Spotlight on… SUMMER YOUTH PROJECTS
Photo credit: Simon Vail
Besties, we believe Summer Youth Projects are vitally important, both in developing the young people’s interest and skills in the Arts, but also in reinforcing and embedding the links from venues into their local community. Both will support the long-term viability of the sector if consistently delivered cross the country and should be a vital part of the Arts Council of England’s mission to deliver theatre to everyone, everywhere. Without these links into the community and making access to these projects affordable, we miss the chance to start a relationship with the participants, and their friends and family, and widen the appeal of the theatre.
Of course, we need to ensure that the courses are run well creatively, inclusively, and at an affordable price, which inevitably requires subsidy and philanthropy to support the activity. To gain the full benefit from a Summer Youth Project, it needs to be well marketed to attract participants, well supervised to ensure it a safe and welcoming environment, led by creative experts in direction, movement and technical and able to accommodate a wide range of abilities without damaging the overall look and feel of the finished show in front of a paying audience. Ideally, we want to see young people given a chance to perform and to handle the technical aspects of the show (under supervision) including calling the show and overseeing the sound mix.
We went along to see five such Summer Youth Projects in August.
We Will Rock You, Theatre Royal Windsor
Bill Kenwright Ltd also serves its local community with its annual community production on the Theatre Royal Windsor stage, now in its sixth year. It is open to 16+ local people, and many have drama school qualifications with auditionsthrough self-tapes (in early spring) and then rehearsals started on 4 August for roughly 2.5 weeks. There is no charge to take part and is funded as part of Theatre Royal Windsor’s Education & Outreach work. This year’s production was the fabulous music of Queen in their 2002 musical We Will Rock You, which ran for twelve years in the West End. It is the ultimate jukebox musical with twenty-one classic Queen tunes strung together by a very clever and witty script by Ben Elton, which weaves lyrics and references to their biggest hit ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ throughout the show.
In a future world dominated by Globalsoft, Khashoggi (Yiorgo Sotiro) and Killer Queen (Laura Hartley) seek to suppress musical creativity and outlaw the music lovers as Bohemians. Buddy (Edward Percival), Brit (Michael Workman), and Oz (Ella Murphy) need a leader to find the Mighty Axe buried in the Living Rock across the Seven Seas of Rye. Galileo (Ben Aston) dreams of that discovery and speaks in musical titles and teams up with Scaramouche (Charlotte Tuffin) to search for it. There are 37 in the cast mainly as GaGa land citizens or rebel Bohemians who have all adopted past rock star names.
Carole Todd directs, with choreography by Hannah Voctoira-Bennett, to stage each of the fabulous rock anthems which are instantly recognisable to the audience who need hardly any encouragement to respond and clap along. It creates a wonderful celebratory environment, not just of Queen’s music and its leader, the late Freddie Mercury (who appears in silhouette) but of the very essence of community theatre. The projected images on the large back wall screen are excellent at evocatively setting the scenes and Aaron J Dootson’s lighting gives you a rock concert vibe. What’s more Andy Graham’s sound design means we hear every word and can enjoy all the jokes and references of the wonderful script and lyrics. ‘It’s a Kind of Magic’ that is produced in which we are reminded ‘We Will Rock You” and that we all need is ‘A Crazy Little Thing Called Love’. And it is that that takes us all to our ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’.
Trafalgar Entertainment Trust supports eight SYPs across its network for theatres, and we went along to celebrate the success of these events which involve everyone in the venue and bring hundreds of young people into the theatres with their friends and families.
The Addams Family at Wycombe Swan
This proved to be a perfect show for the SYP with 57 young people cast as ancestors, 16 as ensemble, 10 featured roles and 10 principals, making a cast of 93 with 16 in the technical team including someone calling the show as DSM and someone mixing the show as sound operator. Director Bryan Hodgson, along with choreographer/co-director Khiley Williams, did an amazing job blocking and rehearsing these young people to stage the three performances. It was an intensive two-week period of rehearsal, but the young cast responded magnificently with a first-class show that drew whoops of delight and prolonged applause from the first night audience.
Photo credit: Nick Wayne
With a full two-tier stage setting, projected moon, and portable gravestones, they easily created the exterior and interiors of the Addams Family house and the excellent costumes, prepared by Buckinghamshire New University students, gave each cast member a distinctive eerie characterisation. The wonderful eight-piece band sounded great and were wonderfully mixed so we could hear the voices, especially in the solos. In such a diverse and wonderful cast, it seems unfair to pick out anyone as it looked a real team effort, but the three leading ladies were outstanding. Jess Cartledge as Morticia was brilliant, controlling the family with a creepy charm and authority. Elise Russell as Wednesday was wonderful, full of teenage angst, rebellion and love. But the show was almost stolen by Ruth Scott as Alice, the mother of Wednesday’s boyfriend in the delightful ‘Waiting’. But the whole cast excelled in songs like ‘Full Disclosure’, and ‘When you’re an Addams’.
Little Shop of Horrors at Wyvern , Swindon
The Swindon Summer Youth Project has been going for 32 years, and this year’s production put 196 young people on stage with 19 in backstage roles, supervised by professional tech staff. The whole venue and community get involved in this impressive, huge enterprise. The tech staff had three weeks to build the set, creating a huge spinning truck for the interior and exterior of Mushnik’s flower shop and incorporating the magnificent hired-in Audrey II monster venus fly trap plant. The cast had two weeks to learn and tech the show, which is then staged for five sold performances in the Wyvern Theatre.
It is slightly curious choice for a Youth Project with only five principals and usually a small chorus of Skid Row Urchins of three and, of course, is a very dark black comedy about an abusive dentist, a murdering flower seller and a man-eating plant! Yet here, they embrace the madness, expanded the chorus to nine, and then fill the stage and auditorium with hordes of urchin ensemble for all the big numbers. You can see the sheer delight that the young people have in each appearance in the gangways, in front of stage or on the raised gantry upstage. Despite the heat of hottest day of the year and an audience nearly all waving fans, the energy and enthusiasm of the young casts never diminished. Director David Ashley (the regular Panto Dame at the Wyvern) and choreographer Meg McCarthy (on her fourth SYP) do a remarkable job in teaching and disciplining the huge team to deliver the routines and embody the characters.
The principals naturally carry the show and the narrative. Jayden Kaye creates the quirky Seymour, torn between his devotion to the two Audrey’s while Mathew Robinson ages up well as shop owner Mr Mushnik, and David Scott is suitably evil and dominant as dentist, Orin. But it is the two Audrey’s that stand out. Lysa Aljanes as shop assistant Audrey provides stunning soulful vocals in the second act including ‘Suddenly Seymour’ and ‘Somewhere That’s Green’, and Lily Moir as the voice of Audrey II is chilling in ‘Suppertime’ and then confidently and delightfully takes centre stage to thank everyone and promote the Wyvern Foundation, a tiny charity that distributes a few thousand pounds a year to support the SYP bursaries to give access to those who might not be able to afford the fee.
Photo credit: Nick Wayne
Shrek at Guildford Live
Shrek is a much better choice for a SYP than Little Shop of Horrors, with plenty of roles for the young people to get involved in and be given a moment in the spotlight with a large junior ensemble of citizens of Duloc and a wide range of fairytale characters in the chorus, banished to Shrek’s swamp. It provides much more for director Lisa Miller and choreographer Hannah Barley to work with in marshalling the hordes of children on stage and in the aisles of the auditorium. Once again, together with just 10 days rehearsal, they do a remarkable job. They create entertaining, well blocked scenes that support the storytelling and add to the fun. It helps too that the Scenic Projects hired-in set looks good and leaves plenty of space for them to perform in.
The grumpy ogre, Shrek (Ethan Kethero) is a huge character part and dominates the performance. But Naru Sivaganeshammoorthy as Donkey outshines him at times with her personality and comic timing to make a very good double act. The love interest of Fiona is played by three young performers (Sophie Brouner, Sofia Rose-Michael and Olivia-Mai Stevens) who work well together stuck in the tower. There is a lovely performance on her knees by Jessie Scothern as Lord Farquaad and a wonderful vocal performance by Eliza Edworthy as the dragon voice to an impressive large-scale puppet. Cameos from Flynn Owens as comical Pinocchio and Alyssa Fan as the balletic Pied Piper also stood out.
But most of all, it was the discipline and well drilled ensemble routines that made this a SYP to remember for the 103 young people on stage and their friends/family in the audience.
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory at Orchard West, Dartford
The temporary venue at Orchard West, now in its third and farewell season while the Orchard Theatre is repaired nearby, was buzzing with excitement for the opening of their SYP show. 89 children were on stage and 16 in the technical team to mount Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, the first time this title has been staged as a SYP. This required a lot of ‘Pure Imagination’ from the producer Terri Aldi, director James Weisz, and choreographer Anthony Whiteman to stage the story with that size cast on a stage without flying capacity and in a ten-day rehearsal window. But the result was truly spectacular and great achievement for everyone involved.
The title lends itself to the adaptation with plenty of principal roles including the Golden Ticket winners Bavarian Augustus Gloop , spoiled Veruca Salt, gum chewing Violet Beauregarde and TV addict Mike Tevee and their parents, Grandpas Jo and George and Grandmas Georgina and Josephine, Mrs Bucke,t and reporters Jerry and Cherry. But two huge parts for young actors throughout the musical in Charlie Bucket and Willie Wonka. They don’t list their names in the programme separably but they all very successfully created these characters and held their own in the spotlight. The rest of the performers were townsfolk, factory workers, squirrels and of course, the Oompa-Loompas. Indeed, one of the original Oompa-Loompas from the film version Rusty Goffe was in the audience with his son Ben who will appear in the Dartford pantomime as Buttons this Christmas.
The test of a SYP is the pictures that the director creates with the full cast in the big numbers, and this is where the show was outstanding. The introduction of the Golden Ticket winners was excellent in well drilled routines, with excellent costumes by Syin West and equally, the moments when those winners are sucked into the chocolate making process were very effectively reimagined and executed. Even the Great Glass Elevator was simply but well staged, with lighting by Simon Banks. What’s more, there is a real sense of fun and enjoyment for everyone involved including all of the front of house staff and that is what makes these nights so special for everyone.
These shows are appreciated by those taking part and their friends and family, but we urge musical theatre lovers to book to see these young people perform and we guarantee you will be impressed. On our visits, we met people with no connection to the venue or cast who simply went each year because they enjoyed the shows.
All of these examples show what can be achieved by organisations that recognise the value and importance of engaging young people and their community in creative activity for their personal development, for the experience, and to develop their passion for performance arts. They need all of our support to help them grow and engage more people especially from diverse backgrounds and encourage more boys to get involved.
Nick Wayne