Chichester Festival Youth Theatre celebrate their 40th birthday

It’s a very special year indeed for Chichester Festival Youth Theatre as they celebrate their 40th birthday.

Transcript

00:00Good afternoon, lovely to speak to Matt Hawkswell this afternoon. Now, Matt, you are the Head

00:06of Children and Young People Programme at Chichester Festival Theatre, and it's such

00:11a special year this year, isn't it, because it's the 40th anniversary of Chichester Festival

00:17Youth Theatre. Oh, I love anniversaries, but this is one to really, really celebrate, isn't

00:22it, because the youth theatre, over four decades now, has achieved so much and has become so

00:28central to the theatre's operation, hasn't it? It must be super exciting to be in your job

00:33in this year of all years, isn't it? Absolutely, Phil, what a year. I mean, crikey, we've got a

00:38lot going on and there's a lot to celebrate, a lot to look back on, as you say, 40 years of

00:45young people whose lives have been changed and affected for the good by the work of this

00:49brilliant organisation. Whatever they've gone on to achieve, you know, we've got so many

00:55successful young people that have turned to a life in theatre themselves, on stage, backstage,

01:03in production, but also probably more special is just the way that young people have been impacted,

01:09whatever they've gone on to do and whoever they've gone on to be in their lives, those kind of

01:13skills that have carried them forward. So what are you wanting the message of this anniversary

01:17year to be? Absolutely, a great shout out and a celebration and a thank you, I think, to everybody

01:24that's been with us, not just the young people but their families as well for bringing them along

01:29for the ride with it, but also to spread the message of the power of youth voice. So a lot

01:36of what we try and do at CFYT is listen to young people and meet them where they're at

01:40and that a lot of the weekly work that we do with them is to hear how they're doing and embed

01:48that into the work and the theatre that they create. And you've already started thinking

01:53about some events for this year. You've got, well, a singing event, August 1st, what's that going to be?

01:58We do indeed, so we're really excited about this. So we are doing a lot of work on voice

02:05projection, singing work, clarity of text, and therefore we thought it would be really fitting

02:11to have a good old sing on the park, on Oakland's Park, on the 1st of August at 6pm. And this will

02:17be bringing together different facets. We have a CFYT singers choir group which is quite new for us,

02:23so they will be performing. We'll also be bringing in lots of other young people from other local

02:29groups that we work with, and also a few surprises with a few CFYT alumni just to finish it off.

02:36Absolutely, and there's going to be an extra special Christmas production this year in the

02:40anniversary year, but in between the singing event on August 1st and the Christmas show,

02:45there's going to be, well, it's going to be a fascinating alumni exhibition in the foyer

02:49in the autumn. Obviously we're a little way away, but what can you say about that at this stage?

02:54Yeah, for sure. So some colleagues have been working extremely hard, looking back at 40 years

03:00of participation and reaching out to people and asking for their stories, their memories,

03:06talking about where they've been and what they've gone on to. And so the foyer is going to be taken

03:11over in the autumn with a celebration of all of those stories.

03:16Well, Matt, lovely to speak to you. This is going to be a terrific year,

03:19good luck with everything. Thank you.

03:21Fantastic. Cheers, Bill. Thank you.