2024 Yew Tree Year in Review - Emma

Overall, my 2024 YewTree run has been fabulous (as always), of course there has been the typical ups and downs but then life is as such. As usual for me, this is a longer piece, exactly 2656 words compared to my 2522 last year, (I must like talking quite a bit) so buckle in and prepare to listen to me witter about my 2024 with YewTree. If you want a quick summary without having to read the details, TLDR; I was a part of Connections 24, NCMM Festival, Miners Memorial 24, Christmas Show, I also took my grade 7 acting LAMDA exam, I started helping out with Yellow Company and I owe a huge thanks to Sarah as she’s the main reason I am now in college. 

The year started off with Connections 2024 rehearsals and the performance. The play this year was ‘Kiss, Marry, Push Off a Cliff’ By Josh Azouz. I realise now that last Christmas blog I had promised a Connections blog which never came - apologies for that, and I shall make up for it now! It was certainly an interesting script to work with, I cannot say it's a type of script or play that I ever would have chosen to look at but I am very glad the rest of the team chose it. It was challenging to work with at first but eventually I got my head around the style and enjoyed it. 

The play was about a group of college leaver age teens who all decided on a camping trip to finish their time at college together before they all separated to different Unis and parts of the country, in this group I played Kiara who had been long time friends with most of the others in group and was currently girlfriend to Carl who joined them on their trip. However she also had some romantic tension with other members of the group (Ricky and Marco). She wasn’t completely relevant to the main story but she was still incredibly fun to play and I feel she added a pinch more drama and a hint of gossip to the story. I will admit that pulling off romantic tension with the actors was one of the hardest things I've learnt to do in a while - however, as always it was a learning experience. 

As a whole the rehearsal process was fun and a delight, sometimes I had my own personal struggles but no one in the cast judged or treated me any differently for it. The cast was filled with sweet people who I know would make Sarah proud, all of them are incredible actors and feel like professionals to work with. The cast consisted of: me, Matthew, Fred, Izzie, Alex, Robin, Millie, Jess, Alice, Hattie and Amelia. There was of course Ash on music and sound duty for rehearsals and performances, Sam as our stage manager, Nat who helped create props and set and Olli had the joy of being the producer. Finally there was obviously John and Sarah as our directors. A huge thank you to the crew behind the cast who help get the show to where it needs to be. 

During the play, there was a section which involved puppetry (Credits to Nat for hand making all of the puppets), Sarah arranged a puppetry workshop for us during one of the rehearsals with Han Mullen which unfortunately i couldn't take part in but had the privilege to watch and learn visually rather than hands on. It was spectacular to watch how she helped the cast bring their puppets to life and teach them to become one with their puppet. 

Performance wise, the local performances were so much fun and a great joy to show off what we had been working on and learning the ins and outs of for the past 5 months - give or take - however it was simultaneously impressive and hilarious (afterwards) that on the second day of performance, we found out that the Cluntergate (where we were had been for the first day and were meant to for the second) had been double booked with a kids birthday party. So Sarah had to improvise and run across the road to Horbury’s Working Men’s Club and hope and pray that they would allowed her to use their rooms for the afternoon (thankfully they did), all of that of course meant we had to quickly adapt and set up in a completely new environment which everyone did incredibly smoothly and many people in the audience said they wouldn't have been able to tell that it was any other case if they didn't know. At the local performance quite a few of the actors were double cast, which unfortunately is not an option once we got to the bigger venue (Sheffield studio last year), however the way Sarah adapted the script and changed the staging worked so marvellously - anyone would think she’s been doing this for awhile and is a pro at it! 

Despite my personal ups and downs throughout the 6-ish months, it was a great experience and a part of me is still very miffed that I haven't been able to join the cast this year; however I’ve got other things to give my attention to this year. I hope that I have the chance and time to be a part of Connections 2026 when the time comes around. 

There is another thing I wanted to talk about within this blog however I wasn't completely sure as to where I should put it so I’ve plonked it right here, this isn’t strictly about YewTree but it deserves to be in here as it would not have ever been a possibility without Sarah and YewTree. Back in August I was accepted into the Wakefield College Performing Arts program with the Early College Transfer (ECT) program. I could not have been more thrilled with this news as I had already had a lot to process and move past in the first half of the year. Since September I’ve been on the Level 2 Performing Arts course which offers a variety of classes and the chance to perform in the Christmas Cabaret and there will be an end of year play performed by the group. During this course I'm working with students older than me, other than one other ECT student which gives more learning experience for me personally. As long as I pass this course and ace an interview I should be able to move up to a Level 3 course next September and join my age group of school leavers and college starters and finally be with the correct academic year again - which I haven't had the chance to since Year 7. 

None of that would have ever been possible without YewTree and Sarah Osborne and her support and care for me (ever since being around 7 or 8 years old). She has always flourished and encouraged my love of performing and being on a stage, she introduced me to LAMDA (which I believe is the biggest reason I was accepted onto the Level 2 course rather than Level 1), and no matter how hard it got to deal with me, she never gave up and pushed me through to the end whenever she could. It had been starting to get to the point where I was wondering if college was even a real possibility for me anymore but then all of this happened, and I completely owe Sarah for it. She is truly a life changing woman. 

The next thing I have to talk about in this blog is my Grade 7 Solo Acting Exam, which I am so incredibly proud to say I earned a Distinction in. If you aren’t familiar with (solo) Acting LAMDA exams, they go a little like this (depending on which Grade you are taking): You perform 1 to 3 monologues and then answer “knowledge” questions about the monologues or about acting and performing. The questions and types of monologues differ from grade to grade. The commitment and hard work I have invested means I have earned the right to be very proud of my achievements. I started out on the Entry Level exam and have worked my way all the way up to Grade 7 through each exam, and am now working towards the last Graded Acting (Grade 8 which is a Level 3 Gold Medal qualification.) Not only have I achieved distinctions in a lot of those, I also received a distinction for Level 2 Shakespeare exam. From all of that, there is a lesson in there; Be proud of your work and dedication. 

The next YewTree performance I played part in was a short piece for a Festival at the National Coal Mining Museum called ‘Have you heard the news?’ back in July. I had the privilege to attend a workshop to inspire and learn about the festival earlier on in the year with a few other members from YewTree. The workshop itself was a delight to attend as we got the chance to work with other young minds and create a vision for a short piece. The main theme of the festival was about the 1984 Miners’ Strike, a strike that lasted just about a full year - starting in early march 1984 and ending during march 1985 - full of heartbreak, riots and community for many. 

If you know me, then you might know that I am a sucker for any chance to be involved with the mining community and to learn more about the struggle and community throughout the generations of miners. I don't know where my affinity for mining and mining communities came from; maybe from living down the road from the NCMM and knowing the town and even house I live in used to be filled with men and most likely women who worked at the mine in the NCMM, or perhaps it is because over the years I’ve learnt that a lot of previous generations of my family used to work down the mines and were the ones who would have to fight for their community and way of life - not in West Yorkshire but still in the northern side of the country. 

Overall, the festival at the NCMM was incredibly inspiring and I felt very lucky to be a part of the showcase along with the great group of actors I was with. It was an informative and fun day, the care the NCMM always put into their exhibitions is fantastic and it is always great to see how much they care about their museum. I actually had learnt something new from this as well because pre-festival, I didn't know about the 1984 Strike - in the Miner’s Memorial Services it tends to be more focussed on the disasters in the mines that happened in the early 1900s and throughout 1800s. Something else I didn't know until I started learning in preparation for the performance, was that Billy Elliot is actually set during the 1984 Strike - which is a piece of information I found neat. 

All of that nicely leads onto the next part of the year, officially passing the halfway mark of the year (and past halfway through the blog), which was the 2024 Miners’ Memorial Service. Again, know me and know I do my everything to not miss a Miner’s Memorial unless absolutely necessary. This year marked my 6th time performing as a part of the service (out of 7 possible for me), this year felt extra special as my first time performing as a part of the service was in 2017 at Selby Abbey, which is where it was again this year. It felt incredible to come back with a lot more knowledge and experience in performing and to continue to spread the message that the younger generations have not forgotten about the Miners of the past. Something that I found extraordinary to wrap my head around this year was the idea and fact that I was now ‘the older one’ in the cast instead of the youngest in the room - in fact I believe I might have been the oldest or second oldest in the cast. For some services, Sarah will reuse the script from the last time she was there (usually a 7ish year time difference), however the cast is completely different which allows them to bring a whole new light, feel and understanding to the lines and performance. I remember doing the read through this year and thinking “Hey that was my line!”, which now belonged to the younger members of the cast. As always, the Miners’ Memorial Service was a beautiful service and a joy to be a part of once again. 

Out of all of 6 Services I’ve taken part in during the past 8 years, my favourite location has quite a high chance of being Selby Abbey both times around due to the beautiful Abbey and architecture. It always feels like such a privilege to be a part of. 

Moving on and finally starting to close in on the end of the year, I’ve had the fantastic opportunity to volunteer and help Sarah with one of the younger companies, this being Yellow Company. And hand on heart, I have yet to meet a sweeter group of children, I only started helping around the October half term so I haven’t known them for very long but they are an incredible group of children with great manners who put on an equally incredible show on the Thursday evening, so if any parents of Yellow Company are reading this, all of the children there are sweethearts and I’m already going to miss the ones that are moving up to Sapphire. 

While helping at Yellow Company, I’m having to learn and push myself out of my comfort zone as I am learning how to lead and teach activities which admittedly makes me quite nervous, but it’s worth it. I definitely plan on continuing to help with the younger companies wherever and whenever possible. 

And now finally the 2024 Christmas Show which closes the YewTree year for me. This year I've had the absolute privilege to join Black Company and it has been fantastic to the point I don't even know what other words I can use that aren’t simply synonyms for incredible. With Black Company I’ve finally felt like I belong in the room with the fellow actors - of course in no way do I mean the previous companies have made me feel that way, it has always been a personal issue behind the feeling, in fact any other company I have been with has always tried their best to welcome me with open arms (which is very much appreciated). But this year I’ve finally been able to move past the reason behind struggling to be in the room and Black Company has unknowingly helped me so much to feel at home in the room. What I'm saying is that it is a room full of people and actors who are brilliant, smart, kind-hearted and welcoming, that I hope Sarah is tremendously proud of. I cannot express just how excited I am to continue feeling at home in YewTree, something I’ve missed for far too long. I cannot wait to be back with Black Company working on the next project. Thank You to everyone from Black Company, I couldn't even start to explain in what ways you’ve helped. 

Thank You Black Company. 

Thank You Yellow Company. 

Thank You to the many actors I’ve worked with this past year. 

Thank You to the crew behind the performances who have always made sure things are on their feet and run smoothly. 

Thank You Sarah Osborne. 

Thank you all for a fantastic 2024, even if it did have a rough start.