I’ve been busy getting my feet under the table at Travelling Light Theatre Company, producing projects with young Bristolians. Recently Paige and Jaden, two of our Youth Theatre members, aged 12 and 9 respectively, watched a DVD of our 2007 production Lenny, The Boy Who Wanted To Be A Train. Starring the spritely Craig Edwards and directed by the genius Sally Cookson, Lenny tells the tale of a young boy who wants to understand his brother, his mother and himself much better. We interviewed Paige and Jaden and made a little film of their opinions on the story and, more critically, for their opinions on the technical side of Craig’s virtuoso performance as a child. The film was then used as a part of our regional contribution to the national TYA conference, Acting Like Children.
Jaden and Paige engaged in quite a lengthy and well-balanced conversation with our Trainee Producer Rachael and Artistic Producer Jude Merrill that not only surprised us with clear understanding of what is a complicated story – and their eloquence in describing Craig’s stagecraft – but also challenged our thinking around a play we’d produced nearly five years ago.
Not only have our Youth Board demanded that we repeat the DVD showing for other plays in our archive, but I think it strikes a chord that Bristol has been gently strumming for a while. For our young people, whether aspiring theatre makers or producers, watching theatre and commenting on it as well as creating it is critical as much as it can be inspiring.
The likes of Bristol Old Vic, The Tobacco Factory, ACTA and others across the city undertake a huge amount of outreach with young people. The majority of this helps participants make their own theatre, or learn the skills you need to do it, while for Travelling Light it is also an important part of our understanding on how to make professional plays with grown ups.
The role of the young person as audience, critic, opinion holder, theatrical connoisseur with enlightened taste and a wide theatre vocabulary we must not take for granted. I know many of our Youth Theatre and other local young people from unfashionable Barton Hill will never have been to see a professional play. There are reasons for that and maybe we all need to work harder to address it but once we have, we mustn’t just give them their ticket and leave it at that.
This summer Craig and Sally are reuniting for the Bristol Old Vic outdoor extravaganza production of Treasure Island. Come Christmas Travelling Light will be co-producing an entirely new Cinderella with The Tobacco Factory. For both shows and whatever else our young audiences might encounter, let’s take time to ask them what they really think.
Nick White is a theatre maker and producer.