Ken-Friends Bursary Winners Reports Jonathan Anderson Magherafelt, Northern Ireland Dear Ken-Friends I am writing to thank you whole heartedly for the support given to me by the Ken-Friends Bursary Scheme. The funding helped me to realise my dream of working with the National Youth Music Theatre. I had a truly unforgettable experience acting in 22 performances of 'The Dreaming' by Charles Hart, a musical adaptation of A Midsummer Night's Dream. Nine performances took place in Guildford at a lavish modern theatre - it was fantastic working in such a professional set up. Thirteen performances took place in Edinburgh as part of the fringe festival - another novel experience in that all the shows were matinees. I understudied the main character of 'Alexander', unfortunately Ben Barnes, the actor, was never sick!! Still may be next time! Music International came to see 'The Dreaming' and asked some of us to do a reading of Willie Wonka & the Chocolate Factory in October in London - 2 roles for me here as Augutus Gloop's father and the Narrator. I have been able to find out about possible theatre schools through talking with the many people I met through my time at NYMT. RADA, Bristol Old Vic, Central, Lamda and Guildford all seem very appealing. I really now have found my calling in life!! I truly enjoyed the whole experience and can't wait until next year when NYMT are doing a new play written by Alan Ackborn - I'll certainly give the auditions a go again. Many thanks again. Aisling Brown Bellaghy, Co. Derry Report on Experience with the National Youth Theatre Festival During my final year of secondary school, I was extremely busy with studying for my A-levels, rehearsing for my Theatre Studies 'practical', completing my Gold Medal exam for Speech and Drama, participating for the school choir and attending various interviews and auditions for admittance to University. So my audition for The National Youth Theatre was just another part of a very long 'things-to-do' list. I spent some time rehearsing the pieces, I had chosen monologues which had to be performed for either my Theatre Studies class or for my Speech and Drama exam. Effectively I was 'killing two birds with the one stone.' The actual audition process was straightforward and efficient, each person spending a preparatory fifteen minutes in the waiting area and a further fifteen to twenty in the audition room. Once I had completed my audition, I didn't think much more about it. At that point I was more worried about my studies and didn't actually realise how invaluable The National Youth Theatre would prove to be! Having received a few knock backs from various universities, including my top choice, I was beginning to doubt my own talent and ability. When my exams finished in mid-June, I received a letter from the National Youth Theatre accepting me for their course. This acceptance was an amazing confidence booster; it really lifted my spirits and reaffirmed my passion for drama. It was exactly what I needed! Thanks to the Ken-Friends Bursary scheme, I traveled to London and resided in Tufnell Park halls, for the three weeks of the programme. The actual training although very intense, was also incredibly enjoyable, as we were taught to devise through games and images and not just words and actions. It was a unique method but thought provoking and definitely one I would consider using again. The end result was an original, modern sketch of culture today. We had developed our characters from 'real-life' images from the street; therefore the final product was a funny, disturbing and generally very true, heartfelt piece. Personally this course returned to me a belief in my passion and helped my gain my confidence and mend my severely dented ego. It was an opportunity I was most grateful for, but as the weeks progressed in London, this experience also allowed me to develop independence, responsibility and most importantly to meet so many people from so many different backgrounds. Here I met some of the most inspiringly talented, witty and amazing people. I have endless stories about NYT and have remained in contact with most of the people on my course. I would thoroughly recommend NYT for anyone with a passion for drama, meeting people and prospective university students, I am currently studying Law at Trinity College, Dublin, living away from home for those three weeks is a great springboard for taking the step into university life. For me NYT was an incredible experience, everyone was so different, vibrant and passionate. I loved every minute! Molly Goyer Gorman Cushendun, Co. Antrim, Northern Ireland My experience in the National Youth Theatre I first heard about the National Youth Theatre (NYT) through UAYD’s Platform magazine, and as I had been looking around for good summer acting courses, I decided to audition. Also, the idea of spending three weeks in London with no parents was pretty exciting! The man who auditioned me was lovely, he made me feel really relaxed and after I had performed my pieces (Bottom as Pyramus, and Deirdre of the Sorrows), we had a friendly chat about drama groups in Belfast. So it wasn’t anything like the 'Popstars’ or ‘Soapstars’ auditions the people from the NYT took time to listen to you and answer your questions. However, I auditioned in February and by the middle of May I still had no word from the NYT, so I decided to forget about it and maybe try again next year. You can imagine my face when, three days before the end of school, a big brown envelope from the NYT arrived! I was completely over the moon, but it also meant I had to look around for funds and get a summer job. As well as the course fees, I would have to pay for staying in halls of residence, food and all the nights out that I hoped to have in London! So when I got on the plane for Heathrow on 4 August, I felt like I’d earned it after many Saturday mornings as a maid in my local B&B. But I had hardly any idea of what the course content was and I felt a bit nervous at the thought of being one of the youngest there (they take people from 15 to 21). The first night in Tufnell Halls of Residence was as scary as I had expected. Everyone seemed to know each other and I was petrified of going into the bar or one of the kitchens full of funny, exuberant, arty people. However, as I later learned, everybody had felt pretty nervous on that first night. But as soon as the courses started, we became like a big, friendly family. The NYT do seven courses every summer - courses 1 and 2 are for the younger members (aged 13 to 15) and the other five are for the older ones. At the time I was there, courses 5, 6, and 7 were running and I was put on course 6. Our leader was called Guy, and he was a professional actor. We also had an assistant leader called Amy who worked in stage management. There was one other boy from Northern Ireland on the course, and for the first while, no one could understand our accents! Guy broke the ice in the group by teaching us all a very intellectual song called 'Mhhm-Hmmm said the little green frog one day’ (it had actions as well!). We played various getting-to-know-you games like matchbox biography (where you have the time it takes for a match to burn to tell the story of your life) and a game where you had to sprint, eyes closed, across the hall. Indeed, the whole first week at NYT was about bonding, having fun and enjoying the more physical aspects of theatre. We had workshops from a stage fighting instructor, a voice coach, a street dancing teacher and a professional clown. Different people liked different things - a lot of the boys loved lunging at each other with medieval daggers, while the more athletic people enjoyed learning some break-dance steps. These workshops taught me a lot about letting go of your inhibitions and not being afraid of acting the idiot. If someone had walked in during the clowning workshop and had seen us pretending to be angry monkeys, they would probably have fainted! In the first week, I think we all went a bit mad, knowing that we were independent in London. But as well as all the nights out in Leicester Square, Soho and Covent Garden, we had the chance to go and see quite a few shows. The NYT provided us with free tickets for two shows each. Different courses went to see different things: our course got tickets for the musical Les Misérables and for the Reduced Shakespeare Company. These shows provoked heated discussions in class the next morning, and even sparked off some of our ideas. By the second week at NYT, course 6 were a tight, supportive group who looked out for each other. I had begun to make some good friends from Scotland, Wales and Manchester. We were all ready to get down and do some ‘serious acting’ as opposed to physical stuff. On Tuesday of the second week, Guy gave us an exercise that none of us will ever forget. He sent us off to Camden Market in the morning, and by lunchtime we had to have found a real-life character that we would like to play amongst all the goths, punks, beggars, salesmen and street performers that you find there. It was strange at first, following people around and watching them. After a while, though, it became fun as we noted all their physical characteristics and tried to build up a story around them. That afternoon we all had a go at being the different characters while the rest of the group interviewed us. It was brilliant craic. One of the great things about being on the course was that you got to listen to other people’s stories (and to tell your own too). Guy put great emphasis on storytelling, and we had many opportunities to act out some of our own experiences. This was often moving, sometimes funny or sometimes heartbreaking. We told our stories in various ways - first through mime, then using only seven words and finally through trying to act it all out with dialogue. However, you didn’t have to tell a personal story if you didn’t want to some people preferred to act out things that had happened to their family or friends. Through these exercises and through improvisations, we were beginning to build up a repertoire of material that we could use in the final show. We had begun to get ‘homeworks’ as well - like writing a monologue involving our character from Camden or making up a romantic conversation. From looking at all the impros, choreography and character work that we had done, it was decided that our show should encompass the themes of fear, faith and flight. At the beginning of the third week, everyone was a bit nervous as we hadn’t started any proper rehearsals for the final show and we had only a vague idea of our three themes. But Guy was reassuring and got us working hard, sometimes from 9:30am to 7:30pm. We still had time for games, though, and we were incorporating a lot of circus acts into our devised piece. It was going to be like a ‘freak show’ of all our characters from Camden, involving some individual monologues, some sketches, a song and two ensemble choreographed pieces (one of them to do with a circus). Also, some of our music was being played live by members of the course. Obviously, this was harder work than the first two weeks and it took some getting used to. But it was just as good fun. We all encouraged each other (and gave each other massages at the end of the day!). On the Friday 23 August, it was performance time. Courses 5, 6, and 7 each had 40 minutes to perform in front of their friends and the NYT management. Tension was quite high, but we enjoyed doing our piece and there were no serious hiccups. The three shows were very different - course 5’s was quite music-based and its theme was justice. Ours was hopeful and optimistic, whereas course 7’s show was all about the dark underbelly of life, and it was extremely powerful to watch. But everybody on stage was focused and talented. Indeed, I was in awe of some of the actors and actresses for whom it was obvious that they would have a career in drama. After a crazy last night (the less said about it, the better), we went our separate ways. But we are all now members of the NYT until we’re 21, which means that we can be asked to audition for NYT productions, and we can contribute our own ideas for shows. This course was definitely the best and most challenging acting training I’ve ever taken part in. If I had to find fault with it, I’d say that I only wished it could have lasted longer! Also, I would have liked us to have had more input in planning the actual layout of our final show. That said, I would recommend the course to anyone who is seriously interested in acting in the theatre. By the end of the three weeks, you’ll know whether you want to pursue it as a career or not. NYT also run technical courses in Stage Management, Lighting and Sound, Scenery and Prop making and Costume. So finally, I’d like to say a big thank you to the Ken-Friends Bursary Scheme, who enabled me to have the best summer of my life, and to make friendships that I hope will last for a long time. Keep up the good work! Catherine Higgins Lisburn, Northern Ireland I was delighted to be one of 180 young people across the UK chosen from 4,732 auditionees to take part in a 3-week acting course with the prestigious National Youth Theatre this summer. With thanks to The Ken-Friends Bursary from the UAYD, I stayed in Halls of Residence in North London for the duration of the course with the other participants. This helped to create the family atmosphere which made it so hard to leave at the end of the course! During the 3 weeks we were trained in singing, stage combat and clowning as well as the acting and movement we had expected. The culmination of my time on the course was a final devised piece which we performed for the other groups, the existing NYT members and the NYT Council. I had a thoroughly exciting, exhausting and enjoyable time in London and slipped easily into the fast paced city lifestyle. It was wonderful to be surrounded by so many other young people who were as passionate about theatre as I am and I was fortunate enough to make some great friends. A truly unforgettable experience and I feel it has prepared me for student life this year when I will be studying Drama and English at Trinity College Dublin. Rebekah Rushe Bessbrook, Co. Armagh Report on Experience with the National Student Drama Festival This summer I was accepted into the National Student Drama Theatre. I was one of eight who were picked to participate in the play 'The Rage Of Achilles', written for us by a young writer called Tom Green, the play basically retold the story of the Greek legend Achilles only it was portrayed in a more modem sense. I boarded in the University of Bath halls of residence for five weeks and then moved on to Birmingham where we performed the show for a week, the show took place in the Birmingham Repertory Theatre in the Door venue. It was quite a small theatre but it suited the play well, as it was a very intimate piece. I was quite proud of the fact that I was the only person from N. Ireland, the first secondary school student and also the youngest to ever be accepted on to this project as it is usually only open to University and Drama College students. I found the whole experience life changing as it made me realise the responsibility and commitment it takes to be a professional actress. Day to day I was challenged with new objectives that I had to overcome and think about to make my performance better. We rehearsed from nine o'clock in the morning until six o'clock in the evening and afterwards we had to learn lines and routines as we only had six weeks to structure the play and make it original and our own. It was difficult and tiring at times but the feeling I got when I produced something that would be used in the play and recognised as my own ideas was extremely rewarding and made it all worth while. Being the youngest and the only person from N. Ireland within the group did not matter at all; in fact I found it quite beneficial as it gave me an idea of what life will be like for me when I leave home and go to college. The end product of 'The Rage Of Achilles' was received well by audiences and as part of a festival we had to participate in a discussion after every show, I found this very different but yet very beneficial as I got to hear feed-back from the audience and hear what they thought of, not only the show, but my performance as an actress as well. As frightening as I thought this would be I actually received some very lovely comments on my ability and also on my "Beautiful Irish accent." With this I was extremely pleased! I would like to take this opportunity to thank you in supporting me with this wonderful experience of which without your help I would not of been able to attend. I think it is excellent that young people from N. Ireland have support in their talent and see that they will be rewarded in believing in themselves because people like you also believe in them. Once again I thank you and look forward to keeping you posted with my future experiences.