TWENTY- EIGHT YEARS OF SYPT

lt’s about that time of the year now when the rustling of ambitious young actors can be heard around the county. ‘What’s this year’s show?” ‘Will you be auditioning?” Did you get in last year? And so on and so on! For the past 27 years we have assembled a group of young people who, acting under the title of Suffolk Young People’s Theatre, take up the ten day challenge to rehearse and then perform their chosen piece.

It was in 1979 that we came up with the 10 day challenge. Drama was a popular subject in schools, but trying to develop a full scale production when other subjects had to be considered and rehearsals were fragmented meant that continuity was difficult. What we wanted was a cast prepared to devote ten full days rehearsal into performance. The only way this could be achieved was total commitment from the actors and a professional production team ready to bring the technical and staging up to professional standards.

Well, we had our problems and we had to face them. Fortunately the quality of the theatre we began to produce increased our audiences and I can proudly say that in our 28th year we know we have an audience. We have to tackle a wide range of theatre in order to challenge the skills of our casts. We have staged classical and modern works, but our more recent shows have been in musical theatre. The enjoyment of learning to dance and to sing with the encouragement of an outstanding Musical Director is one of the real joys of Suffolk Young People’s Theatre in full flood and a choreographer they have to die for.

Our production for this year is Fiddler on the Roof to be performed in St Edmundsbury Cathedral from 1^st  to the 5th August. Auditions are open to young people between 14 and 2lyears to be held at Westgate Primary School Saturday 29th April 10am to 5.3Opm.  Contact 01284 701934 for more details.

Ray Dyer

Director.