19/7/2022

Alex’s Youth Theatre Blog

Hello! I’m Alex Dunlop and I have been running Freedom Studios Youth Theatre since February. I’m thrilled to say that I will be continuing. When first I met our group, I was incredibly impressed with the skill and the strong bond between participants. They were already very talented at devising, improvising, scriptwriting and acting. Over the last term we’ve seen growth and new members who have seamlessly added and contributed to the group. It’s been wonderful to see friendships develop and everyone has shown so much maturity and welcoming spirit. It has been brilliant to work with everyone at Freedom and FSYT. I’m excited to see where we can take it from September onwards.

This past term we’ve been working with Wonder Fools “Positive Stories for Negative Times.” We’ve devised using Bryony Kimmings “Revolting.” We created an original piece addressing the concerns of our young people such as the environment and misuse of power. From start to finish, everyone contributed brilliant ideas, interesting characters, and absolutely hilarious lines. It’s been so much fun to work on and I think everyone should be proud of the finished performance. It’s a great story and I think we will create even better ones together in the future. I have to thank everyone who has attended as well as Kerry and Anil for their help with running the sessions.

So, what will be happening at FSYT next term? I can’t tell everything yet, but there will be more original pieces, working on new skills and collaborations with different Bradford companies and artists. Watch this space. In the long term we know that Bradford 2025 is the City of Culture. We as a company want to put FSYT at the heart of our plans as Bradford is the UK’s youngest city (26% of the population are aged under 18!) We want to empower our young people through the art they make. I think we have a fantastic opportunity to create something special. Well, I better stop before I give away too much. I will see you in September. I’m sure we’re going to hit the ground running.

If you are between 11-19 years old and interested in joining our free Saturday Youth Theatre sessions at Kala Sangam in Bradord during term time, click here to register!