Being part of Shropshire Youth Theatre (SYT) is so much more than just learning some lines and reciting them on stage. Students develop a range of valuable, transferable skills that will grace any job application and impress any interviewer, though that might not have been their only reason for joining. SYT prides itself on being the only youth theatre in the country to be run by an annually elected student committee. Holding key roles relating to the day-to-day running of the company, the committee are responsible for making decisions for the student body, including the choice of productions, publicity and marketing and fundraising efforts. It was established in 1993 as a not-for-profit organisation, providing high quality acting and performance workshops. Senior students (aged between thirteen and twenty five) take part in an annual large scale public performance of a classic work staged at Shrewsbury’s Theatre Severn and also take advantage of a summer programme of stand-alone specialist workshops with SYT staff and partner collaborators.
In 2024, with the support of a grant from Vibrant Shropshire, SYT was able to mount its first youth fringe festival over two days in July and operating from The Hive and the The Nerdy Café in Shrewsbury. The young people organised themselves into small companies of different sizes, making their own work, putting it on a stage in front of an audience and getting feedback. They gained the experience of negotiating technical issues, props, costumes and scripts, with each company deciding upon individual roles and, where necessary, co-opting others to take on ancillary tasks.
Not limiting themselves to stage acting at the festival, there were monologues, submitted artwork, a band and a photography competition. The Vibrant Shropshire grant enabled professional practitioners to run writing and arts workshops, creating a place where people could share, make connections, build relationships and join networks. SYT groups its students into three age bands and there were activities for all. In total, around seventy members of SYT took part directly and alumni and audiences swelled the numbers of those who benefited.
Artistic Director Lisa Morris, whose interest in theatre and performance began when she herself joined SYT at the age of eleven, described the involvement of a student from Oswestry who presented a film she had been working on, which was followed by a question and answer session facilitated by this year’s young Chair. In another example of the transferable skills that young people gain, a student agreed to produce the publicity artwork for the SYT production of Great Expectations. Having received the brief, she produced a piece of art which she gave to the marketing expert who suggested a few changes. With the feedback, she adjusted her original ideas and re-submitted to produce the official fliers. In employment terms, she had worked to a brief, was flexible, had responded to different opinions even when her own views were challenged and had negotiated a successful outcome.
Although this first fringe festival was deemed to be a resounding success, lessons were learned about the timings and the locations and plans are being discussed about how this might become an annual event and possibly also held in other Shropshire towns.
Vibrant Shropshire awarded Shropshire Youth Theatre a grant through its Small Grants Scheme. The grant scheme is funded by the UK Government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.
