Youth Music Theatre: UK
Encyclopedia
Youth Music Theatre UK is the United Kingdom's biggest provider of music theatre projects for young people. It is one of nine recognised National Youth Music Organisations (NYMOs).
At the core of YMT's activity are its residential projects, which usually take place during the summer. Young people from around the country - and wider - audition for eight new pieces of musical theatre which are then developed, rehearsed and staged in professional theatres. The young people have a hand in creating and devising original pieces, supported by theatre professionals. The company also runs non-auditioned week-long residential courses in the Easter, summer and autumn school holidays. It also operates a successful outreach programme, working with young people from disadvantaged backgrounds called Music Theatre for All. All of the company's projects are specially commissioned and often developed over two or more summers. Productions often transfer into larger venues during the autumn and spring.
The company was founded in 2003 and is based in Battersea
, London. It also has a regional office in Edinburgh
. Its executive producer is Jon Bromwich. Zoë Wanamaker
, Peter Duncan
and Rob Brydon
are the Patrons.
The musical re-telling of the life of Janusz Korczak
presented at the Rose Theatre, Kingston
Out There - by James Bourne
and Elliot Davis
A new lunar musical exploring the relationships between generations presented at South Hill Park Arts Centre, Bracknell.
Terry Pratchett
's Mort - The Musical - by Jenifer Toksvig and Dominic Hasslam
An adaptation of Pratchett's classic Discworld
novel about Death's apprentice, presented at Greenwich Theatre
, London.
Jabberwocky
by Rebecca Applin and Susanna Pearse
Presented at the Barbican Theatre, Plymouth.
Love and Madness by Gerry Flanagan and James Atherton
Presented at the Barbican Theatre, Plymouth.
Tales from the World's End adapted by Kath Burlinson and Mairi Cambpell
Presented at the Aberdeen International Youth Festival.
Macbeth
- The Musical adapted by Stuart Harvey and Garth McConaghie
Developed and devised in Leeds and presented at The Drill Hall
in London in October 2011.
- by Nick Stimson and Jimmy Jewell
The Savage
- adapted by Jenifer Toksvig, Harvey Brough and Leah Housman
Scherazade - by Gerry Flanagan and James Atherton
A Song for Eurydice
- by Stuart Harvey and Garth McConaghie
Gershwin's Gals - adapted by Conor Mitchell
and Rachel O'Riordan
A Beggar's Opera - adapted by Nick Stimson and Jimmy Jewell
Ghosts of the Past - by Craig Adams and Clare Prenton
The Dummy Tree - by Conor Mitchell
and Elliot Davis
Michael Dork is 17. They call him nerd, geek, slacker. Socially marginalised by the entire school and constantly picked on by Eddie, the coolest boy in school, Michael is desperate to find his ticket outta Loserville. But when stunning new girl Holly arrives, Michael is introduced to a whole new world of cool. This bold and brilliant new rock musical - performed by 35 of the UK's most talented young performers and created by James Bourne
and Elliot Davis
- is a colourful and catchy ride through the life of the underdog. An original anti-hero tale, Loserville: the Musical is a story for those who feel they never quite fit in! As part of the bands Busted and Son of Dork
, James Bourne
has had eighteen consecutive Top 3 singles, and has written for many other artists including McFly
and Boyzone
. His albums have sold over six million copies. Presented in association with South Hill Park Arts Centre.
A Winter's Tale - music and lyrics by Howard Goodall
book by Nick Stimson based on the play by William Shakespeare
Shakespeare's classic tale of jealousy, loss, love and reconciliation is given a magical reworking by YMT this summer. Set in the contrasting locations of the stark northern climate of an old-style Soviet state and the relaxed warmth of the Mediterranean, comedy and tragedy walk hand in hand towards the most extraordinary and unexpected of conclusions. With music by award-winning composer and broadcaster Howard Goodall
and directed by Nick Stimson, Associate Director at the Theatre Royal, Plymouth
. Howard Goodall
is one of Britain's most distinguished and versatile composers. He's the man behind the music for some of the best known TV theme tunes (The Vicar of Dibley, Blackadder and Red Dwarf to name but a few) as well as musicals such as The Hired Man and Two Cities. He is England's first ever National Ambassador for Singing and Classic FM's Composer-in-Residence for 2009.
The Chosen Room - directed by Syd Ralph written by Marie Jones
and Mark Dougherty
Originally developed in 2008, The Chosen Room explored the high seas of Cyberspace. Set in a futuristic social networking fantasy world, the mysterious Vicki Green selects the ten most eccentric companions for her Chosen Room. But who is the tall dark handsome stranger walking through her virtual door? This summer, perhaps YMT will let us in on the secret. Writer Marie Jones
is best known for her huge West End hit Stones in His Pockets
and for her recent successes A Night in November
and Women on the Verge of HRT. Composer and Musical Director Mark Dougherty was the musical director on the international hit dance musical Riverdance
and toured America with the hugely successful Celtic Thunder
with two hit singles simultaneously in the American charts.
Peter Pan - adapted by Nick Stimson from the novel by J.M. Barrie
YMT's exhilarating musical version of Peter Pan
, first developed in 2008 in Plymouth, and to Aberdeen, returning this classic story to its powerful and magical roots and re-inventing it for the 21st century. Not a pantomime or bedtime story, but an unforgettable adventure that takes us from the ordinary to the extraordinary. Nick Stimson is a regular Director with YMT and has written and directed extensively for the Plymouth Theatre Royal, The Northcott Exeter and for numerous youth theatres around the country. Jimmy Jewell has worked in fifteen countries as a composer, arranger, orchestrator and conductor; he has appeared at the Radio City Music Hall, the Albert Hall and the Sydney Superdrome amongst many other venues. The performance was presented at the Aberdeen International Youth Festival, a celebration of youthful creativity and innovation.
According to Brian Haw... - directed by Eddie Latter
This brand new musical delves into a world of politics and protests, looking beyond the headlines to discover the impact of war on young people across the Globe. Between 2002 and 2011, Brian Haw
remained a permanent thorn in the side of the British Government, camped out in Parliament Square opposite the House of Commons, protesting against war and foreign policy. Despite the government's best efforts, Brian kept his 24-hour vigil, until he passed away in June 2011. This thought-provoking production directed by Eddie Latter, Associate Director of the highly successful Oldham Theatre Workshop, renowned for producing some of the finest young acting talent.
Fool's Gold - directed by Gerry Flanagan
An enchanting show fueled by envy, jealousy, love, hunger, passion and greed performed at Barbican Theatre in Plymouth. With its boisterous and exciting commedia dell'arte style, Fool's Gold tells the tale of a father trying to marry off his wayward daughter, an inventor attempting to become an alchemist and a bitter servant plotting revenge. Directed by Gerry Flanagan, an experience practitioners in clowning, who has worked with Theatre de Complicite and the David Glass ensemble, and composed by Annemarie Lewis Thomas, Principle of the Music Theatre Academy in London.
The Watchers - directed by Claire Penton
Whitby, August 2009. A hot sultry night and the town is uneasy – people are going missing night after night. In the heat of summer madness, there is a sense of unease underlying the seeming jollity of the holiday makers eating their fish and chips on the pier, and young lovers fighting over sticks of candy floss. But tonight The Watchers have appeared earlier this evening than usual, and there is the smell of trouble in the air. A young girl, Dawn, returns to Whitby with her mother for a holiday but Whitby is no longer the carefree seaside resort of her childhood memories. The Watchers impose a midnight curfew, and the town is jittery. In the heat and madness of this hot summer night, Dawn falls immediately for Jude, who she meets on the cliffs and a romance of sorts is born out of shared grief – Jude's sister is also one of the missing persons. Dawn has a dramatic and life changing 24 hours when she clashes with the Watchers, falls in love for the first time, discovers who she really is after a close encounter with a 250 year old vampire and uncovers the dark secret of the missing people. It's the holiday romance from hell. A 24 hour whirlwind you wouldn’t want to be trapped in. Or would you?
Eight - devised by Kath Burlinson
An innovative and exciting project in rural Cumbria. 36 unique performers aged 16–20 asked questions such as 'Where will I be in the future?'. Using creative, expressive performance the all-female cast will questioned their lives, the world they inhabit now and forecast their futures…and in eight years time they will return to see just how accurate their predictions were. An ambitious and thought-provoking artistic experiment which begins in 2009... and ends in 2017!
with music by Dominic Haslam
Death comes to us all. When he came to Mort, he offered him a job. Meet Mortimer. An awkward, unemployable young man. Soon, however, he gets an offer he can’t refuse – free room, free board, and all for a business that will never be short of customers. He doesn’t even need to be dead to take the position. Being Death's apprentice, however, comes with great responsibilities. Death is a difficult boss to work for and, understandably, Mort begins to make mistakes. Coupled with the fact he's fallen in love with a Princess who should be dead, will Mort regret his unique career choice? Wildly witty and inventive, this new musical adaptation based on Terry Pratchett
's classic Discworld
novel has been developed for the last two years, and is a ‘dead funny’ treat for all ages.
Endangered - directed by Peta Lily
International artists Peta Lily and Jonathan Cooper join YMT to create a new piece of work on the lives of Engangered species. Jonathan has worked extensively for the David Glass Ensemble both in Europe and South East Asia while Peta works across Europe and Asia as a director, clown and facilitator.
Peter Pan - adapted by Nick Stimson from the novel by J.M. Barrie
A new production in development by award-winning team who co-wrote both Frankenstein and Queen of the Underground for YMT. This new musical version will return the story of Peter Pan to its powerful and magical roots and re-invent it for the 21st century - not a pantomime or bedtime story but an unforgettable adventure that takes us from the ordinary to the extraordinary. A story of fear and enchantment discovering a place that time has forgotten.
Missing Mel - book by Kath Burlinson music and lyrics by Conor Mitchell
This extraordinary new show charts the impact on a group of teenagers returning to school to find that the unexpected has happened. Mel's gone. What happened? Where is she? All will be revealed in this altogether different high school musical.
Dead Heat - written by Steven Keyworth composed by Alexander Bermange
Dead Heat is a fast-paced musical comedy thriller, packed with love, revenge, jealousy and murder. Stephen Keyworth has written for EastEnders
, BBC Radio 4
and the Royal Exchange Theatre, and worked for some years as a stand-up comedian. Composer Alexander Bermange's has written for twelve musicals in the UK, Europe and US, and he's comedy song-writer in residence for BBC Radio 4
's Broadcasting House
.
Great Expectations
- written by Gerry Flanagan with lyrics and composed by Annemarie Lewis-Thomas based on the novel by Charles Dickens
A show that is invigorating, comic and heart-breaking with an original blend of song, clowning and physical storytelling theatre in which members of the audience become collaborators in the creation of Pip's world.
The Chosen Room - directed by Syd Ralph written by Marie Jones
and Mark Dougherty
Marie Jones
(Stones in His Pockets
, A Night in November
) joins Riverdance
Musical Director Mark Dougherty to create this unique new show, set on the high seas of cyberspace.
The Silver Bough - directed by Kath Burlinson written by Iain Finlay Macleod
based on the books by F. Marian McNeill
A silver branch of the mystic apple tree, laden with fruit, is your passport to the Otherworld. Based on the books by F Marian McNeil, Scottish composer Gerard McBurney, Creative Director of Chicago Symphony Orchestra
and composer for Théâtre de Complicité, creates a work celebrating and exploring Scotland's long association with pagan festivals and creatures. From banshees to kelpies, changelings to witches, the Horned God to the Cailleach, the one-eyed genius of winter, this fascinating and innovative production begins its development with Youth Music Theatre: UK
featuring 40 of the finest young actors and musicians from across Scotland and the rest of the UK. Fabulous physical ensemble work, fantastical characters, and a cycle of extraordinary songs will transport the audience into a world of moon magic, spells and rites, rituals and Otherworlds that promise to be irresistibly enchanting....
Oh! Carol features the songs and music of Neil Sedaka
whose first great hit was in 1959 and is still a prolific writer today. Inspired by the huge repertoire of Sedaka's songs, our production follows the rehearsal period and tour of the new stage show, Oh! Carol. With Sedaka's great songs, including Calendar Girl, Breaking Up Is Hard to Do, Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen and Oh! Carol, high powered dance routines and feisty dialogue the show traces the emotional journeys of the director, cast and crew as they work together over a four month period.
Devised and written by director Syd Ralph and musical director Mark Dougherty, with choreography by award winning Debbie Maguire, this will be a high energy, rock 'n' roll show! The preparations for the stage show take place in the present, while the action on stage is set in the 1960s. Two shows, two different styles, two sets of characters! A real challenge for the whole company.
Frankenstein - adapted by Nick Stimson from the novel by Mary Shelley
composed by Jimmy Jewell
FRANKENSTEIN is the most famous of all horror stories. For two hundred years this classic tale has fascinated and intrigued readers. FRANKENSTEIN is a full-length gothic horror musical, loosely adapted from the famous novel of the same name by Mary Shelley
. The musical, set in the early part of the 19th century, reflects the high passions, ideals and fevered imagination of that glorious romantic age. The musical tells the story of Victor Frankenstein, a young, brilliant and driven scientist, who is obsessed with the desire to create human life out of dead matter - to bring the perfect human being into a world that is corrupt and far from perfect. Frankenstein assembles a Creature from body parts and brings the Creature alive. But the Creature is more than a collection of body parts and demands that his creator shows him love. Unable to do so, Frankenstein rejects the Creature and so begins a terrible story of betrayal and revenge.
One by one the creature murders all those who are closest to Frankenstein. When confronted he begs his creator to make him a mate, a female counterpart who will understand him and give him the love he so desperately seeks, promising that if he does this thing the Creature will leave him alone forever. When Frankenstein destroys the female he has made then the Creature seeks the ultimate retribution and murders Elizabeth, Victor's bride, on their wedding night. The last scene of the musical sees Frankenstein pursuing the Creature across the frozen icy wastes of the Arctic towards a final encounter and a shattering moment of truth.
Great Expectations
- adapted by Gerry Flanagan from the novel by Charles Dickens
composed by Annemarie Lewis-Thomas
This is Great Expectations as you have never seen it before. One of Charles Dickens' most famous tales, retold with imagination and humour.
"We will create a show that is invigorating, comic and heart-breaking with an original blend of song, clowning and physical theatre in which members of the audience collaborate in the creation of Pip's world. Together we will meet the eccentric Miss Haversham, have our hearts broken by the beautiful Estella, and speculate over the identity of our mysterious benefactor.
This production will play with Dickens’ ingredients yet remain faithful to the language, characterisation and emotion of the original work. The audience's imagination will be awakened by the inventive use of simple props and costume. Dickens’ fantastic caricatures provide great platforms for comedy and satire. There will be irreverence but no parody, comedy but not pantomime. The result will be potent musical theatre."
Rare Dreams - devised by the company
"Our intention is to create a visually stunning, emotionally stirring and profoundly imaginative and uplifting piece of theatre that works to the highest artistic standards. What we do best as a creative team is to create authentic, passionate theatre. We all have years of experience in improvisation and devising and finding form for people's creativity. We are artists who like to experiment, so we are looking for young artists who are open and eager and willing to challenge themselves in new areas of performance. We guarantee you will find yourself doing things you could never have imagined…or dreamed.
Lots of ideas for Rare Dreams are flying around between us and Sonum is already working on some music and songs. In this project you can expect to be amazingly stretched as a singer, actor, dancer, musician, writer or poet. And the way we work creates an atmosphere of trust and safety as well as fun and joy. It's an incredible adventure for us all and we are looking forward to it already."
Force 9½ - devised by the company
"Force 9½ is a brand new piece of musical theatre about a boy whose life, to his growing horror, is turning into a musical!! This is a show which seeks to come to terms with the gap between our everyday world and the land where people sing and dance until the cows come home!!"
Grace Online - composed by Garth McConaghie
MySpace
, Bebo
, Youtube
, how can we now survive without them? Are we succeeding? Is this the only way to express ourselves, to define who we really are? Grace Online is the development of a new work: a postmodern operetta which blurs the lines between modernism and kitsch. It looks at how we strive for authentic individuality in a culture where we are apparently all communicating in the same way, all with the same set of rules: we are all the same!
Pushing the boundaries of modern performance and using multi-media environments, Grace Online will challenge your perspective on music, performance and interaction. We will therefore be looking at online identities, the manner of modern human communication, and the quest for true individuality.
Mort
- adapted by Jenifer Toksvig from the novel by Terry Pratchett
with music by Dominic Haslam
Death comes to us all. When he came to Mort, he offered him a job. After being assured that being dead was not compulsory, Mort accepted. However, he soon found that romantic longings did not mix easily with the responsibilities of being Death's apprentice.
As Mort starts, the titular teenager, whose picture is in the dictionary next to both "gangly" and "geek", has been dragged to the local job fair by his father to be shipped off as someone else's assistant. Mort and his father wait until the final stoke of midnight, when a tall and very thin gentlement -just bones, no skin- shows up with the offer of a lifetime: an opportunity to be Death's apprentice. Mort gets the job, but the opportunities for love are more interesting than the chances to deal death...
Terry Prachett's worldwide popularity as a fantasy and science fiction writer was recognised in 1998 when he received the OBE for services to literature. He has sold more than 50 million books to date, publishing his first work at the age of 15. His novels have since been adapted for TV, film, stage, comics, computer games and radio plays.
The Time of Our Freedom - composed by Conor Mitchell
book and lyrics by Matthew Hurt
"The vanity and pride of their leader costs a nation dearly – they pay the price with the lives of countless young men."
Taking one of the bloodiest stories from the Old Testament
, composer Conor Mitchell and playwright Matthew Hurt will be re-imagining it in a contemporary light and examining its relevance to today. Why should young people suffer because of where they’re born? Or because of the family they’re born into? Is the mass slaughter of innocents ever justified? Through a groundbreaking mix of physical theatre, dance, orchestral music, song and the spoken word, this provocative story will be told in an excitingly theatrical style."
Conor Mitchell is a native of Northern Ireland, born in Lurgan and living in both London and Belfast. He won the Arts Foundation Award 2004 for his work in music theatre including Goblin Market recently performed at the Edinburgh Festival for YMT and Have a Nice Life at the New York Theatre Festival.
- adapted by Nick Stimson from the novel by Mary Shelley
Frankenstein
's monster is the greatest creation of all horror stories. Written by the 18-year old Mary in 1816 it tells the tale of Victor Frankenstein
, a young student, who creates a living monster with no name, who wreaks terrible vengeance on his creator when rejected by a cruel world. Vivid, dramatic, terrifying and very moving, this new adaptation will explore the dark heart of horror.
Missing Melanie - written by Kath Burlinson composed by Conor Mitchell
At a large inner city comprehensive, Melanie goes missing at the beginning of her first term in the sixth form. The resulting impact on her friends, classmates and sisters is dramatic, scary and funny in turns.
Missing Melanie was originally developed from an improvised project in Belfast in summer 2004 and was later shown at the Belfast Festival in October 2004 under the title Over the Edge. A one act version of Missing Melanie was then created by the Goblin Market company during rehearsals at the Edinburgh Festival in 2005 and performed for 2 performnances at the George Square Theatre. For full details of that production and Edinburgh reviews see the Missing Melanie 2005 page in the Archive.
The script and score were further rewritten during 2006 turning Missing Melanie into full length 2 hour show with interval.
This production performed at the Greenwood Theatre in London featured a new cast and was filmed for future DVD production and performance. The show has now been asked to perform at the House of Commons in February 2007 as part of an all party evening to raise awareness of missing and runaway children.
No Stone Unturned - book and lyrics by Dave Hudson composed by Denise Wright
The story of Jacob's Pillow
is a legend that extends back to biblical times. The stone is reputed to have originated in the desert with Jacob himself, travelled o Jerusalem, from there to Spain and eventually Ireland at the legendary Tara where kings who were crowned upon it were said to be assured of longer lives.
From Tara it was borrowed (or taken) around the year 600 AD to Scotland where it soon found a place of honour in Scone
– and, once there, Scottish Kings were crowned upon it. In 1296, Edward the First conquered Scotland – and his greatest prize was the Stone of Scone – Jacob's Pillow! A coronation throne was constructed to accommodate the stone (the British Monarch wouldn’t deign to actually sit on a rock itself). Jacob's Pillow stayed in England for the next six hundred and fifty-plus years.
So – why is this history important? It is important to know the background of this 340 pound stone because it all the more remarkable that four teenage students from Scotland were able to walk into Westminster Abbey
on Christmas Day in 1950 and return the stone to Scotland.
The Stone was discovered, nearly four months later, draped in a Scottish Flag on the altar at Arbroath Abbey
(the sight of the signing of a Scot declaration of Independence in 1320). The four culprits (or Scots might say, Patriots) were discovered, but never prosecuted. They were set free for political reasons, the government at the time not wanting to glorify their cause any more. The stone was returned – on loan – to Scotland in 1996 and currently resides in Edinburgh Castle with the understanding that it will be available for the next coronation, be it Prince Charles or William.
Persona - devised by the company
Persona—a 10-day workshop in which we will create a new dance/music/theatre piece which may be performed outside if the weather permits! The workshop developed participants’ spontaneity and self-expression through dance, music and theatre. We all have a ‘persona’ – a social face which we present to the world, but which may not be who we truly feel we are. By encouraging participants to explore themselves honestly and openly, we may uncover a more authentic self and a more unique and expressive performer who feels free and confident. Finding the form for each person's unique creativity is the purpose of the workshop. Be prepared to take a risk and go out on a limb - that's where the fruit is!
The Girl in the Ashes - directed by Gerry Flanagan
The Girl in the Ashes will create a new piece of music theatre based on Cinderella
themes created in a modern setting and using the skills and techniques of clowning, commedia dell'arte
and puppetry. Some of the material will be drawn from the 2005 production of The Open Door.
The Last Tango - composed by Milos Matic
The changing world of middle Europe at the turn of the century ... a world of the dispossessed, of outsiders, of gypsies of artists and students, a changing political and social world. A group of young performers, existing on the edge of the world, create a phantasmagoria of changing traditions and experiences - perhaps a Last Balkan Tango! This production will offer a rare chance for young people to work with Serbian composer Milos Matic who will be coming to work with the company. Working with Milos will be theatre designer and puppeteer Nick Barnes. With his puppet company Blind Summit Theatre Nick has created some spectacular images and he will be helping young people to create and animate their own characters as well as looking at design concepts for the production.
There will be much research to do and the creative team and the young people will be working together to create a fabulous new show; Milos Matic's knowledge of the region and history will also be very important.
The Edinburgh Festival
run of Goblin Market finished on 28 August 2005 after a 21 performance run lasting over a month. The production received many 4 and 5 star reviews and was seen by over 2,500 people.
Opera, fairytale, musical theatre combine in this spectacular production originally produced at the Lyric Theatre Belfast
. Goblin Market is an 75 minute chamber opera charting the story of two sisters who are ‘tempted’ by goblin merchant men. The poem has been controversial since it was first written in 1862 but this production has been hailed by press and public alike as a huge success, the production setting new standards of excellence in youth theatre. The young cast members are drawn largely from Northern Ireland as well as from mainland Britain.
The Imagineers - directed by Andrew Panton
The Imagineers are all around us from when we are very young. Normally unseen, they facilitate our flights of fancy, our daydreams and our best ideas when we are asleep. They look after us when we’re scared and help to take us to less dangerous places in our sub-conscious in times of stress or unhappiness.
We may tend to use the Imagineers less and less as we get older, but that doesn’t mean they’re not there, just that we think we don’t have as much need for them. Of course, because we are totally unaware of the Imagineers, we take them for granted. We presume that we have the ability to escape our boring lives from time to time……until one day……they’re not there any more. Then it becomes clear just how much we need them…….Ewan is unhappy. OK, he's always understood that when humans grow up, they get so
absorbed in their ‘oh-so-important’ lives that they forget to use their imagination. They think they don’t need people like him anymore. But Ewan can’t understand why Una and all her friends at school seem to have stopped imagining - they’ve stopped dreaming. They’re too busy on their PlayStations or texting to need the Imagineers.
Ewan decides to do something about it. He gathers all the Imagineers together to make a decision. Are they going to let this happen? The answer is no. And that's the day the Imagineers decide to go on strike……….
Missing Melanie - a devised work
Previously known as Over the Edge, Missing Melanie was a further development of a full length book musical with a strong rock/pop score that reflects young people's experiences; a dynamic piece that, unlike many other 'teen' musicals, does not sacrifice emotional depth or musical complexity for easy entertainment value. The narrative follows the disappearance of an 18-year-old girl, Melanie. Set over a period of 3 days, the musical charts the effect of Mel's disappearance on her school community and explores how the relationships between various friends, siblings and peer groups are affected and transformed. Conor Mitchell
, composer, received the Arts Foundations 2004 Award for Musical Composition as a result of his composition of the chamber opera Goblin Market and will team up again with director Kath Burlinson to remount Missing Melanie for a work in progress at the Edinburgh Festival during British Council
week.
Monte Cristo - adapted by Leon Parris
and Jon Smith
from the novel
Alexandre Dumas
Monte Cristo is an adaptation of the classic novel The Count of Monte Cristo
by Alexandre Dumas. Jon Smith and Leon Parris have succeeded in adapting the 875-page epic into a jaw-dropping-fast-paced-roller-coaster-ride full of excitement, revenge and intrigue. Compressed into a two-hour show, this thought-provoking musical brings to life 19th Century France through the trials and tribulations of Edmond Dantes
; a sailor wrongfully accused of a crime he didn't commit. Escaping solitary confinement, Dantes explores and redefines the art of revenge in its most tantalising and dangerous forms. The project will aim to workshop the production for a ten-day period and to explore the text in relation to the novel. Leon Parris
won The Vivian Ellis Award for Best Musical; Jon Smith
writes fiction for both adults and children, and non-fiction books. Director Stephen Jameson is a regular director at LAMDA and is developing this piece for a showing at Warwick School and Birmingham Hippodrome
Patrick Centre.
The Open Door - a devised project
A door opens. A voice is heard. A song is sung. One story unfolds. Then another. Each one an invitation to adventure, love, terror or wonder. Some are old, others new. All brought to life using songs and the simplest of props - pieces of wood, sheets, anything and everything - to create rich, powerful theatre. The OPEN DOOR project was a playful yet challenging, devised project using improvisation, games, puppetry, choral and rhythm work to release creative expression, play and spontaneity. This was focused to create strong characters and atmospheres on a stage rich in honest emotion and comedy. Gerry Flanagan is an actor, director and teacher. He has lived and worked in Italy for two years where he performed as IL CALVONE. Gerry was well known for his work with Commotion Theatre Company, which developed a reputation for its highly inventive, clown theatre. He has performed with Theatre de Complicité, David Glass Ensemble and Clown Selvaggio. For the last ten years he has taught Clown and related subjects at the City Literary Institute, the Circus Space in London and many universities and schools.
Please Look at Me Now - a devised project
A piece of music theatre about the need for attention, the love of conflict, the pleasure of watching and the fun of pretending to be 'truthful'.
A 'JUNK OPERA' that looks with warmth and humour at the loneliness of spectator culture and the seductive power of reality TV and the new celebrity. A sort of 'Big Brother - The Musical'! The production will be developed in Scotland and draw largely on Scottish young people. Peta Lily has an international reputation for her physical theatre work, especially with David Glass. Composer Jimmy Jewell has worked extensively in music theatre (currently composing NHS-The Musical for Plymouth Theatre Royal) as well as popular music, touring with Alice Cooper
, Roger Daltrey
, Billy Preston
and Kele Le Roc. Andy Howitt is the Artistic Director of Scotland's Youth dance agency, YDance. The piece will be shown as a work in progress at the Edinburgh Festival.
Red Hunter - a devised project
Exploring the world of Joe McCarthy, the beat generation, music after Miles Davis
and John Coltrane
, the storylines weave around a lone dancer attracted to a black trumpet player, the relationship between a staff member of the House Unamerican Activities Committee (HUAC) and a demobbed GI, blackmail and a drugs raid. Developed in a ten-day workshop in Newcastle
in 2004, the project will undertake a further 2-week development period in Manchester at Cheetham's School of Music. Composer Tim Sutton and director Vernon Mound have previously collaborated on jazz projects The Late Sleepers and Such Sweet Thunder. Clare Russ is the Artistic Director of the Clare Russ Ensemble and writer Jane Bodie teaches on the Royal Court
Young Writer's Scheme and has a new play opening at Hampstead Theatre
in May 2005.
The Stones are Hatching - adapted by Toby Davies, Jenifer Toksvig and Alexander Rudd
from the novel by Geraldine McCaughrean
"Phelim was the only one, they said, the only one who could save the world from the Hatchlings of the Stoor Worm. The Stoor Worm, who had been asleep for aeons, was beginning to waken. The dreadful sounds of war had roused it, and now its Hatchlings were abroad, terrorizing the people who had forgotten all about them, forgotten all the ancient magics. As Phelim leaves his home and sets out on his quest, the words ring in his ears: 'You are the one. To stop the Worm waking. To do what must be done.'"
This project aims to start development of a new musical adaptation of this extraordinary book, using puppetry as well as conventional musical theatre. Toby Davies has worked on a number of YMT projects (most recently the Studio Tunbridge Wells) as well as for numerous other youth theatre groups, Jenifer Toksvig is a writer and graduate of the Tisch School of Musical Theatre in New York and Alexander Rudd
was winner of the 1997 National Young Composer of the Year award. Geraldine McCaughrean
is a multiple-award-winning author of fiction for children.
Amy's Wedding asked 30 young performers to consider the Puritan emigration from the UK to the New World in 17th and 18th centuries. What conditions at home rendered the potential dangers of a sea crossing preferable to staying put? What sort of people chose to risk everything for the promise of a new and better life? And what was that life like when they got there?
Amy's Wedding focused on a small New England community, bound together by its own beliefs and customs and set within a closed, male-dominated, religious environment. It is the story of the preparations, the hopes and the dreams of one young woman in the community who is about to be married to the young man that her family has chosen for her.
In these communities female chatter was not encouraged unless accompanied by work… "the devil makes work for idle hands"…The making of Amy's "wedding quilt" however, allows for the piece to eavesdrop on what each patch represents to the women and girls and allows the "untellable" to be told. What elements lie hidden in these women's memories?
Amy's wedding ceremony is to be performed by a visiting cleric whose arrival upsets the apparent tranquillity of their lives. Does Amy fall in love with him or does he take advantage of her? The whole community is thrown into complete disarray by the very beliefs and faith that have held them together.
Stylistically, the company created a piece that derives its strengths from almost exclusively female portrayals and performances. The audience learned about the men in the community through the eyes of the women. Musically and choreographically it draws on a rich legacy of existing folk songs and dances that derive from the era.
Over the Edge - devised by the company
Over the Edge was a theatrical and musical exploration of what we find terrifying. Most of us harbour some fear or phobia. Most of us have been scared by something or someone, or have terrified someone else. Some fears are rational, and some are irrational. This project deliberately set out on a safe and supervised journey into the unknown, encouraging participants to explore the nature of terror, to go beyond the known and familiar—to go ‘over the edge’.
It sounds intense, and it was! But it was also great fun. The aim was to form a strong ensemble to create the right atmosphere of trust to enable intensive exploration of oneself and others. Together we generated ideas and contributions which were included in a 'work in progress' presentation in October.
Quantum 2 - directed by Ed Woodall
Our week in Birmingham
was an investigation into music theatre. The group went back to basics, rediscovering the impulses behind the form. Starting with improvisations based on observable things; from the flight of a deflating balloon, the impact that a joke has or even to the story of how we got to Quantum, we devised scenes of comedy and drama and through the stylisation of music we explored how our theatre is enhanced by song, movement and choreography.
Quantum 3 - directed by Jaki McCarrick
Working around a prepared libretto, the team that brought 'Fridge', a hilarious and zany musical piece, to the parting shots of the National Student Drama Festival in April, workshop and stage their brand new work. Belfast
participants will be involved in the theatre making process from start to finish. There will be skills enhancement in song writing, lyric writing, musical theatre performance, choreography and movement, and in drama (Stanislavski based, scene-work and improvisation). It promises to be a rigorous, exciting week.
At the core of YMT's activity are its residential projects, which usually take place during the summer. Young people from around the country - and wider - audition for eight new pieces of musical theatre which are then developed, rehearsed and staged in professional theatres. The young people have a hand in creating and devising original pieces, supported by theatre professionals. The company also runs non-auditioned week-long residential courses in the Easter, summer and autumn school holidays. It also operates a successful outreach programme, working with young people from disadvantaged backgrounds called Music Theatre for All. All of the company's projects are specially commissioned and often developed over two or more summers. Productions often transfer into larger venues during the autumn and spring.
The company was founded in 2003 and is based in Battersea
Battersea
Battersea is an area of the London Borough of Wandsworth, England. It is an inner-city district of South London, situated on the south side of the River Thames, 2.9 miles south-west of Charing Cross. Battersea spans from Fairfield in the west to Queenstown in the east...
, London. It also has a regional office in Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
. Its executive producer is Jon Bromwich. Zoë Wanamaker
Zoe Wanamaker
Zoë Wanamaker, CBE is an American-British actress. She has performed with the Royal Shakespeare Company; in films, including the Harry Potter series; and in a number of television productions, including a long-time role as Susan Harper in the sitcom My Family.-Early life and family:Wanamaker was...
, Peter Duncan
Peter Duncan
Peter Duncan is the name of:* Peter Duncan , former Blue Peter presenter and former UK Chief Scout* Peter Duncan , Scottish Conservative Party politician, former Member of Parliament...
and Rob Brydon
Rob Brydon
Rob Brydon is a BAFTA-nominated Welsh actor, comedian, radio and television presenter, singer and impressionist...
are the Patrons.
Notable former members of the YMT
- Lauren SamuelsLauren SamuelsLauren Samuels is an English singer/actress and was a contestant on the 2010 BBC UK TV series Over the Rainbow. Since appearing on the show she has gone on to appear in West End theatre, including playing the lead role of Sandy in Grease.-Background:Samuels was born Lauren Bonner...
(Over the Rainbow, BBC One, Final 3) - Bronte Barbe (Over the Rainbow, BBC One, Final 10)
- Jos Slovick from the London production of Spring AwakeningSpring AwakeningSpring Awakening is a rock musical adaptation of the controversial 1892 German play of the same title by Frank Wedekind. It features music by Duncan Sheik and a book and lyrics by Steven Sater. Set in late-19th century Germany, it concerns teenagers who are discovering the inner and outer tumult of...
- Lucy Griffiths (born 1987)
- Charlotte Ritchie from All AngelsAll AngelsAll Angels are a British classical crossover group formed in 2006, consisting of Daisy Chute, Rachel Fabri, Melanie Nakhla andCharlotte Ritchie....
- Joe Douglas (Theatre Director)
- Matt Brinkler (Angus, Thongs & Perfect Snogging)
- Ed SheeranEd SheeranEdward Christopher "Ed" Sheeran is an English singer-songwriter who is currently signed to Asylum / Atlantic Records. Sheeran broke through commercially in June 2011, when his debut single "The A Team" debuted at number 3 on the UK chart.-Early life:Sheeran was born in Halifax, West Yorkshire to...
Singer / Songwriter - Freya WilsonFreya Wilson-Background:Wilson attends the St Paul's Girls' School in Brook Green, Hammersmith. She is a prestigious reader and won the Old Possum's Poetry Prize in her category in 2011.-Career:...
Actress
2011
Korczak - by Nick Stimson and Chris WilliamsThe musical re-telling of the life of Janusz Korczak
Janusz Korczak
Janusz Korczak, the pen name of Henryk Goldszmit was a Polish-Jewish children's author, and pediatrician known as Pan Doktor or Stary Doktor...
presented at the Rose Theatre, Kingston
Rose Theatre, Kingston
The Rose Theatre, Kingston is a theatre on Kingston High Street in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames. The theatre seats 899 around a wide, lozenge shaped stage....
Out There - by James Bourne
James Bourne
James Elliot Bourne is an English singer-songwriter and co-founder of pop bands Son of Dork and Busted. He is currently pursuing a solo career under the name Future Boy. His albums have sold over six million copies...
and Elliot Davis
Elliot Davis
Elliot Davis is a British composer, musician and music documentary maker.- Biography :Davis started his career transcribing musical ideas for Lionel Bart. He then went on to work in the West End of London in a musical capacity on Miss Saigon, Cats, Les Misérables, Blood Brothers and Jesus Christ...
A new lunar musical exploring the relationships between generations presented at South Hill Park Arts Centre, Bracknell.
Terry Pratchett
Terry Pratchett
Sir Terence David John "Terry" Pratchett, OBE is an English novelist, known for his frequently comical work in the fantasy genre. He is best known for his popular and long-running Discworld series of comic fantasy novels...
's Mort - The Musical - by Jenifer Toksvig and Dominic Hasslam
An adaptation of Pratchett's classic Discworld
Discworld
Discworld is a comic fantasy book series by English author Sir Terry Pratchett, set on the Discworld, a flat world balanced on the backs of four elephants which, in turn, stand on the back of a giant turtle, Great A'Tuin. The books frequently parody, or at least take inspiration from, J. R. R....
novel about Death's apprentice, presented at Greenwich Theatre
Greenwich Theatre
The Greenwich Theatre is a local theatre located in Croom's Hill close to the centre of Greenwich in south-east London.-Building history:The building was originally a music hall created in 1855 as part of the neighbouring Rose and Crown public house, but the Rose and Crown Music Hall was...
, London.
Jabberwocky
Jabberwocky
"Jabberwocky" is a nonsense verse poem written by Lewis Carroll in his 1872 novel Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There, a sequel to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland...
by Rebecca Applin and Susanna Pearse
Presented at the Barbican Theatre, Plymouth.
Love and Madness by Gerry Flanagan and James Atherton
Presented at the Barbican Theatre, Plymouth.
Tales from the World's End adapted by Kath Burlinson and Mairi Cambpell
Presented at the Aberdeen International Youth Festival.
Macbeth
Macbeth
The Tragedy of Macbeth is a play by William Shakespeare about a regicide and its aftermath. It is Shakespeare's shortest tragedy and is believed to have been written sometime between 1603 and 1607...
- The Musical adapted by Stuart Harvey and Garth McConaghie
Developed and devised in Leeds and presented at The Drill Hall
The Drill Hall
The Drill Hall is a theatrical venue in Bloomsbury in the London Borough of Camden, just to the east of Tottenham Court Road. It contains rehearsal rooms and meeting rooms, and two small theatres - the 200-seat Drill Hall 1 and a 50-seat studio space, known as Drill Hall 2. Its name derives from...
in London in October 2011.
2010
Peter PanPeter Pan
Peter Pan is a character created by Scottish novelist and playwright J. M. Barrie . A mischievous boy who can fly and magically refuses to grow up, Peter Pan spends his never-ending childhood adventuring on the small island of Neverland as the leader of his gang the Lost Boys, interacting with...
- by Nick Stimson and Jimmy Jewell
The Savage
The Savage
The Savage is a 1952 Western film directed by George Marshall and starring Charlton Heston. Much of the film was shot in the Black Hills of South Dakota.-Plot synopsis:...
- adapted by Jenifer Toksvig, Harvey Brough and Leah Housman
Scherazade - by Gerry Flanagan and James Atherton
A Song for Eurydice
Eurydice
Eurydice in Greek mythology, was an oak nymph or one of the daughters of Apollo . She was the wife of Orpheus, who loved her dearly; on their wedding day, he played joyful songs as his bride danced through the meadow. One day, a satyr saw and pursued Eurydice, who stepped on a venomous snake,...
- by Stuart Harvey and Garth McConaghie
Gershwin's Gals - adapted by Conor Mitchell
Conor Mitchell
Conor Mitchell is an Irish composer and writer. His play, The Dummy Tree, was commissioned by the Royal National Theatre for their 2009 New Connections series.He is currently working on a new solo musical for Nigel Richards....
and Rachel O'Riordan
A Beggar's Opera - adapted by Nick Stimson and Jimmy Jewell
Ghosts of the Past - by Craig Adams and Clare Prenton
The Dummy Tree - by Conor Mitchell
Conor Mitchell
Conor Mitchell is an Irish composer and writer. His play, The Dummy Tree, was commissioned by the Royal National Theatre for their 2009 New Connections series.He is currently working on a new solo musical for Nigel Richards....
2009
Loserville: The Musical - by James BourneJames Bourne
James Elliot Bourne is an English singer-songwriter and co-founder of pop bands Son of Dork and Busted. He is currently pursuing a solo career under the name Future Boy. His albums have sold over six million copies...
and Elliot Davis
Elliot Davis
Elliot Davis is a British composer, musician and music documentary maker.- Biography :Davis started his career transcribing musical ideas for Lionel Bart. He then went on to work in the West End of London in a musical capacity on Miss Saigon, Cats, Les Misérables, Blood Brothers and Jesus Christ...
Michael Dork is 17. They call him nerd, geek, slacker. Socially marginalised by the entire school and constantly picked on by Eddie, the coolest boy in school, Michael is desperate to find his ticket outta Loserville. But when stunning new girl Holly arrives, Michael is introduced to a whole new world of cool. This bold and brilliant new rock musical - performed by 35 of the UK's most talented young performers and created by James Bourne
James Bourne
James Elliot Bourne is an English singer-songwriter and co-founder of pop bands Son of Dork and Busted. He is currently pursuing a solo career under the name Future Boy. His albums have sold over six million copies...
and Elliot Davis
Elliot Davis
Elliot Davis is a British composer, musician and music documentary maker.- Biography :Davis started his career transcribing musical ideas for Lionel Bart. He then went on to work in the West End of London in a musical capacity on Miss Saigon, Cats, Les Misérables, Blood Brothers and Jesus Christ...
- is a colourful and catchy ride through the life of the underdog. An original anti-hero tale, Loserville: the Musical is a story for those who feel they never quite fit in! As part of the bands Busted and Son of Dork
Son of Dork
Son of Dork were a British pop punk band formed by James Bourne after his previous band, Busted, split in January 2005. The name of the band came from a scene in the movie Problem Child where the chant "Son of Dork" is used. Their debut single, "Ticket Outta Loserville", was released in November...
, James Bourne
James Bourne
James Elliot Bourne is an English singer-songwriter and co-founder of pop bands Son of Dork and Busted. He is currently pursuing a solo career under the name Future Boy. His albums have sold over six million copies...
has had eighteen consecutive Top 3 singles, and has written for many other artists including McFly
McFly
McFly are an English pop rock band who first found fame in 2004. The band consists of Tom Fletcher , Danny Jones , Dougie Poynter and Harry Judd . They were signed to the Island Records label from their 2004 launch until December 2007, before creating their own label, Super Records...
and Boyzone
Boyzone
Boyzone are an Irish boy band comprising Keith Duffy, Mikey Graham, Ronan Keating,Shane Lynch, and formerly Stephen Gately. Boyzone have 19 singles in the top 40 UK charts and 21 singles in the Ire charts. The group currently have 6 UK number one singles and 9 number one singles in Ireland with 12...
. His albums have sold over six million copies. Presented in association with South Hill Park Arts Centre.
A Winter's Tale - music and lyrics by Howard Goodall
Howard Goodall
210px|thumb|Howard Goodall at St. John the Baptist Church in Devon, United Kingdom, May 2009Howard Lindsay Goodall CBE is a British composer of musicals, choral music and music for television...
book by Nick Stimson based on the play by William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
Shakespeare's classic tale of jealousy, loss, love and reconciliation is given a magical reworking by YMT this summer. Set in the contrasting locations of the stark northern climate of an old-style Soviet state and the relaxed warmth of the Mediterranean, comedy and tragedy walk hand in hand towards the most extraordinary and unexpected of conclusions. With music by award-winning composer and broadcaster Howard Goodall
Howard Goodall
210px|thumb|Howard Goodall at St. John the Baptist Church in Devon, United Kingdom, May 2009Howard Lindsay Goodall CBE is a British composer of musicals, choral music and music for television...
and directed by Nick Stimson, Associate Director at the Theatre Royal, Plymouth
Theatre Royal, Plymouth
The Theatre Royal in Plymouth, Devon, England is "the largest and best attended regional producing theatre in the UK and the leading promoter of theatre in the south west", according to Arts Council England...
. Howard Goodall
Howard Goodall
210px|thumb|Howard Goodall at St. John the Baptist Church in Devon, United Kingdom, May 2009Howard Lindsay Goodall CBE is a British composer of musicals, choral music and music for television...
is one of Britain's most distinguished and versatile composers. He's the man behind the music for some of the best known TV theme tunes (The Vicar of Dibley, Blackadder and Red Dwarf to name but a few) as well as musicals such as The Hired Man and Two Cities. He is England's first ever National Ambassador for Singing and Classic FM's Composer-in-Residence for 2009.
The Chosen Room - directed by Syd Ralph written by Marie Jones
Marie Jones
Sarah Marie Jones is a Belfast-based actress and playwright. Born into a working class family, Jones was an actress for several years before turning her hand to writing.-Charabanc/DubbelJoint:...
and Mark Dougherty
Originally developed in 2008, The Chosen Room explored the high seas of Cyberspace. Set in a futuristic social networking fantasy world, the mysterious Vicki Green selects the ten most eccentric companions for her Chosen Room. But who is the tall dark handsome stranger walking through her virtual door? This summer, perhaps YMT will let us in on the secret. Writer Marie Jones
Marie Jones
Sarah Marie Jones is a Belfast-based actress and playwright. Born into a working class family, Jones was an actress for several years before turning her hand to writing.-Charabanc/DubbelJoint:...
is best known for her huge West End hit Stones in His Pockets
Stones in His Pockets
Stones in His Pockets is a two-hander written in 1996 by Marie Jones for the DubbleJoint Theatre Company in Dublin, Ireland.-Plot summary:...
and for her recent successes A Night in November
A Night in November
A Night in November is a 1994 monodrama written by Marie Jones about one man's struggle with national identity during The Troubles in Northern Ireland.-Plot summary:...
and Women on the Verge of HRT. Composer and Musical Director Mark Dougherty was the musical director on the international hit dance musical Riverdance
Riverdance
Riverdance is a theatrical show consisting of traditional Irish stepdancing, notable for its rapid leg movements while body and arms are kept largely stationary. It originated as an interval performance during the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest, a moment that is still considered a significant...
and toured America with the hugely successful Celtic Thunder
Celtic Thunder
Celtic Thunder is a singing group composed of male soloists who perform both solo and ensemble numbers. Celtic Thunder debuted in August 2007 at The Helix in Dublin, Ireland...
with two hit singles simultaneously in the American charts.
Peter Pan - adapted by Nick Stimson from the novel by J.M. Barrie
YMT's exhilarating musical version of Peter Pan
Peter Pan
Peter Pan is a character created by Scottish novelist and playwright J. M. Barrie . A mischievous boy who can fly and magically refuses to grow up, Peter Pan spends his never-ending childhood adventuring on the small island of Neverland as the leader of his gang the Lost Boys, interacting with...
, first developed in 2008 in Plymouth, and to Aberdeen, returning this classic story to its powerful and magical roots and re-inventing it for the 21st century. Not a pantomime or bedtime story, but an unforgettable adventure that takes us from the ordinary to the extraordinary. Nick Stimson is a regular Director with YMT and has written and directed extensively for the Plymouth Theatre Royal, The Northcott Exeter and for numerous youth theatres around the country. Jimmy Jewell has worked in fifteen countries as a composer, arranger, orchestrator and conductor; he has appeared at the Radio City Music Hall, the Albert Hall and the Sydney Superdrome amongst many other venues. The performance was presented at the Aberdeen International Youth Festival, a celebration of youthful creativity and innovation.
According to Brian Haw... - directed by Eddie Latter
This brand new musical delves into a world of politics and protests, looking beyond the headlines to discover the impact of war on young people across the Globe. Between 2002 and 2011, Brian Haw
Brian Haw
Brian William Haw was an English protester and peace campaigner who lived for almost ten years in a camp in London's Parliament Square from 2001, in a protest against UK and US foreign policy...
remained a permanent thorn in the side of the British Government, camped out in Parliament Square opposite the House of Commons, protesting against war and foreign policy. Despite the government's best efforts, Brian kept his 24-hour vigil, until he passed away in June 2011. This thought-provoking production directed by Eddie Latter, Associate Director of the highly successful Oldham Theatre Workshop, renowned for producing some of the finest young acting talent.
Fool's Gold - directed by Gerry Flanagan
An enchanting show fueled by envy, jealousy, love, hunger, passion and greed performed at Barbican Theatre in Plymouth. With its boisterous and exciting commedia dell'arte style, Fool's Gold tells the tale of a father trying to marry off his wayward daughter, an inventor attempting to become an alchemist and a bitter servant plotting revenge. Directed by Gerry Flanagan, an experience practitioners in clowning, who has worked with Theatre de Complicite and the David Glass ensemble, and composed by Annemarie Lewis Thomas, Principle of the Music Theatre Academy in London.
The Watchers - directed by Claire Penton
Whitby, August 2009. A hot sultry night and the town is uneasy – people are going missing night after night. In the heat of summer madness, there is a sense of unease underlying the seeming jollity of the holiday makers eating their fish and chips on the pier, and young lovers fighting over sticks of candy floss. But tonight The Watchers have appeared earlier this evening than usual, and there is the smell of trouble in the air. A young girl, Dawn, returns to Whitby with her mother for a holiday but Whitby is no longer the carefree seaside resort of her childhood memories. The Watchers impose a midnight curfew, and the town is jittery. In the heat and madness of this hot summer night, Dawn falls immediately for Jude, who she meets on the cliffs and a romance of sorts is born out of shared grief – Jude's sister is also one of the missing persons. Dawn has a dramatic and life changing 24 hours when she clashes with the Watchers, falls in love for the first time, discovers who she really is after a close encounter with a 250 year old vampire and uncovers the dark secret of the missing people. It's the holiday romance from hell. A 24 hour whirlwind you wouldn’t want to be trapped in. Or would you?
Eight - devised by Kath Burlinson
An innovative and exciting project in rural Cumbria. 36 unique performers aged 16–20 asked questions such as 'Where will I be in the future?'. Using creative, expressive performance the all-female cast will questioned their lives, the world they inhabit now and forecast their futures…and in eight years time they will return to see just how accurate their predictions were. An ambitious and thought-provoking artistic experiment which begins in 2009... and ends in 2017!
2008
Mort - adapted by Jenifer Toksvig from the novel by Terry PratchettTerry Pratchett
Sir Terence David John "Terry" Pratchett, OBE is an English novelist, known for his frequently comical work in the fantasy genre. He is best known for his popular and long-running Discworld series of comic fantasy novels...
with music by Dominic Haslam
Death comes to us all. When he came to Mort, he offered him a job. Meet Mortimer. An awkward, unemployable young man. Soon, however, he gets an offer he can’t refuse – free room, free board, and all for a business that will never be short of customers. He doesn’t even need to be dead to take the position. Being Death's apprentice, however, comes with great responsibilities. Death is a difficult boss to work for and, understandably, Mort begins to make mistakes. Coupled with the fact he's fallen in love with a Princess who should be dead, will Mort regret his unique career choice? Wildly witty and inventive, this new musical adaptation based on Terry Pratchett
Terry Pratchett
Sir Terence David John "Terry" Pratchett, OBE is an English novelist, known for his frequently comical work in the fantasy genre. He is best known for his popular and long-running Discworld series of comic fantasy novels...
's classic Discworld
Discworld
Discworld is a comic fantasy book series by English author Sir Terry Pratchett, set on the Discworld, a flat world balanced on the backs of four elephants which, in turn, stand on the back of a giant turtle, Great A'Tuin. The books frequently parody, or at least take inspiration from, J. R. R....
novel has been developed for the last two years, and is a ‘dead funny’ treat for all ages.
Endangered - directed by Peta Lily
International artists Peta Lily and Jonathan Cooper join YMT to create a new piece of work on the lives of Engangered species. Jonathan has worked extensively for the David Glass Ensemble both in Europe and South East Asia while Peta works across Europe and Asia as a director, clown and facilitator.
Peter Pan - adapted by Nick Stimson from the novel by J.M. Barrie
A new production in development by award-winning team who co-wrote both Frankenstein and Queen of the Underground for YMT. This new musical version will return the story of Peter Pan to its powerful and magical roots and re-invent it for the 21st century - not a pantomime or bedtime story but an unforgettable adventure that takes us from the ordinary to the extraordinary. A story of fear and enchantment discovering a place that time has forgotten.
Missing Mel - book by Kath Burlinson music and lyrics by Conor Mitchell
Conor Mitchell
Conor Mitchell is an Irish composer and writer. His play, The Dummy Tree, was commissioned by the Royal National Theatre for their 2009 New Connections series.He is currently working on a new solo musical for Nigel Richards....
This extraordinary new show charts the impact on a group of teenagers returning to school to find that the unexpected has happened. Mel's gone. What happened? Where is she? All will be revealed in this altogether different high school musical.
Dead Heat - written by Steven Keyworth composed by Alexander Bermange
Dead Heat is a fast-paced musical comedy thriller, packed with love, revenge, jealousy and murder. Stephen Keyworth has written for EastEnders
EastEnders
EastEnders is a British television soap opera, first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 19 February 1985 and continuing to today. EastEnders storylines examine the domestic and professional lives of the people who live and work in the fictional London Borough of Walford in the East End...
, BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
and the Royal Exchange Theatre, and worked for some years as a stand-up comedian. Composer Alexander Bermange's has written for twelve musicals in the UK, Europe and US, and he's comedy song-writer in residence for BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
's Broadcasting House
Broadcasting House (radio programme)
Broadcasting House is a current affairs programme on BBC Radio 4, presented by Paddy O'Connell. It is broadcast every Sunday between 09:00 and 10:00....
.
Great Expectations
Great Expectations
Great Expectations is a novel by Charles Dickens. It was first published in serial form in the publication All the Year Round from 1 December 1860 to August 1861. It has been adapted for stage and screen over 250 times....
- written by Gerry Flanagan with lyrics and composed by Annemarie Lewis-Thomas based on the novel by Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...
A show that is invigorating, comic and heart-breaking with an original blend of song, clowning and physical storytelling theatre in which members of the audience become collaborators in the creation of Pip's world.
The Chosen Room - directed by Syd Ralph written by Marie Jones
Marie Jones
Sarah Marie Jones is a Belfast-based actress and playwright. Born into a working class family, Jones was an actress for several years before turning her hand to writing.-Charabanc/DubbelJoint:...
and Mark Dougherty
Marie Jones
Marie Jones
Sarah Marie Jones is a Belfast-based actress and playwright. Born into a working class family, Jones was an actress for several years before turning her hand to writing.-Charabanc/DubbelJoint:...
(Stones in His Pockets
Stones in His Pockets
Stones in His Pockets is a two-hander written in 1996 by Marie Jones for the DubbleJoint Theatre Company in Dublin, Ireland.-Plot summary:...
, A Night in November
A Night in November
A Night in November is a 1994 monodrama written by Marie Jones about one man's struggle with national identity during The Troubles in Northern Ireland.-Plot summary:...
) joins Riverdance
Riverdance
Riverdance is a theatrical show consisting of traditional Irish stepdancing, notable for its rapid leg movements while body and arms are kept largely stationary. It originated as an interval performance during the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest, a moment that is still considered a significant...
Musical Director Mark Dougherty to create this unique new show, set on the high seas of cyberspace.
The Silver Bough - directed by Kath Burlinson written by Iain Finlay Macleod
Iain Finlay Macleod
Iain Finlay Macleod is a Scottish writer from the Isle of Lewis where he currently lives.Macleod's first full length play was called "Homers" and was produced by the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh in 2002, directed by Philip Howard. Macleod then went on to work regularly with the Traverse theatre on...
based on the books by F. Marian McNeill
F. Marian McNeill
F. Marian McNeill was born in 1885 at Holm in Orkney where her father was the minister of the Free Presbyterian Kirk. She was a Scottish folklorist, best known for writing The Silver Bough , a four-volume set of Scottish folklore, considered essential by many in the field.She is also known as the...
A silver branch of the mystic apple tree, laden with fruit, is your passport to the Otherworld. Based on the books by F Marian McNeil, Scottish composer Gerard McBurney, Creative Director of Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Chicago, Illinois. It is one of the five American orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five". Founded in 1891, the Symphony makes its home at Orchestra Hall in Chicago and plays a summer season at the Ravinia Festival...
and composer for Théâtre de Complicité, creates a work celebrating and exploring Scotland's long association with pagan festivals and creatures. From banshees to kelpies, changelings to witches, the Horned God to the Cailleach, the one-eyed genius of winter, this fascinating and innovative production begins its development with Youth Music Theatre: UK
Youth Music Theatre: UK
Youth Music Theatre UK is the United Kingdom's biggest provider of music theatre projects for young people. It is one of nine recognised National Youth Music Organisations ....
featuring 40 of the finest young actors and musicians from across Scotland and the rest of the UK. Fabulous physical ensemble work, fantastical characters, and a cycle of extraordinary songs will transport the audience into a world of moon magic, spells and rites, rituals and Otherworlds that promise to be irresistibly enchanting....
2007
Oh! Carol - devised and written by Syd Ralph and Mark Dougherty with songs by Neil SedakaNeil Sedaka
Neil Sedaka is an American pop/rock singer, pianist, and composer. His career has spanned nearly 55 years, during which time he has sold millions of records as an artist and has written or co-written over 500 songs for himself and other artists, collaborating mostly with lyricists Howard...
Oh! Carol features the songs and music of Neil Sedaka
Neil Sedaka
Neil Sedaka is an American pop/rock singer, pianist, and composer. His career has spanned nearly 55 years, during which time he has sold millions of records as an artist and has written or co-written over 500 songs for himself and other artists, collaborating mostly with lyricists Howard...
whose first great hit was in 1959 and is still a prolific writer today. Inspired by the huge repertoire of Sedaka's songs, our production follows the rehearsal period and tour of the new stage show, Oh! Carol. With Sedaka's great songs, including Calendar Girl, Breaking Up Is Hard to Do, Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen and Oh! Carol, high powered dance routines and feisty dialogue the show traces the emotional journeys of the director, cast and crew as they work together over a four month period.
Devised and written by director Syd Ralph and musical director Mark Dougherty, with choreography by award winning Debbie Maguire, this will be a high energy, rock 'n' roll show! The preparations for the stage show take place in the present, while the action on stage is set in the 1960s. Two shows, two different styles, two sets of characters! A real challenge for the whole company.
Frankenstein - adapted by Nick Stimson from the novel by Mary Shelley
Mary Shelley
Mary Shelley was a British novelist, short story writer, dramatist, essayist, biographer, and travel writer, best known for her Gothic novel Frankenstein: or, The Modern Prometheus . She also edited and promoted the works of her husband, the Romantic poet and philosopher Percy Bysshe Shelley...
composed by Jimmy Jewell
FRANKENSTEIN is the most famous of all horror stories. For two hundred years this classic tale has fascinated and intrigued readers. FRANKENSTEIN is a full-length gothic horror musical, loosely adapted from the famous novel of the same name by Mary Shelley
Mary Shelley
Mary Shelley was a British novelist, short story writer, dramatist, essayist, biographer, and travel writer, best known for her Gothic novel Frankenstein: or, The Modern Prometheus . She also edited and promoted the works of her husband, the Romantic poet and philosopher Percy Bysshe Shelley...
. The musical, set in the early part of the 19th century, reflects the high passions, ideals and fevered imagination of that glorious romantic age. The musical tells the story of Victor Frankenstein, a young, brilliant and driven scientist, who is obsessed with the desire to create human life out of dead matter - to bring the perfect human being into a world that is corrupt and far from perfect. Frankenstein assembles a Creature from body parts and brings the Creature alive. But the Creature is more than a collection of body parts and demands that his creator shows him love. Unable to do so, Frankenstein rejects the Creature and so begins a terrible story of betrayal and revenge.
One by one the creature murders all those who are closest to Frankenstein. When confronted he begs his creator to make him a mate, a female counterpart who will understand him and give him the love he so desperately seeks, promising that if he does this thing the Creature will leave him alone forever. When Frankenstein destroys the female he has made then the Creature seeks the ultimate retribution and murders Elizabeth, Victor's bride, on their wedding night. The last scene of the musical sees Frankenstein pursuing the Creature across the frozen icy wastes of the Arctic towards a final encounter and a shattering moment of truth.
Great Expectations
Great Expectations
Great Expectations is a novel by Charles Dickens. It was first published in serial form in the publication All the Year Round from 1 December 1860 to August 1861. It has been adapted for stage and screen over 250 times....
- adapted by Gerry Flanagan from the novel by Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...
composed by Annemarie Lewis-Thomas
This is Great Expectations as you have never seen it before. One of Charles Dickens' most famous tales, retold with imagination and humour.
"We will create a show that is invigorating, comic and heart-breaking with an original blend of song, clowning and physical theatre in which members of the audience collaborate in the creation of Pip's world. Together we will meet the eccentric Miss Haversham, have our hearts broken by the beautiful Estella, and speculate over the identity of our mysterious benefactor.
This production will play with Dickens’ ingredients yet remain faithful to the language, characterisation and emotion of the original work. The audience's imagination will be awakened by the inventive use of simple props and costume. Dickens’ fantastic caricatures provide great platforms for comedy and satire. There will be irreverence but no parody, comedy but not pantomime. The result will be potent musical theatre."
Rare Dreams - devised by the company
"Our intention is to create a visually stunning, emotionally stirring and profoundly imaginative and uplifting piece of theatre that works to the highest artistic standards. What we do best as a creative team is to create authentic, passionate theatre. We all have years of experience in improvisation and devising and finding form for people's creativity. We are artists who like to experiment, so we are looking for young artists who are open and eager and willing to challenge themselves in new areas of performance. We guarantee you will find yourself doing things you could never have imagined…or dreamed.
Lots of ideas for Rare Dreams are flying around between us and Sonum is already working on some music and songs. In this project you can expect to be amazingly stretched as a singer, actor, dancer, musician, writer or poet. And the way we work creates an atmosphere of trust and safety as well as fun and joy. It's an incredible adventure for us all and we are looking forward to it already."
Force 9½ - devised by the company
"Force 9½ is a brand new piece of musical theatre about a boy whose life, to his growing horror, is turning into a musical!! This is a show which seeks to come to terms with the gap between our everyday world and the land where people sing and dance until the cows come home!!"
Grace Online - composed by Garth McConaghie
MySpace
MySpace
Myspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....
, Bebo
Bebo
Bebo is a social networking website launched in July 2005. It is currently owned and operated by Criterion Capital Partners after taking over from AOL in June 2010....
, Youtube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
, how can we now survive without them? Are we succeeding? Is this the only way to express ourselves, to define who we really are? Grace Online is the development of a new work: a postmodern operetta which blurs the lines between modernism and kitsch. It looks at how we strive for authentic individuality in a culture where we are apparently all communicating in the same way, all with the same set of rules: we are all the same!
Pushing the boundaries of modern performance and using multi-media environments, Grace Online will challenge your perspective on music, performance and interaction. We will therefore be looking at online identities, the manner of modern human communication, and the quest for true individuality.
Mort
Mort
Mort is a Discworld novel by Terry Pratchett. Published in 1987, it is the fourth Discworld novel and the first to focus on the Death of the Discworld, who only appeared as a side character in the previous novels...
- adapted by Jenifer Toksvig from the novel by Terry Pratchett
Terry Pratchett
Sir Terence David John "Terry" Pratchett, OBE is an English novelist, known for his frequently comical work in the fantasy genre. He is best known for his popular and long-running Discworld series of comic fantasy novels...
with music by Dominic Haslam
Death comes to us all. When he came to Mort, he offered him a job. After being assured that being dead was not compulsory, Mort accepted. However, he soon found that romantic longings did not mix easily with the responsibilities of being Death's apprentice.
As Mort starts, the titular teenager, whose picture is in the dictionary next to both "gangly" and "geek", has been dragged to the local job fair by his father to be shipped off as someone else's assistant. Mort and his father wait until the final stoke of midnight, when a tall and very thin gentlement -just bones, no skin- shows up with the offer of a lifetime: an opportunity to be Death's apprentice. Mort gets the job, but the opportunities for love are more interesting than the chances to deal death...
Terry Prachett's worldwide popularity as a fantasy and science fiction writer was recognised in 1998 when he received the OBE for services to literature. He has sold more than 50 million books to date, publishing his first work at the age of 15. His novels have since been adapted for TV, film, stage, comics, computer games and radio plays.
The Time of Our Freedom - composed by Conor Mitchell
Conor Mitchell
Conor Mitchell is an Irish composer and writer. His play, The Dummy Tree, was commissioned by the Royal National Theatre for their 2009 New Connections series.He is currently working on a new solo musical for Nigel Richards....
book and lyrics by Matthew Hurt
"The vanity and pride of their leader costs a nation dearly – they pay the price with the lives of countless young men."
Taking one of the bloodiest stories from the Old Testament
Old Testament
The Old Testament, of which Christians hold different views, is a Christian term for the religious writings of ancient Israel held sacred and inspired by Christians which overlaps with the 24-book canon of the Masoretic Text of Judaism...
, composer Conor Mitchell and playwright Matthew Hurt will be re-imagining it in a contemporary light and examining its relevance to today. Why should young people suffer because of where they’re born? Or because of the family they’re born into? Is the mass slaughter of innocents ever justified? Through a groundbreaking mix of physical theatre, dance, orchestral music, song and the spoken word, this provocative story will be told in an excitingly theatrical style."
Conor Mitchell is a native of Northern Ireland, born in Lurgan and living in both London and Belfast. He won the Arts Foundation Award 2004 for his work in music theatre including Goblin Market recently performed at the Edinburgh Festival for YMT and Have a Nice Life at the New York Theatre Festival.
2006
FrankensteinFrankenstein
Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus is a novel about a failed experiment that produced a monster, written by Mary Shelley, with inserts of poems by Percy Bysshe Shelley. Shelley started writing the story when she was eighteen, and the novel was published when she was twenty-one. The first...
- adapted by Nick Stimson from the novel by Mary Shelley
Mary Shelley
Mary Shelley was a British novelist, short story writer, dramatist, essayist, biographer, and travel writer, best known for her Gothic novel Frankenstein: or, The Modern Prometheus . She also edited and promoted the works of her husband, the Romantic poet and philosopher Percy Bysshe Shelley...
Frankenstein
Frankenstein
Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus is a novel about a failed experiment that produced a monster, written by Mary Shelley, with inserts of poems by Percy Bysshe Shelley. Shelley started writing the story when she was eighteen, and the novel was published when she was twenty-one. The first...
's monster is the greatest creation of all horror stories. Written by the 18-year old Mary in 1816 it tells the tale of Victor Frankenstein
Frankenstein
Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus is a novel about a failed experiment that produced a monster, written by Mary Shelley, with inserts of poems by Percy Bysshe Shelley. Shelley started writing the story when she was eighteen, and the novel was published when she was twenty-one. The first...
, a young student, who creates a living monster with no name, who wreaks terrible vengeance on his creator when rejected by a cruel world. Vivid, dramatic, terrifying and very moving, this new adaptation will explore the dark heart of horror.
Missing Melanie - written by Kath Burlinson composed by Conor Mitchell
Conor Mitchell
Conor Mitchell is an Irish composer and writer. His play, The Dummy Tree, was commissioned by the Royal National Theatre for their 2009 New Connections series.He is currently working on a new solo musical for Nigel Richards....
At a large inner city comprehensive, Melanie goes missing at the beginning of her first term in the sixth form. The resulting impact on her friends, classmates and sisters is dramatic, scary and funny in turns.
Missing Melanie was originally developed from an improvised project in Belfast in summer 2004 and was later shown at the Belfast Festival in October 2004 under the title Over the Edge. A one act version of Missing Melanie was then created by the Goblin Market company during rehearsals at the Edinburgh Festival in 2005 and performed for 2 performnances at the George Square Theatre. For full details of that production and Edinburgh reviews see the Missing Melanie 2005 page in the Archive.
The script and score were further rewritten during 2006 turning Missing Melanie into full length 2 hour show with interval.
This production performed at the Greenwood Theatre in London featured a new cast and was filmed for future DVD production and performance. The show has now been asked to perform at the House of Commons in February 2007 as part of an all party evening to raise awareness of missing and runaway children.
No Stone Unturned - book and lyrics by Dave Hudson composed by Denise Wright
The story of Jacob's Pillow
Jacob's Pillow
Jacob’s Pillow Dance is a dance center, school and performance space located in Becket, Massachusetts, in the Berkshires. The organization is known for the oldest internationally acclaimed summer dance festival in the United States. The facility also includes a professional school and extensive...
is a legend that extends back to biblical times. The stone is reputed to have originated in the desert with Jacob himself, travelled o Jerusalem, from there to Spain and eventually Ireland at the legendary Tara where kings who were crowned upon it were said to be assured of longer lives.
From Tara it was borrowed (or taken) around the year 600 AD to Scotland where it soon found a place of honour in Scone
Scone
-Food:* Scone , a type of quick-bread, typically eaten with jam and cream.* Drop-scone, British word for a small pancake-People:*Barbara Young, Baroness Young of Old Scone , Labour member of the House of Lords...
– and, once there, Scottish Kings were crowned upon it. In 1296, Edward the First conquered Scotland – and his greatest prize was the Stone of Scone – Jacob's Pillow! A coronation throne was constructed to accommodate the stone (the British Monarch wouldn’t deign to actually sit on a rock itself). Jacob's Pillow stayed in England for the next six hundred and fifty-plus years.
So – why is this history important? It is important to know the background of this 340 pound stone because it all the more remarkable that four teenage students from Scotland were able to walk into Westminster Abbey
Westminster Abbey
The Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster, popularly known as Westminster Abbey, is a large, mainly Gothic church, in the City of Westminster, London, United Kingdom, located just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is the traditional place of coronation and burial site for English,...
on Christmas Day in 1950 and return the stone to Scotland.
The Stone was discovered, nearly four months later, draped in a Scottish Flag on the altar at Arbroath Abbey
Arbroath Abbey
Arbroath Abbey, in the Scottish town of Arbroath, was founded in 1178 by King William the Lion for a group of Tironensian Benedictine monks from Kelso Abbey. It was consecrated in 1197 with a dedication to the deceased Saint Thomas Becket, whom the king had met at the English court...
(the sight of the signing of a Scot declaration of Independence in 1320). The four culprits (or Scots might say, Patriots) were discovered, but never prosecuted. They were set free for political reasons, the government at the time not wanting to glorify their cause any more. The stone was returned – on loan – to Scotland in 1996 and currently resides in Edinburgh Castle with the understanding that it will be available for the next coronation, be it Prince Charles or William.
Persona - devised by the company
Persona—a 10-day workshop in which we will create a new dance/music/theatre piece which may be performed outside if the weather permits! The workshop developed participants’ spontaneity and self-expression through dance, music and theatre. We all have a ‘persona’ – a social face which we present to the world, but which may not be who we truly feel we are. By encouraging participants to explore themselves honestly and openly, we may uncover a more authentic self and a more unique and expressive performer who feels free and confident. Finding the form for each person's unique creativity is the purpose of the workshop. Be prepared to take a risk and go out on a limb - that's where the fruit is!
The Girl in the Ashes - directed by Gerry Flanagan
The Girl in the Ashes will create a new piece of music theatre based on Cinderella
Cinderella
"Cinderella; or, The Little Glass Slipper" is a folk tale embodying a myth-element of unjust oppression/triumphant reward. Thousands of variants are known throughout the world. The title character is a young woman living in unfortunate circumstances that are suddenly changed to remarkable fortune...
themes created in a modern setting and using the skills and techniques of clowning, commedia dell'arte
Commedia dell'arte
Commedia dell'arte is a form of theatre characterized by masked "types" which began in Italy in the 16th century, and was responsible for the advent of the actress and improvised performances based on sketches or scenarios. The closest translation of the name is "comedy of craft"; it is shortened...
and puppetry. Some of the material will be drawn from the 2005 production of The Open Door.
The Last Tango - composed by Milos Matic
The changing world of middle Europe at the turn of the century ... a world of the dispossessed, of outsiders, of gypsies of artists and students, a changing political and social world. A group of young performers, existing on the edge of the world, create a phantasmagoria of changing traditions and experiences - perhaps a Last Balkan Tango! This production will offer a rare chance for young people to work with Serbian composer Milos Matic who will be coming to work with the company. Working with Milos will be theatre designer and puppeteer Nick Barnes. With his puppet company Blind Summit Theatre Nick has created some spectacular images and he will be helping young people to create and animate their own characters as well as looking at design concepts for the production.
There will be much research to do and the creative team and the young people will be working together to create a fabulous new show; Milos Matic's knowledge of the region and history will also be very important.
2005
Goblin Market - adapted by Kath Burlinson from the poem by Christina Rosetti composed by Conor MitchellConor Mitchell
Conor Mitchell is an Irish composer and writer. His play, The Dummy Tree, was commissioned by the Royal National Theatre for their 2009 New Connections series.He is currently working on a new solo musical for Nigel Richards....
The Edinburgh Festival
Edinburgh Festival
The Edinburgh Festival is a collective term for many arts and cultural festivals that take place in Edinburgh, Scotland each summer, mostly in August...
run of Goblin Market finished on 28 August 2005 after a 21 performance run lasting over a month. The production received many 4 and 5 star reviews and was seen by over 2,500 people.
Opera, fairytale, musical theatre combine in this spectacular production originally produced at the Lyric Theatre Belfast
Belfast
Belfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...
. Goblin Market is an 75 minute chamber opera charting the story of two sisters who are ‘tempted’ by goblin merchant men. The poem has been controversial since it was first written in 1862 but this production has been hailed by press and public alike as a huge success, the production setting new standards of excellence in youth theatre. The young cast members are drawn largely from Northern Ireland as well as from mainland Britain.
The Imagineers - directed by Andrew Panton
The Imagineers are all around us from when we are very young. Normally unseen, they facilitate our flights of fancy, our daydreams and our best ideas when we are asleep. They look after us when we’re scared and help to take us to less dangerous places in our sub-conscious in times of stress or unhappiness.
We may tend to use the Imagineers less and less as we get older, but that doesn’t mean they’re not there, just that we think we don’t have as much need for them. Of course, because we are totally unaware of the Imagineers, we take them for granted. We presume that we have the ability to escape our boring lives from time to time……until one day……they’re not there any more. Then it becomes clear just how much we need them…….Ewan is unhappy. OK, he's always understood that when humans grow up, they get so
absorbed in their ‘oh-so-important’ lives that they forget to use their imagination. They think they don’t need people like him anymore. But Ewan can’t understand why Una and all her friends at school seem to have stopped imagining - they’ve stopped dreaming. They’re too busy on their PlayStations or texting to need the Imagineers.
Ewan decides to do something about it. He gathers all the Imagineers together to make a decision. Are they going to let this happen? The answer is no. And that's the day the Imagineers decide to go on strike……….
Missing Melanie - a devised work
Previously known as Over the Edge, Missing Melanie was a further development of a full length book musical with a strong rock/pop score that reflects young people's experiences; a dynamic piece that, unlike many other 'teen' musicals, does not sacrifice emotional depth or musical complexity for easy entertainment value. The narrative follows the disappearance of an 18-year-old girl, Melanie. Set over a period of 3 days, the musical charts the effect of Mel's disappearance on her school community and explores how the relationships between various friends, siblings and peer groups are affected and transformed. Conor Mitchell
Conor Mitchell
Conor Mitchell is an Irish composer and writer. His play, The Dummy Tree, was commissioned by the Royal National Theatre for their 2009 New Connections series.He is currently working on a new solo musical for Nigel Richards....
, composer, received the Arts Foundations 2004 Award for Musical Composition as a result of his composition of the chamber opera Goblin Market and will team up again with director Kath Burlinson to remount Missing Melanie for a work in progress at the Edinburgh Festival during British Council
British Council
The British Council is a United Kingdom-based organisation specialising in international educational and cultural opportunities. It is registered as a charity both in England and Wales, and in Scotland...
week.
Monte Cristo - adapted by Leon Parris
Leon Parris
Leon Parris is a British writer, actor, musician and composer.- Biography :Leon Parris was brought up in Bedford, England, and was educated at Bedford Modern School.He lives in Barcelona, Spain, with his wife.- Credits :...
and Jon Smith
Jon Smith
Jon Smith is a British writer of fiction, non-fiction, screenplays and musical theatre.-Biography:Jon Smith was brought up in Merseyside, where he remained until he was eighteen. He studied for a degree in American Studies at the University of Reading which included a semester at the University of...
from the novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
Alexandre Dumas
Monte Cristo is an adaptation of the classic novel The Count of Monte Cristo
The Count of Monte Cristo
The Count of Monte Cristo is an adventure novel by Alexandre Dumas. It is often considered to be, along with The Three Musketeers, Dumas's most popular work. He completed the work in 1844...
by Alexandre Dumas. Jon Smith and Leon Parris have succeeded in adapting the 875-page epic into a jaw-dropping-fast-paced-roller-coaster-ride full of excitement, revenge and intrigue. Compressed into a two-hour show, this thought-provoking musical brings to life 19th Century France through the trials and tribulations of Edmond Dantes
Edmond Dantès
Edmond Dantès is the protagonist and title character of Alexandre Dumas, père's novel, The Count of Monte Cristo.Dumas may have gotten the idea for the character of Edmond from a story which he found in a book compiled by Jacques Peuchet, archivist to the French police. Peuchet related the tale of...
; a sailor wrongfully accused of a crime he didn't commit. Escaping solitary confinement, Dantes explores and redefines the art of revenge in its most tantalising and dangerous forms. The project will aim to workshop the production for a ten-day period and to explore the text in relation to the novel. Leon Parris
Leon Parris
Leon Parris is a British writer, actor, musician and composer.- Biography :Leon Parris was brought up in Bedford, England, and was educated at Bedford Modern School.He lives in Barcelona, Spain, with his wife.- Credits :...
won The Vivian Ellis Award for Best Musical; Jon Smith
Jon Smith
Jon Smith is a British writer of fiction, non-fiction, screenplays and musical theatre.-Biography:Jon Smith was brought up in Merseyside, where he remained until he was eighteen. He studied for a degree in American Studies at the University of Reading which included a semester at the University of...
writes fiction for both adults and children, and non-fiction books. Director Stephen Jameson is a regular director at LAMDA and is developing this piece for a showing at Warwick School and Birmingham Hippodrome
Birmingham Hippodrome
The Birmingham Hippodrome is a theatre situated on Hurst Street in the Chinese Quarter of Birmingham, England.Although best known as the home stage of the Birmingham Royal Ballet, it also hosts a wide variety of other performances including visiting opera and ballet companies, touring West End...
Patrick Centre.
The Open Door - a devised project
A door opens. A voice is heard. A song is sung. One story unfolds. Then another. Each one an invitation to adventure, love, terror or wonder. Some are old, others new. All brought to life using songs and the simplest of props - pieces of wood, sheets, anything and everything - to create rich, powerful theatre. The OPEN DOOR project was a playful yet challenging, devised project using improvisation, games, puppetry, choral and rhythm work to release creative expression, play and spontaneity. This was focused to create strong characters and atmospheres on a stage rich in honest emotion and comedy. Gerry Flanagan is an actor, director and teacher. He has lived and worked in Italy for two years where he performed as IL CALVONE. Gerry was well known for his work with Commotion Theatre Company, which developed a reputation for its highly inventive, clown theatre. He has performed with Theatre de Complicité, David Glass Ensemble and Clown Selvaggio. For the last ten years he has taught Clown and related subjects at the City Literary Institute, the Circus Space in London and many universities and schools.
Please Look at Me Now - a devised project
A piece of music theatre about the need for attention, the love of conflict, the pleasure of watching and the fun of pretending to be 'truthful'.
A 'JUNK OPERA' that looks with warmth and humour at the loneliness of spectator culture and the seductive power of reality TV and the new celebrity. A sort of 'Big Brother - The Musical'! The production will be developed in Scotland and draw largely on Scottish young people. Peta Lily has an international reputation for her physical theatre work, especially with David Glass. Composer Jimmy Jewell has worked extensively in music theatre (currently composing NHS-The Musical for Plymouth Theatre Royal) as well as popular music, touring with Alice Cooper
Alice Cooper
Alice Cooper is an American rock singer, songwriter and musician whose career spans more than four decades...
, Roger Daltrey
Roger Daltrey
Roger Harry Daltrey, CBE , is an English singer and actor, best known as the founder and lead singer of English rock band The Who. He has maintained a musical career as a solo artist and has also worked in the film industry, acting in a large number of films, theatre and television roles and also...
, Billy Preston
Billy Preston
William Everett "Billy" Preston was a musician who gained notoriety and fame, first as a session musician for the likes of Sam Cooke, Ray Charles and The Beatles, and later finding fame as a solo artist with hits such as "Space Race", "Will It Go Round in Circles" and "Nothing from...
and Kele Le Roc. Andy Howitt is the Artistic Director of Scotland's Youth dance agency, YDance. The piece will be shown as a work in progress at the Edinburgh Festival.
Red Hunter - a devised project
Exploring the world of Joe McCarthy, the beat generation, music after Miles Davis
Miles Davis
Miles Dewey Davis III was an American jazz musician, trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Miles Davis was, with his musical groups, at the forefront of several major developments in jazz music, including bebop, cool jazz,...
and John Coltrane
John Coltrane
John William Coltrane was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Working in the bebop and hard bop idioms early in his career, Coltrane helped pioneer the use of modes in jazz and later was at the forefront of free jazz...
, the storylines weave around a lone dancer attracted to a black trumpet player, the relationship between a staff member of the House Unamerican Activities Committee (HUAC) and a demobbed GI, blackmail and a drugs raid. Developed in a ten-day workshop in Newcastle
Newcastle upon Tyne
Newcastle upon Tyne is a city and metropolitan borough of Tyne and Wear, in North East England. Historically a part of Northumberland, it is situated on the north bank of the River Tyne...
in 2004, the project will undertake a further 2-week development period in Manchester at Cheetham's School of Music. Composer Tim Sutton and director Vernon Mound have previously collaborated on jazz projects The Late Sleepers and Such Sweet Thunder. Clare Russ is the Artistic Director of the Clare Russ Ensemble and writer Jane Bodie teaches on the Royal Court
Royal Court Theatre
The Royal Court Theatre is a non-commercial theatre on Sloane Square, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It is noted for its contributions to modern theatre...
Young Writer's Scheme and has a new play opening at Hampstead Theatre
Hampstead Theatre
Hampstead Theatre is a theatre in the vicinity of Swiss Cottage and Belsize Park, in the London Borough of Camden. It specialises in commissioning and producing new writing, supporting and developing the work of new writers. In 2009 it celebrates its 50 year anniversary.The original theatre was...
in May 2005.
The Stones are Hatching - adapted by Toby Davies, Jenifer Toksvig and Alexander Rudd
Alexander Rudd
Alexander Rudd is an award-winning composer, songwriter and conductor working in film, television, theatre and the concert hall.At the age of 16, Rudd won the National Young Composer of the Year Award...
from the novel by Geraldine McCaughrean
Geraldine McCaughrean
Geraldine McCaughrean is a British children's novelist.The youngest of three children, McCaughrean studied teaching but did not like it, and found her true vocation in writing. She claims that what makes her love writing is the desire to escape from an unsatisfactory world...
"Phelim was the only one, they said, the only one who could save the world from the Hatchlings of the Stoor Worm. The Stoor Worm, who had been asleep for aeons, was beginning to waken. The dreadful sounds of war had roused it, and now its Hatchlings were abroad, terrorizing the people who had forgotten all about them, forgotten all the ancient magics. As Phelim leaves his home and sets out on his quest, the words ring in his ears: 'You are the one. To stop the Worm waking. To do what must be done.'"
This project aims to start development of a new musical adaptation of this extraordinary book, using puppetry as well as conventional musical theatre. Toby Davies has worked on a number of YMT projects (most recently the Studio Tunbridge Wells) as well as for numerous other youth theatre groups, Jenifer Toksvig is a writer and graduate of the Tisch School of Musical Theatre in New York and Alexander Rudd
Alexander Rudd
Alexander Rudd is an award-winning composer, songwriter and conductor working in film, television, theatre and the concert hall.At the age of 16, Rudd won the National Young Composer of the Year Award...
was winner of the 1997 National Young Composer of the Year award. Geraldine McCaughrean
Geraldine McCaughrean
Geraldine McCaughrean is a British children's novelist.The youngest of three children, McCaughrean studied teaching but did not like it, and found her true vocation in writing. She claims that what makes her love writing is the desire to escape from an unsatisfactory world...
is a multiple-award-winning author of fiction for children.
2004
Amy's Wedding - written by Syd Ralph and the companyAmy's Wedding asked 30 young performers to consider the Puritan emigration from the UK to the New World in 17th and 18th centuries. What conditions at home rendered the potential dangers of a sea crossing preferable to staying put? What sort of people chose to risk everything for the promise of a new and better life? And what was that life like when they got there?
Amy's Wedding focused on a small New England community, bound together by its own beliefs and customs and set within a closed, male-dominated, religious environment. It is the story of the preparations, the hopes and the dreams of one young woman in the community who is about to be married to the young man that her family has chosen for her.
In these communities female chatter was not encouraged unless accompanied by work… "the devil makes work for idle hands"…The making of Amy's "wedding quilt" however, allows for the piece to eavesdrop on what each patch represents to the women and girls and allows the "untellable" to be told. What elements lie hidden in these women's memories?
Amy's wedding ceremony is to be performed by a visiting cleric whose arrival upsets the apparent tranquillity of their lives. Does Amy fall in love with him or does he take advantage of her? The whole community is thrown into complete disarray by the very beliefs and faith that have held them together.
Stylistically, the company created a piece that derives its strengths from almost exclusively female portrayals and performances. The audience learned about the men in the community through the eyes of the women. Musically and choreographically it draws on a rich legacy of existing folk songs and dances that derive from the era.
Over the Edge - devised by the company
Over the Edge was a theatrical and musical exploration of what we find terrifying. Most of us harbour some fear or phobia. Most of us have been scared by something or someone, or have terrified someone else. Some fears are rational, and some are irrational. This project deliberately set out on a safe and supervised journey into the unknown, encouraging participants to explore the nature of terror, to go beyond the known and familiar—to go ‘over the edge’.
It sounds intense, and it was! But it was also great fun. The aim was to form a strong ensemble to create the right atmosphere of trust to enable intensive exploration of oneself and others. Together we generated ideas and contributions which were included in a 'work in progress' presentation in October.
Quantum 2 - directed by Ed Woodall
Our week in Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
was an investigation into music theatre. The group went back to basics, rediscovering the impulses behind the form. Starting with improvisations based on observable things; from the flight of a deflating balloon, the impact that a joke has or even to the story of how we got to Quantum, we devised scenes of comedy and drama and through the stylisation of music we explored how our theatre is enhanced by song, movement and choreography.
Quantum 3 - directed by Jaki McCarrick
Working around a prepared libretto, the team that brought 'Fridge', a hilarious and zany musical piece, to the parting shots of the National Student Drama Festival in April, workshop and stage their brand new work. Belfast
Belfast
Belfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...
participants will be involved in the theatre making process from start to finish. There will be skills enhancement in song writing, lyric writing, musical theatre performance, choreography and movement, and in drama (Stanislavski based, scene-work and improvisation). It promises to be a rigorous, exciting week.
External links
- Youth Music Theatre: UK – Official Website
- National Youth Music Organisations website
- The British Theatre Guide roundup of YMT's 2005 season
- Review of 2008 production of Mort by Sheila Connor for The British Theatre Guide
- Interview with Jenifer Toksvig, the writer of Mort, about the collaborative process with the young actors of YMTUK (2008)
- Times Online article about youth theatre quoting YMT's general manager