Posts

Showing posts from April, 2009
So it was a bit tricky for somebody to guest blog this week as there was very little youth theatre activity, however India saved the day by sending me highlights from her journal written over performance week of The Height's...very apt for a week in which we've been preparing to go back into rehearsals and corresponding with the West Yorkshire Playhouse in preparation for the regional showcase... I don’t know where to start with writing a blog I just wanted to get involved ha! Plus I haven’t been at yew tree this week so there’s not been much to write about! However, I was looking through my old diary entries and came across Connections performance week, gave me a little bubble of joy just by reading over it :) anyways, here are some short extracts from the Thursday and Saturday that are relevant to Yew Tree… March 12th 2009 Connections performance tonighttt!! So excited gotta get through school first though… It’s gone so quick, feels like only last week rehearsals began. Tonig
Yew Tree artists have been the grateful recipients of input this week. Danny, Gemma and I attended the National Association of Youth Theatre’s “Raising the Game” event in Darlington. The first bit that’s important in that last sentence is the location…the place the event was held was right next door to my old Sixth Form College…and close enough to where my Mum and Dad live to be able to stay at their farm house…always a rejuvenating experience. Aside from all the fortuitous geographical coincidences “Raising the Game,” is a chance for youth theatre directors to participate in workshops instead of leading them. Amongst a rich and varied programme Gemma attended a workshop on making text accessible, Danny got to work with masks and I devised a musical theatre number about a beautiful flower…In addition all of us got the opportunity to work with the truly inspirational Jeremy Stockwell… Of course nothing is perfect and at times we were outraged, bewildered sometimes even bored by th
This weeks guest blogger is Aaron 17+, Saturday Morning Thornes and Heights cast member... So I thought it would be interesting to have a 'Yew-Tree Quiz'. I honestly can't remember why I thought this would be good but I thought it would be a laugh. So anyway, these questions are more or less based on how Yew Tree influences you in ways of creativity, imagination and speech I suppose too. It could also just show how long you've been at yew-tree. 1) Are you over come with glee when you hear you have a tick next to your name? 2) Do you feel more confident than you did before you started YTYT? 3) When watching a performance are you mentally checking the good and bad points of it? 4) Have you taken a risk (performance wise)? 5) Have you used the word brilliant in a both positive and negative manner? 6) Have you ever seen Sam behind the wheel of a green Mini? 7) Have you ever been to Nostell Priory? 8) Do you own any Yew Tree merchandise? 9) Have you auditioned for Connection
Yesterday morning I got out of my bed, had a cup of tea out of my cup and saucer, and decided what I wanted for breakfast…the day went on pretty much like that…not particularly earth shattering I know but after 4 days of my life being the very opposite of that it was more than significant. The expression “coming home” is used in its metaphorical sense frequently but in experiencing it literally yesterday I was hit by its full implications…it’s about things being right, as they should be, familiar, comforting, safe. I feel like that about the youth theatre…echoing my first blog… I feel at Yew Tree we have created something that is all those things listed above for its members and for its artists. I’m really looking forward to the start of term so that bit of coming home can click into place… In contrast this week I had to step entirely out of my comfort zone. The young people I taught at the youth academy had no idea of the basic elements of workshop I now take for granted…no idea
For our official guest blog I am pleased to introduce Tom McNulty member of Thornes Saturday morning session and the 17+ group and cast member in The Heights… Right for a while I had hoped to get working on, or finding, a set of good monologues to use for any auditions that pop out of the blue later this year since my next set of proper auditions wont be until my top up year for my degree in about 2 years time. So Sarah kindly accepted to meet with me for half an hour before the Thursday night session to talk about a monologue I wanted to show her and also my insecurities about a performance I recently did with my college tutor in the audience watching me. Before meeting her I had no idea what I wanted to talk about or what I would get out of the actual conversation, but afterwards I felt really pleased and inspired by what Sarah told me. She told me that the monologue I showed her was good and would be very interesting to see what character I could make out of it from reading the whol
Most of the youth theatre is on holiday which means that for me - and the rest of the youth theatre directors…it’s a time of reflection planning and preparation… One of the main highlights of this so far has been a process of rewriting two scripts I wrote quite early in my youth theatre career. “Maybe This Time” a romance set against a background of 1930’s Chicago was originally performed when Yew Tree only had two groups…still two of the current followers of the blog were in it - Alice and Chinazo... "Don’t Assume Anything," a story about the consequences of joyriding was written for Pilot Youth Theatre when I directed the Castleford group…where I first met the lovely Laura Tosney in fact… As I rewrite them I am struck by the way that nothing stays static…even tho they have both been performed a number of times before they still need altering and amending to make them right for the group, the time and the directors…I also think about the people who have been in them and
This week we have an extra blog…that didn’t really fit into the “this week” theme but Rob (Yew Tree employee and member of 17+ group, Thornes Park group and The Height’s cast) wrote it and I thought people would find it entertaining…so here it is…think of it a bonus feature on a DVD… Its 9 o'clock Tuesday morning and no matter how early I go to bed the night before I am still knackered. I drag myself out of bed and get ready for work but I know what you’re all thinking - 'Girgis didn’t you quit that amazing job at Staples ages ago? Where could you be possibly working now?' This is a good question let me continue... Its 10am and I arrive, grab my bag out of the boot and knock on the door with slight anticipation. (The door swings open) 'Robert what have I told you about knocking? It means I have to get up to answer the door, if I know your coming just come in!' and so it begins my first day in the Yew Tree office. To set the record straight its not some big tree hous
Guest blog this week from none other than Mr Jonny Hopwood ladies and gentlemen...erstwhile member of the Saturday morning session at Thornes park and the 17 plus group ...back at the moment from his training at East 15... So, it was my first Saturday morning back after being at uni and I was well looking forward to it. And it definitely did not disappoint. The first thing that struck me with the how many new faces there were, the group had almost doubled since I left late 2008 and on that note, how brave and outgoing the new lot were, throwing there full selves into the games and exercises that we did that morning. Equally, it was lovely to see the veterans still religiously hitting the Saturday morning group. Also, 10am on a Saturday morning is early, having the energy and enthusiasm that everyone showed was amaaaazing. Yeah. So all the games went shhhhhmoothly. Including the improvisation circle, again with the bravery; I reckon it will be well interesting to see the outcome when th
I went to Carleton youth theatre this week. I’ve been meaning to visit for a while but haven’t had the time or the opportunity…but this week things slotted into place and I got there. It was well worth the effort. Some of you might know about the Carleton “branch” of Yew Tree Youth Theatre, but for those who don’t…here’s the exposition. It was started in September 07 on the back of a Summer School. It’s had a difficult journey…changes in artists…the school where we held it burning down…yes you heard right… literally burning down…and then the room we found for it at a local community centre was nearly commandeered by the Brownies or was it the Rainbows…maybe it was both.... Despite all of this it has survived and has now found a suitable home and in the more than capable hands of Danny - assisted by Callum is growing and developing very nicely thank you…it was lovely to see the group again…and meet the new members for the first time …it was even better to see them working and talk