Youth Groups Blog
Senior Youth Group Autumn 2010
a review by Jess Moon.
We began the season by having a comedy workshop by comedy Theatre Company, Plested and Brown. We explored a number of things including the 'Oh S**t moment!' which consisted of us all having to act out different actions on the spot. We also worked on acting out people of different statuses and clearly distinguishing the differences between them.
We also had a vocal workshop with HeidiAshton from the adult group; this was for us to become more confident when projecting our voices on stage in preparation for our production next year! We focused on clarity and pronunciation - ultimately helping the audience understand every single word said on stage.
There have also been Youth Group members involved in two of the adult shows, Sam Pemberton in Chess and Aimee-Louise King in Comfort and Joy, which were watched by quite a few members of the youth group! Charlotte Hill and Amy Hunter also assisted the lighting for these shows. A social event was also arranged and the youth group went bowling, this gave everyone the chance to get to know the new members of our youth group!
Finally the Youth Group Representatives have been working on writing a script for next year's musical; they came up with the idea from scratch and went through the process of creating the story, scenes, and characters. This is due to be performed next year by a very talented group of actors, formally known as the Senior Youth Group!
2009-2010
During the summer (2009) and winter (2009-2010) the youth group has been very busy. During the summer break on the 26th August 2009 a group of us went to see the musical Wicked at the Westend. However, before that we were given a chance to do a workshop on the musical with one of the cast members. There we did a group of games and learnt the dance to One Short Day (which we later used in the review evening). When we got back to youth group Gordon had organized a number of different work shops. The first was a mime workshop with Svetlana Biba from the Theatre of Inspirations. She taught how to use our bodies in a more expressive way and the different tension states and how we can use them when it comes to performing. The other workshop we did later on was on lighting. They taught us how the lighting desks worked, like how to make different sequences of different lighting. During one of the Fridays the production Sweeney Todd was on, so, a group of us went to the cinema to see the film Fame which I thoroughly enjoyed. The main aim of this terms youth group has been concentrating on the review evening. The review evening consisted of solos, sketches and a dance that we learnt at the Wicked workshop. This went down very well. On behalf of the Senior Youth group, I would like to thank Gordon, Katie, Cate and Patrick for the time and effort they put in to help us create a great finished project.
Charlotte Miller
Laura Green, one of the Youth Group reps, took a moment recently to
reflect over the last few hectic months ...
Disco Inferno, YMCA and I will survive... Just a few of the classics
that were performed during our summer youth group show, Disco Inferno.
The 70's musical consisted of 25 high energy songs and 17 effective
dances by two separate casts, who produced 4 amazing shows!
Whether you were a principle character or a chorus member, each
rehearsal and performance was so much fun and brilliant to be a part of!
A month before the show, the principle characters spent a day in a
recording studio, recording a number of the solo numbers onto a souvenir
CD. It sounds fantastic and will be kept by all for many years to come!
Winter 2008 to Summer 2009
Hey its Emily here from Senior Youth Group just thought I’d fill you all in on what’s been happening since someone last wrote here.
Well at the beginning of December the Senior Youth Group put on a Review Evening and anyone else who wanted to come. It was a very successful night which many of the participants really enjoyed, there was singing and sketches that we’d all been working on for weeks on end with help from Gordon, Cate and Patrick. The following week as a fitting end to that year at drama, there was a fancy dress Christmas Quiz where people had to go into pairs and then pick a character out of a hat and match with another pair. For example, Phil Rowlandson and I were Cowboys and we matched with the Indians, Tom Naylor and Liam. The quiz contained many rounds and each team got a score at the end, but to make it even more interesting the last round contained a singing event which could make or break every team but of course the best team won in the end- mine!
Straight after Christmas it was time to get started on this year’s summer musical- “Disco Inferno”. There were read throughs and sing throughs so that people were sure of what part they wanted to go for. Most of Senior Youth Group auditioned over the next week or so and Gordon said that is was very difficult to cast but eventually we were informed of our parts and rehearsals started the following week. These rehearsals have been very successful and the show seems to be coming together quite nicely. We’ve even got one of our performances to be signed and that is very impressive to watch! Recently we’ve also been having character workshops for Disco Rehearsal to help improve our acting and they’ve been extremely productive- not to mention fun.
We’ve also got a summer trip lined up now; a group of us are going to see Wicked in the final week of August and we are going to have a workshop with one of the actors or actresses from it, we’re all very excited but before then we’ve got to perform Disco Inferno. Be sure to buy tickets to see our musical on the 10th, 11th and 12th July by ringing 0118975880.
Emily Bevan.
Prague - November 2008
On Thursday the 27th of November, at precisely 3.00am when most people were tucked up in bed, Shinfield Players youth group (SPUDS) were gathering in the blistering cold, about to embark on a trip of a lifetime. Destination: Prague. There we would be taking part in an international drama competition with five other groups. After a great time visiting some of Prague's spectacular sights and experiencing a bit of Czech culture, it was time for the competition that was being held at The Black Light theatre.
The day was structured around the five competitive performances, but also included a variety of other entertaining sketches by local groups and the Bear Educational Company. This was a fantastic opportunity to watch international dramatics and learn new things, and after watching four brilliant pieces by our opponents, it was time for SPUDS to hit the stage. The criteria for the piece was that it should be between ten to fifteen minutes, be based on either talking animals, a school trip, or the internet and that it should be easily understandable to an international audience. Our group chose the internet as our theme, and devised a fifteen minute long piece about internet dating, allowing the audience to vote for their favourite couple at the end. After weeks of rehearsing, the performance was nerve-racking, exciting, fulfilling and extremely successful. All the groups left the competition in high spirits.
Before going to the award ceremony, all the groups took part in a workshop, in which we had a great bonding experience and a wonderful opportunity to work together and create with international actors and actresses. We learnt new ways of exercising our skills and made some new friends along the way. After the workshop it was straight to the award ceremony which was a very exciting evening. Awards went out for best sound effects and costumes, but it was two members of SPUDS, Katie Cox and John Potter, that received best actor and actress awards. Overall in the competition we came second, of which we were extremely proud in a room of such talented people. Once the award ceremony was over, the organizers held a disco, where all the groups spent the night celebrating what had been a trip of a lifetime.
Blog: November 2008
I thought the performance of Our Country’s Good was a great success. There were a few hitches within the play but they were successfully smoothed over by a little improvisation. I think the success was definitely due to a mixture of the workshops to help us get into character and also the dedication everyone put into the show. There were many excellent characterisations and costumes which made the final performance tremendously awesome and set the standards even higher for the summer show next year. We started the term with a few sessions to unite the youth group, making sure everyone knew who each other was, due to lots of newbie’s. This involved super games such as shoe swapping and being blindfolded sheep with David as our able Sheppard. We also acted out sketches such as disagreements and vampires in the classroom and began to learn the songs we will be singing in the review. So far its been a suuuupppper start to the term
Hannah LockwoodBlog: June 2008
Hey! It’s Lindsay from the Senior Youth Group just giving an update on what’s been happening this year!
During February half term a number of us spent an evening ten-pin bowling. Not content with the normal method of bowling, Gordon decided to spice things up! His suggestions included bowling with a blind fold and bowling backwards – this caused much hilarity and probably annoyance to those in the lanes next to us!
We have had two trips to musical productions; firstly The Wedding Singer at the Hexagon followed by Hairspray in the West End. The Wedding Singer was probably better than we all expected and even included the end sequence on the aeroplane from the film, which had surprise ‘celebrity’ passengers such as Tina Turner and Margaret Thatcher!! Some of the group were disappointed with Hairspray, but I thought it was a high energy production with amazing singing and dancing. Ben Ellis as Link Larkin was an added bonus!
The year our Friday evening meetings have been mostly taken up by rehearsing for our summer production of Our Country’s Good. This is a play set in Australia with convicts putting on a play. We have blocked all the scenes and now just need to out our scripts down.
Unfortunately we will saying goodbye to Rachel, Sam, Katie, Ruth, Ellen and Matt who I know will miss the youth group a lot, but I’m sure it won’t be the last we see of them!
The play (Our Country’s Good) is coming along really well, so come and support us!
Lindsey Alexander
