Our second farewell blog comes from Sam Winder who's about to start his 3 years at Durham University to study physics and philosophy...or Spanish...possibly...apparently...
I find it
strange to think that aside from my close family and Wakefield’s steady charm,
Yew Tree has been the most constant aspect my life - we’re talking 7 years.
That’s longer than high school, it’s longer than I’ve known a fair amount of
the people I see regularly, and it’s longer than any other group I’ve been to.
In that respect, it’s framed a large proportion of my life and you could look
through the Yew Tree photo albums and see me go from small blonde-haired Sam,
through all the mistakes and the memories, and up to now when my hairline is a
bit further back than is ideal for someone of my age but when I’m about to let
go of most of the things that have defined my life so far and head on to the
next step.
So, speaking
of frames, photo opportunity #1 is at Sapphire Company, that’s after I’d given up
my dreams of being a gymnast, cricketer, dancer, origamist etc. My early days
in this company were the ones that taught me that you can quickly learn from
those around you, that you can always find help if you ask for it and that
you’re never alone: I may have been nervous and worried about social exile but
even though Sapphire is filled with talented, impressive, intimidating people (that’s
role-models in real terms), it is definitely not a lonely place. It’s watching
the narrators and bold performers that gives you the drive to get there
yourself.
Snapshot #2
is first Connections. The Connections process is something that gives as much
back as you put in so it works out well that people tend to invite it to
consume their lives. The thing about my first Connections was that I
experienced the whole “serious acting”
phenomena that Sam
mentioned in his blog. There was a certain naivete that I had before my first “serious” role and that is summarised by
the fact that I now write “serious” in
italics and speech marks. There’s a shift in mindset that happens when you
first take what you’re doing as 100% meaningful because you realise that every
role has plenty behind it. This is something that you can take into the rest of
your life too, whether it’s acting in Connections or the school play or in
mastering origami, the only distinction between doing something and playing at
it is that you treat it with respect.
With this
being a farewell blog, it’s only right that #3 is a photo finish of my final
few weeks at Yew Tree. One of my regrets over the past few years is that I
didn’t dedicate myself as much to the things that actually matter because I was
too worried about things like college and bits of paper and early nights. I’ve
missed actioning my scripts and tracking down costumes and writing blogs as
often as possible and signing up for every project going. However, between the
last step and the next, there’s been enough time to take a breath. I’m thankful
that in the last few weeks we’ve celebrated so many things: performing Macbeth,
birthdays and being a company. I’m thankful that we’re devising again because
each session is an investment in a hobby and in myself. Back to the things that
matter.
It's all good though because even though this is my last
blog and even though I’m not going to do another best and worst, I’m not
leaving anything behind. I’m going to take with me the lives of miners, writers
and Norwegians and the stories of teenage hackers, stab victims, every day
heroes, and even a Sparkleshark (the first connections play I went to see).
It’s been a good run.
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