confidence because back then I didn’t have any - controversial I know!) and my YTYT time was kicked off with a version of Dick Whittington, and has to be one of my most memorable shows, purely for the rapping rats- if you want to see a small version of me playing a rat 5 years ago, check out the facebook page, I’m sure it’s there somewhere!- and it was then that I decided acting was right up my street and I wanted to start pursuing it further.  In 2015 Sapphire performed The Frog Prince, and I played one of the sisters, Midnight, a gothic kind of princess, which at this point of my teenage years I thought suited me right down to the ground, b

I first started working with Sarah when I was 6 years old through West Yorkshire Theatre Dance Centre. I remember really looking forward to going on Friday nights because that’s when my drama class would be. My love for theatre and drama really grew from that point on. My first ‘major’ role was when I was around 8 years old and we were about to start rehearsing for ‘The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig’ a spin off version of the well known ‘Three Little Pigs’. Sarah approached me and asked if I wanted to play the big bad pig. I was so excited and kind of in shock that Sarah actually trusted me with a part (what??).  From then on, I started to believe that I was actually okay at this acting business, which was still very new to me.  (whilst I was looking through my old dancing photos I managed to stumble across this gem of me playing the big bad pig) After a few years of only attending drama classes through the dance school I felt like I wanted to broaden my skills eve

So, I'm currently writing this from up In the sky whilst flying over Russia, on my 11 hour flight to Tokyo. Whilst everyone is asleep around me (i should probably be too so don’t get jet jag) thought what better reasoning for me to think, review and reminisce my 5 years at Yew Tree.  5 years isn’t even a long time compared to some people but i'll tell you this Sarah and Yew Tree has helped me carve myself into the person I am today. I wouldn’t be going to perform over in Tokyo for 2 weeks with Leeds Play house if it wasn’t for the sheer skill and experiences Yew Tree has given me. Im so grateful for every aspect.  So for 5 years, I thought I’d talk about 5 of my favourite experiences whilst been at Yew Tree. So here we go… let's try compose ourself for this rollercoaster. Mystery/ Passion play (2014)  So when I was in High school I was one of those kids who’d join in and get involved with every single musical theatre show, play, literally anything hence me