What Toni Said: YTYT Playlist

I have so many memories from Yew Tree - it’s hard to single out a specific one. I’ve been hoping if I waited long enough, one would pop into my brain. 

Recently I was working from home, and I put on some background music. Working in silence seems to shorten my attention span, but I get too easily distracted if I know any lyrics. 

I popped on an old playlist called ‘Original Scores’. I made it whilst at uni so I could listen to music from films to fuel my concentration through all the chapters of required reading. 

Its first two albums are Yann Tiersen’s score Amelie (2001) and Hans Zimmer’s score The Holiday (2006). They’re both there because we used them in Yew Tree productions. Each time I hear the songs we used, it takes me right back to the rehearsal rooms.

Song: Comptine d’un autre été, l’aprés-midi 

Date: March 2016 

Place: Unity Hall, Wakefield

This song was used for a companion piece we devised for our Connections production of Eclipse by Simon Armitage. We started with a physical theatre piece representing the sun and the moon. 

We were about to perform one of our local shows at Unity Hall. A week before, I’d seen the American indie band Cage the Elephant at the same venue. The best home city gig I’ve experienced (…so far!).

As all the cast sat on stage in the main hall getting ready to warm up, Grace picked up a guitar pick. She lifted it up to the light, to reveal the metallic words ‘Cage the Elephant’. 

We found three more, and that guitar pick has stayed on my bedroom wall, throughout various house moves ever since. 

Song: Dream Kitchen 

Date: September to December 2013 

Place: Gold company rehearsal room, Wakefield College building, Thornes Park 

This is a song that provokes a feeling rather than a memory. 

We used it for the opening scene of A Christmas Carol. It was a street scene. Everyone strolling or rushing across the stage multiple times to give the illusion of a hustling and bustling festive town. 

I remember looking forward to every Saturday morning that September, October and November simply for the thrill of the festivities that scene brought. A Saturday morning serotonin boost. 

Every time I hear it when I watch the film, and every time it appears on my playlist, I get a warm, fuzzy, cosy Christmas feeling - no matter what season!