Two members of Monaghan Youth Theatre share their experience of the New Stage Launch that took place on 19 November. They performed some scenes from one of the New Stage plays On Track by Ursula de Brun

Starting out from our little home, the Garage Theatre at eleven on a Saturday morning, to travel to Dublin and perform in the Lir Academy Theatre for fellow members of the NAYD, was one lie-in I didn’t mind giving up! After our quick once-over rehearsal, making sure it was perfect, we hopped on the bus, carrying two extra drama members that couldn’t pass up the opportunity to be there with us. After enduring a half-hour of our wonderful singing on the bus, Barry and Krista decided we should use our time a little more wisely. We began practicing projecting our voices over the loud noises of the bus, while saying our lines. After three verbal run-through’s and a quick stop-off at an Applegreen (we love us some Apple!), we arrived at the theatre.

We took some photos outside and then waited around in the theatre, getting the feel of the stage. After the other two youth groups arrived and had set up their stage, we all took our seats. During the other two fantastic performances, we were shown how simple it can be to create comedy, and how good the young members of our group can be. Even though we already know our junior members are amazing! We got up to perform our own ‘trailer’, (with butterflies in our stomachs!), and, if I do say so myself, it was pretty good! Meeting the playwright and getting told that we brightened her day was probably the highlight of the day. She was so nice and praising of our performance, best compliments to get after a play! On the way home we celebrated our performances, with lots of singing, junkfood and yes another stop at Applegreen! The day itself was an amazing experience and was made even better by the fact I got to do it with my best friends. Learning from other drama groups and the NAYD itself, was fantastic and I’m glad that the Monaghan Youth Theatre was chosen to take part. For us the members, as well as our mentors Krista and Barry. I love drama and thank you NAYD!

Eimear Deery

The day started off with a quick rehearsal and then we were all squished onto a bus and set off to Dublin. Again we ran through lines  on the bus but as soon as we had finished we relaxed and sang at the top of our lungs.
When we arrived we were led into a black box theatre. This was the first time I had ever seen let alone performed in one. The first play It Only Ever Happens in the Movies  was instantly my favourite. I enjoyed the concept of sixteen year old Derek seeking love. The ideas that his friends come up with are not the best bits of advice. The chat up lines were brilliant.
In Quest of A Play was the second play which also had a genius concept of a play about making a play. The sounds created by the cast really put us into the jungle along with the twins.

Finally we were up. I felt relaxed performing the play but I was slightly nervous because I had never used a black box theatre. Our play went well and I was shocked to hear that the writer Ursula De Brun was there but was overwhelmed when she told us how much she enjoyed it.

Overall I enjoyed the entire day and would like to thank NAYD for organizing the great day out.

Josh Mc Phillips

Find out more about New Stage. 

NAYD has just added a new Forum Theatre Resource to our website. The creator of the resource John Taite, ArtsTrain Assistant Coordinator, gives us some background on Forum and his own interaction with the form:

Forum Theatre is a form of interactive theatre developed by the late Brazilian Theatre director, Augusto Boal as part of his Theatre of the Oppressed. In Forum Theatre, an audience is shown a short play in which a central character encounters an oppression or obstacle they are unable to overcome. When the play has been performed members of the audience can take to the stage and replace the character, acting out alternative paths and decisions. The aim is not to discover the ideal solution but to encourage the audience to analyse the situation and to try out strategies for countering oppression. The format encourages a positive and thoughtful approach to social problems through debate and theatrical interaction.

I first encountered Forum Theatre through participation in workshops over ten years ago and found it a fascinating and very worthwhile concept. Over the years I have been lucky enough to meet and workshop with some of the leading figures in the movement including Augusto Boal and Adrian Jackson. As I discovered more about the material and techniques used in Forum, I also found it to be a wealth of workshop material that can be applied to all types of drama and theatre exploration. I began facilitating Forum workshops to Artstrain in 2002 and the training has remained a part of the programme ever since. This year we were given the opportunity to expand on this training and to deliver some of the material to a number of youth theatres as part of a project in conjunction with the Equality Authority of Ireland. The Forum Theatre training was delivered to the Artstrain group and they were then supported in designing their own workshops and drama pieces within a Forum Theatre framework. They delivered these workshops to each other as part of a peer process before writing them up and then identifying youth theatre groups to deliver them to. The workshops were then delivered over a series of weeks to a number of youth theatres.

As part of the project the Introducing Forum Theatre:Workshop Resource Pack has been created. It is hoped that this will be a valuable resource for drama practitioners and youth theatre leaders who wish to explore and deliver Forum Theatre but also as a source of material for all types of workshops. The Resource Pack is now available for download from the Resources section of the website.

John