What's happening at YTYT

As this is the last blog of 2013 I have been trying to decide what my ultimate highlight was – it’s a tough call as because it’s been our busiest year yet there are so many great events to choose from… Before the year was three months old we had performed our connections play, “Tomorrow I’ll Be Happy,” and three companies had performed at Wakefield Theatre Royal in “One Night Only,” what stands out for me about these plays is the vast range of styles – from the fairytale feel of “Princess of Glass,” to the honesty and insight of, “Words,” to the informative mayhem of, “The History of Theatre,” each one had such a distinctive feel.   We also got to perform Princess of Glass at the Hepworth, which was an added bonus. The second quarter of the year brought with it our annual trip to Kendal, which was as ever idyllic.   Our time there is so rich with the chance to perform our Connections play coupled with the chance to watch other youth theatre’s work…and ...

Shelbie blogged about OMN 11 It was Open Mic night on Sunday, the second one that I've ever been to so I thought "Hey why not sing with fellow Yew Tree member Sian?" It started off with the tech run I was nervous as hell when it came to mine and Sian's turn to practice, I was shaking like mad my knees were all weak and all I could think about was, "If I cant sing in front of a few people how am I going to be once everyone else is there?" As the night went on our ears were filled with the greatness of all the wonderful singers, I have to say everyone had to laugh a Yasmin's song it really was a great song. After each slot my heart started to race more and more and I could tell by Sian's face that she felt the same way. Luckily we had chance to calm down in the interval and took our minds off it with the quiz. The second half began with Sarah Lewis a very talented little girl who wrote her own Christmas song and performed it in front of us all, i kno...

My week at Yew Tree has been pretty lovely to be honest.   The first highlight of the week was on Monday at the final Sapphire session of the term which was an absolute joy!   After a term of preparation and rehearsing making sure two versions of Rumplestiltskin were ready for the Christmas Shows we had a week where we could simply play.   It was lovely to have a week where there was nothing that had to be done and instead take advantage of the fact that we could do exactly what we wanted instead…all the things we had stopped having time for.   I’m looking forward to the new year with this company who are so beautifully open and accepting – the focus of the work is going to be entirely up to them and who knows where their choices might take us. Another highlight of the week was the games session on Saturday.   64 members made the effort and piled into the home of Gold Company to celebrate a wonderful term of YTYT.   I love this annu...

James Budenburg is our guest blogger as is traditional at this point in the year... Hi, so I’m going to apologise for this bitty blog now, it made up of lots of little things rather than one big one, so go with me, ha. So this summer I ventured off to new things and for me that came in the form of University, so it was nice to come back in time for the Christmas shows and see what everyone had been up to. Let me tell you, they were great. They had an array of different qualities and whether it was the detailed relationships in black’s or the craziness of Sapphire in Rumpelstiltskin I enjoyed them all for different reasons. While I’m on the subject though I must say well done to my little sister making her Christmas sow debut with Sapphire. What was interesting was the directions in which the shows had gone and what had been added since the devising stages. I don’t think you realise as much when you’re in the rehearsal process how much the characters come on. Having been involved in...

It was the Christmas Shows for YTYT this week and if you weren’t aware of that you haven’t been paying attention as there has been a great amount of shouting about it! The shouting has been with good reason as “Festive Fairytales,” was nothing short of wonderful.   Two nights of the very best of youth theatre shared with parents, family and friends.   It’s a brilliant thing to be part of… However the performances although so significant in one way are only a small part of the whole deal with this part of Yew Tree life and I thought it was worth reflecting on what goes on in order to make the performance nights so memorable… It starts with INSPIRATION – this comes from many places – sometimes a well known story sparks it, which was the case with this years A Christmas Carol.   Sometimes it can come from a piece of music as was the case with Black Company’s “All I want for Christmas.”   Sometimes an actor or two will inspire that essential original tho...

Gareth who I met when I was teaching a course for NODA at Warwick University in August travelled from Sheffield to see YTYT on Wednesday and was so impressed he sent me this... So this was my first encounter of Yew Tree Youth Theatre and I was excited to see what the evening held. The evening opened with Rumplestiltskin. The way in which the story had been written was unique as it took on a different form to what fairy tales normally do. I was extremely impressed by the level of talent delivered by the group from Sapphire company, everyone took on their roles and you could really see different characterisation. The spacial awareness of the group worked well and you could see this was through great direction. The evening progressed with a performance of A Christmas Carol where again the writing of the story really put a truly different spin on a classic tale. The company worked well with each other and complimented each other on stage by having a great understanding of ...

Hello, Lavanya from Sapphire and Gold here! I've never written a blog before, but after a busy and exciting week with Yew Tree I thought, why not? So, starting with Monday and the fabulous Sapphire company. I've been going to Sapphire for a little less than 2 years and it just brightens up my Mondays so much, not to mention how great everyone is there. Oh, and I should probably mention that the Sapphire Christmas show was the delightful Rumplestiltskin, which is the most ridiculous story ever, therefore perfect for Sapphire company.   Anyway, we all did our bests and worsts, still on a high from the tech rehearsals (which by the way were on Sunday) and started to play a few games. We played cowboys and Indians and the tense "number of people in a group" game. But, let me tell you my favourite game ever...ladders. I enjoy it because I am quite good at it, if I do say so myself. Afterwards, Sarah told us that we were going to do an Italian run of Rumpelstiltski...