A Year in the life of Courtyard Youth Theatre

With summer drawing to an end we have made lots of fantastic new memories here at The Courtyard, and the Youth theatre continue to ooze incredible talent and grow with us. We have a member of our Youth Theatre telling their story and experience.

“This summer marks the end of a spectacularly full year for The Courtyard Youth Theatre. For some, it’s the end of their first year, with more to come in September. For others, it’s the end of just another year as part of this crazy family. For a few more, this is the end of their final year with us, as they leave to go do great things in the world of acting.

Amongst the weekly rehearsals, we’ve had the privilege of being invited to be involved in several special events, providing entertainment or setting the scene at various gatherings. Many of our committed members have had the opportunity to dress up in weird and wonderful costumes and make audiences smile, which is what performing is all about.

Herefordshire has its fair share of festivals, and we have enjoyed the chance to show our skills off-stage, on-stage, and everywhere in between. Involvement from other creative groups, working in collaboration, and letting the public see the results of months of practice has been a rewarding experience all-round, and has shown everyone that the world really can be a stage.

The Youth Theatre Committee has been heavily involved this year, especially with the special events, as well as marketing, working on CYT projects, planning socials, and making sure that the Youth Theatre has a presence online to keep people up-to-date.

Somehow though, there was still time left over to prepare for the main events. For the Courtyard Kids and the Junior Youth Theatre, this was Alice in Wonderland, which was bright, fun, dazzling, and worthy of Lewis Carroll’s adventurous tale. Meanwhile, the Intermediate Youth Theatre groups spent their year preparing for the Connections Festival, in which they performed a series of plays written specifically for young people and performed with skill and intensity. A few months later, the Senior group turned a Shakespeare play on its head with their take on A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and received a positive review in the Hereford Times for their hard work.

The spectacular performances of all our age groups aside, the Courtyard Youth Theatre has been a home and a family to many this year, just as it has been in the past, and just as it will continue to be. It’s a place where young people of all ages can come to be themselves, to be creative, and to be accepted. It can be a crazy place, and a wonderful place, where opportunities are opened to you and the chance to be a part of something exciting comes more often than might be expected.

“We get to be someone else for a few hours each time we perform. We get to breathe life into words on a page. We get to experience standing ovations and feel proud of the months of work that led to that one moment. We get to sing, dance, shout, whisper, fall in love, break hearts, and make hundreds of people laugh and cry before taking a bow and waiting in anticipation to do it all over again. We have the opportunity to make people feel real emotions or to make them think. We get to build friendships in rehearsals and put them to the test in the stress of opening night. We are mentored, inspired, and encouraged by the people teaching us, and given the spotlight by those working quietly behind the scenes.”

So to all the staff at the Courtyard who work hard to let us shine, and the practitioners who are there every week to help us hone our skills, to every Youth Theatre member that makes up this big, crazy, creative, passionate family: thank you for a wonderful year at the Courtyard. Let’s make the next one just as incredible.”

If you are interested and inspired about Youth Theatre please get in touch and contact Box Office on 01432 340555  we would love to hear from you!