Ellie's Leaving Blog

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, but that phase lasted about a month. I loved having a puppet incorporated into the play. The magic of the puppetry was absolutely brilliant and really added the comedy element, I’d definitely recommend if you want to have a play with a puppet asking for the frog prince again one year! This was also my first year of miners memorial services, taking place at Sheffield cathedral.

A year after I walked into Sapphire I progressed onto Gold. This was more challenging for me as it was a much older age cohort and so the work was more demanding, and I started with Lit on the Lawn, a play about literature over the years, it had everything from Peter Rabbit to Harry Potter, but that’s not all- we got T-shirts! And yes, shamelessly I do still own and wear mine. The summer project this year was titled ‘Perfect Summer’ and we got to put on a play based on our versions of a perfect summer and where we wanted to be in a few years time. For the christmas show of 2016 we put on a version of ‘The Princess Bride’ AKA one of the greatest films of all time. Just being able to put on a show that was inspired by my favourite ever film was a dream to me. If you haven’t watched the film I suggest you go do that once you’ve finished my blog, you won’t be disappointed. I also stage managed the black company performance of Remember the Oaks in Barnsley and took part in the miners memorial service for lofthouse. This year I took part in the WY performers production of Aladdin, directed by Sarah, and choreographed by Sarah T, Catherine and Victoria from WYTDC. I played the part of the sun and had a lot of little sunbeams to take care of too, it was super cute!

Now 2017 was my first year of NT connections with the play ‘Three’ by Harriet Braun, and I played Caz, a girl who had met a boy on a blind date and over time gradually fell for him. Connections is such a scary concept at first, the idea of being pushed to your limits really had me worried initially, but I have come out a much better actor for being a part of it. This year also brought our first ever annual Summer Celebration and my first year in black company. Gold company performed a past 2011 connections play ‘Bassett’ an interesting play to say the least, but a play with the most beautiful monologue at the end. They also did a series of comedy sketch monologues about disney characters, I chose Pocahontas, but that’s not all... You guessed it! We got t-shirts! Black company put on a short 15 minute version of our full length Shakespeare- Macbeth. I was also asked to go and help out Scarlett company, the senior dancers ex company in their summer show, Alone. A few weeks after the summer show black performed Macbeth, and still to this day, it is my all time favourite YT show, running around in a witchy costume being a nuisance to the cast and audience will forever remain a highlight for me, you should definitely check out the pictures on the page if you haven’t already. Summer project 2017 was Sleeping Beauty and I got to play the director, or the storyteller if you will, when devising we spoke about the ‘true loves kiss’ and my ‘Here right I aint kissing noone’ refusal made the script. This year was my first and only halloween at the hepworth and I got to throw back on the witch dress and run around the hepworth in character all day, which was super fun and I had loads of people ask for photos which was super cool! 2 miners performances happened for me this year, a final response of the Remember the Oaks and the miners memorial service at Selby Abbey. Then we had a really special visit from Laerlingan, an international band run by a really cool guy called Rolf- and we got to perform our very own monologues created just for us (mine was about someone else having the same prom dress as me) and we got to sing with the band, Mia and I sang Say Something and it really was the start of the most amazing friendship. A lot happened this year, and being asked to take part in my first professional job was a huge part of it. We took a piece called Who’s Fault is it Anyway? A piece about online bullying to a school to raise awareness on the topic. 2017 was the year I also started college so the christmas shows for me this year were missed as my college performance clashed, although I still did the entire tech day.

Moving into 2018 and I’m back in the YT game after christmas off with another NT connections play- Ceasefire Babies by Fiona Doyle, the first play I introduced my SFX makeup and had to create a bullet wound in the back of Connors head (I’m still sorry for the pain of washing it out)  and yes I am going to mention it another time - We made it to the national!!! It was such an epic experience, having people do the things we usually run around last minute to do for us, having proper 1970’s wigs and costumes and being lucky enough to meet our playwright. It was all just a huge dream I never even knew I had come true. Yet another miners memorial happened for me this year, but this year it was in pontefract. I was lucky enough again this year to be offered some professional work through Sarah for Wakefield Council, performing some monologues and speaking to professionals in character about the effects of online gambling, it was so insightful to see the work they had been doing on getting the issue out there. The summer celebration, and this year I just did not have time to stop I was in so much.  We created a play in Gold company about identity and took the ideas of inner voices, sports commentators, narration in three separate scenes. Of course I played the distraction inner voice which suit me down to the ground that day because I was running about so much which costume changes I had energy for the entire building!! I also was in a play written by one of our YTYT Alumni Becky, called standardisation, and it was really interesting to be a part of. Black company put on a 15 minute short of our upcoming Fear and Misery of the Third Reich by Brecht. Just after the summer celebration black company performed Fear and Misery in all it’s cheery delights and it was so rewarding to pull off a Brecht piece as he’s one of my most favourite practitioners. The summer project was a lot tougher this year as we performed a play that was put on at a London Fringe venue and we were the second group ever to perform it! Comet was an intensive 4 weeks of rehearsals having only 2 hours a week to put together over 60 pages worth of script, but all in all it came together beautifully and it was the last show I got to play against my bestie before he shipped off to drama school in Manchester so it was quite special for a number of reasons. 

September of this year we were approached by the incredibly talented musician Alan Wood, a man who writes the most stunning songs about mining. He had written a play about the history of mining with some musical interludes may I add all sung and performed by him but there was one song that was a character song and I had the absolute honour, along with Maddie, to sing ‘Vesting day’ and we still walk around singing it to each other now- it’s a catchy song! We took part in a 1940’s day in ossett where we took black company’s christmas show and performed a small section in the town hall, but more of that a little later. Last years christmas shows we did a version of The Three Musketeers in Gold company and I was double cast as the Cardinal and the Queen and they couldn’t have been two more opposing characters, thanks Lara for being the Milady to my cardinal and making my time in that role such an amazing one! In black company we did a 1940’s piece inspired by some residents in a care home called ‘Are We Going For a Spin?’ about when they used to go dancing in their youth. Being cast as Rita was one of my most memorable roles, because not only was I cast as the romantic duo, I was cast against my lovely boyfriend, which made my experience in the show even lovelier.

As we come into 2019 we hit my final year, and it started out with the NT connections again, ‘Chaos’ by Laura Lomas, another year of the SFX theme, but this time it wasn’t a bullet in the head it was some bust up knuckles, and for a final connections it was really quite special. The end of my connections journey is a sad one but one I am so eternally grateful for, if you’re thinking about it honestly take my advice and just go for it, you’ll come out feeling like a much better actor, and you’ll focus on things we don’t get time to in an average session. Then there was my final miners piece which is a really sad thing, because they’re my favourite projects of the year, they’re so informative and respectful and you walk away feeling a better person that you’ve been a part of telling that story, and it ended with the Huskar pit disaster story at the Life Amongst Diamonds Festival for the National Coal Mining Museum. Then we have the summer celebration again, but this year it had a theme- Shakespeare, oooo! Gold co. performed a series of shakespeare bits, Tom Stoppard’s 15 minute Hamlet, a Hamlet soliloquy, A Midsummer Night’s Dream Rude Mechanicals, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead, A Midsummer Night’s Dream act 2, scene 1, and Victoria Woods Giving notes monologue. I was extremely lucky to play the fairy in MSND Act 2, Scene 1, and then play the director in Directors notes, which is one of my favourite monologues I’ve ever performed! Then black company perfomed a full length version of The Tempest and as a final proper YT show it was such an amazing one to end on, I got to do more SFX for Caliban (Thanks for lending me your face Dec, and I apologise for how long you were washing green off your face for), act against my boyfriend again as Miranda and Ferdinand, and I had a Great stage mum in Helena as Prospero, it was such a privilege to work alongside some incredibly talented actors! I also want to thank Atkinsons Interiors for awarding me with your annual award at the summer celebration this year, thanks to you I now have all my uni books and a house! Now it’s time to perform my final show, Shooting Truth on the 24th of August which you can book your tickets for via the YT facebook page.

Aside from all the yew tree shows I’ve been in I’ve also sat many LAMDA exams. I sat my first exam in December 2017 with my grade 5 acting, and by December 2018 I had my grade 8! Then because I apparently just can’t stop I’ve sat another 2 exams, my grade 6 and 7 in Reading for Performance and when I come back home from uni in january I’ll be sitting my grade 8! I can’t show enough appreciation for all the hard work Sarah put in to get me to this point and we really did fast track me through, but she never doubted me and I can’t thank her enough!

So I realise I’ve rambled on for a while so I’ll keep this bit short, but I’ve also been volunteering for Yew Tree since 2015, 4 years at Orange company, 3 years at Emerald company and 2 and a half years at Sapphire but I just don’t want them to go unmentioned. They’ve been such a pleasure to teach and I have absolute pride in watching them grow into young actors, I’m so proud of each and every single one of you, it’s because of you that I am going onto university to study Drama, Applied Theatre and Education because it put into perspective how much I’d much rather work with young people teaching the arts and bringing that joy just like Sarah did for me, than being on stage.

So there we have it, 5 years in a blog. Countless amounts of friendships, a relationship, 4 years of volunteering,  2 Sapphire shows, 8 Gold shows, 5 Black shows, 3 Connections, 4 Open mic nights, 1 Halloween, 4 Summer projects, 8 Miners memorials, 4 Extra opportunities, 2 Professional jobs and 6 LAMDA exams later and I am finally shipping off to The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. But none of this, absolutely none of what I have achieved would have happened without my time at Yew Tree. 

Over and out xo