Connections is the National Theatre’s annual festival of new plays for youth theatres and schools.
YOUNG
CREATIVE TEAM, FIFE YOUTH ARTS, PERFORMING IT SNOWS BY BRYONY LAVERY
What
was the inspiration for this performance?
The inspiration for this performance was to show the
different social circles from within society and explore how they communicate
with each other. Then we would break down each group to its raw essentials and
show how similar they really are and how they can actually mix with each other.
How did you go about gathering the team for it?
The It's Snows production team, Talent Academy Balwearie,
was gathered from an S6 performance class. We are the core running and
management behind the project. The cast was then found by approaching all high
schools around Kirkcaldy and also local drama groups. By holding meet and greet
sessions as well as auditions helped the cast come together as a whole. The
intense week of rehearsals allowed everyone to get to know each other better
and develop this piece.
How did you become interested in making performance?
I first took an interest in drama when I was a lot younger. I
remember doing a workshop and putting on a show of Where The Wild Things Are.
What I loved getting involved with the most was the making of the costumes and
set, I loved being creative and seeing how this all made a show really come
together. A few years later, I started to enjoy drama even more at school. I
took a technical theatre elective in second year which again let me explore the
backstage aspects of theatre such as lighting, set and makeup, something that I
really enjoyed. In the years that followed, I loved performing in various plays
acting as many different types of characters. As someone who focused primarily
on marketing during It Snows, I would say this interest came from my love of
graphic design, and my desire to do more of this hobby through the designing of
posters and programmes, and my interest in grabbing an audience's attention and
gaining interest.
Was your process typical of the way that you
make a performance?
As this was our first ever
production we have run we adopted a template that Amanda Glover, our director,
uses in other productions. By creating a schedule and deadlines to meet helped
us keep on track. By holding auditions and rehearsal weeks it was a typical way
to run a production.
What do you hope that the audience will
experience?
I hope the audience feel like
they are on a journey with Caitlin and Cameron. This is a movement piece of
theatre the audience need to be able to watch the play with a creative mind to
feel magic of the snow and what it does to the relationship. The fact the snow
creates peace between the parents and the peace it creates between the lads and
the girls towards Caitlin and Cameron.
What strategies did you consider towards shaping
this audience experience?
By using a Facebook page and
group chat it helped us keep in contact with all cast members. Although we only
saw our director once a week by using email helped us keep up to date with
progress we were all making. Our strategy of promoting our production was using
social media and making posters, leaflets and pop up banners. This allowed lots
of people aware of our production and make our sales rise.
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