Our Gateshead Youth Theatre is an exciting group who meet on a Saturday morning term time. The programme is coordinated by Gateshead Council's Arts Team and the sessions are led by performance artist David Raynor. We meet at the Caedmon Hall at Gateshead Central Library.
The group consists of children aged 8 - 14 years.
The purpose of the sessions is for the children to have fun, develop imagination, build confidence, improve teamwork and learn a few acting skills. At the end of each term there are short performances and presentations to share what we've been working on.
Case study - Jamie Davies
Jamie signed up as a member of the Gateshead Youth Theatre 2 March 2023.
The first session for any new visitor is treated as a 'taster' session that allows the children to decide if this is something that they are keen to be a part of.
For Jamie his first session was different to the normal, Jamie started on the morning that our youth theatre would be visiting the Gateshead Little Theatre. We explored backstage, the costumes, the stage media room and even managed a session of our own upstairs at the new extension whilst parents socialised in the theatre bar area with a cup of tea. Jamie thoroughly enjoyed the morning.
Prior to joining the Gateshead Youth Theatre Jamie describes himself as "a turtle in a shell", two years on Jamie now describes himself as having "popped out of that shell". He feels more confident, happy and has made new friends.
In our recent show back production Cinderella, Jamie performed as the prince. Jamie performed with confidence and supported his peer actors. Jamie's grandmother added "We have noticed since Jamie started going to Saturday morning drama club he has become much more confident, he wasn't one for putting himself forward for new challenges but since attending the drama group we can see he's not as shy and seems to enjoy and take part in new things like after school clubs etc, we went to see the drama groups funny version of Cinderella on Saturday and it was excellent."
Case study - Sophie English
Before joining youth theatre although happy to try new things Sophie could feel embarrassed and shy meeting new people and making her voice heard.
She has made lots of new friends at theatre and enjoys being part of a team where they listen to each other and can all have an input in the class whilst working towards the shows.
In Sophie's words she is now more than happy to show off her "silly voices and drama performances". Being part of a supportive group has helped her realise what she is capable of.
We noticed Sophie's confidence had grown tremendously from the first show back, by the 2nd "Canny Ladin" she was much more confident and comfortable on stage. She starts secondary school in September, she is already brimming with enthusiasm to meet new friends and try new experiences, the first priority of course is joining the drama group!
