Post written by: Erin Walcon
On Tuesday 23 June, after 14 weeks of lockdown and digital sessions, we had our first live delivery session since 16 March.
It was glorious to see these beautiful souls again.
Here’s how it works: following public health guidelines and carefully ensuring that we have parental permission, we are meeting with small groups of Doorstep Youth Theatre outside, on the green at Goodrington. We picked this spot because it has public toilets and a bandstand to help us hide from the rain (hello British summetime).
In addition to keeping us dry(ish), the bandstand also has the benefit of helping us acoustically – because we are gathering to jam. The Protest & Rebellion project is in hearty mid-stage swing, and there are songs that need writing and rehearsing. While we definitely have discovered some brilliant new techniques in terms of writing and design happening digitally, the music rehearsal has been a lot harder during lockdown. So gathering in person to figure out instrumentation (guitar, harp, piano, accordian, drums) has been a total joy.
Music Director Emily Howard has been using these sessions to record tracks, live as they’re written.
Some of DYT have taken up new instruments.
And we’re live-script editing and changing things and trying out choreography too.
It’s not the same as all being together in the Palace Theatre – for one thing, it’s a lot colder.
But it’s a big step forward from Zoom screens.
There’s nothing quite like getting to laugh together in person.
And to try out different musical parts live is amazing – it’s progressed the piece really quickly. Lyrics and harmonies and new sections of dialogue and even new dance elements, all unfolding super quickly after this long period of incubation.
