Theatre time again.

Last year I was invited to film a series of schools plays at the Central Library Theatre in Manchester as part of the Manchester Arts Education Initiative.  I really enjoyed carrying these jobs out and gained a lot of experience from them.  Not only that I thought the plays were put together really well and on the whole, the kids performances were fantastic.  Many of these schools were situated in inner city locations and  most probably the kids (from 11 to 16) get a whole load of unwarranted flak in these times of 'danger kids' (there are admittedly a minority of unsavoury bunch out there mind).  It's a fairly large theatre (it is used for many larger theatre productions throughout the year) and I felt a little intimidated by the whole process myself – and I wasn't the one up there in front of a large audience and lit to high heaven.  But the kids handled any pressure really well, any shyness buried deep in their junior period costumes.  I was there to do a job but it was hard not to get drawn into the performances rather than concentrating on the camera and sound (I was a one man band on these occasions).  If you've ever written the majority of kids off as 'this', 'that' and 'the other' then you should stop by events like this.  I bet it does wonders for their confidence for there are few constraints holding people back as strong as a lack of self belief.  Of course, I joined in the rapturous applause at the end of the performances and felt a whole lot better about the world then before I went in.  Not only were there really good, young actors and actresses but also the 'orchestra'  were a bunch of kids too.

By the final performance and even though I'd watched some of the same plays several times over ('The Weaver's Tale' and 'Marie Antoinette') I was perhaps a little sad it had to come to an end.  I'd filmed quite a few performances and it felt like a routine: I'd go there every other night over the space of a couple of weeks and got to know the crew at the theatre as well as some of the directors and production staff.  

I sometimes wished that a few parents who turned up late and in the middle of the performances, perhaps should have realised that I was filming and maybe it was best not to walk in front of my camera...that's what editing is for I guess?!

When all was said and done, the final stage was to edit all the performances and create DVD's for the schools and families (the brochure artwork/DVD covers created by a friend of mine.  I hope they were all pleased with what they saw.  I felt we did a good job creating a lasting archive for the parents and children to view for many years.

This  years dates have just been released and I'm back doing them again.  My first one is this Friday evening and I must say I'm rather looking forward to it.