Looking for young blood to launch a new acting company

Helping youngsters get to grips with the realities of our star-driven, celebrity-obsessed world is one of the reasons behind the creation of YoungBlood Theatre Company.

YoungBlood is all about giving youngsters with dreams of theatrical or television stardom a taste of what is really involved. It’s centred on youngsters working on plays and sketches which they develop themselves from their own experiences and voicing their own concerns about the world around them.

The company is the brainchild of Beth Tuckey, daughter of former Wolsey Theatre artistic director Dick Tuckey, and her husband Andrew Braidford.

Their company has already had tremendous success in London and now they want to bring their experience to their home town.

Beth and Andrew are starting up their young theatre company in Ipswich from the beginning of June.

Although their London company provided a springboard for Carey Mulligan, Being Human’s Lenora Crichlow, EastEnders Charlie Clements and Oliver Jackson-Cohen from Larkrise to Candleford, both of them stressed that the theatre company is not just for would-be professionals.

“It’s available for everyone,” explains Beth, “It’s for all youngsters who enjoy drama and would relish a chance to work on plays and sketches. It’s a chance to get together with like-minded individuals and just have some fun.

“It’s a great way to make new friends and have a friendship circle outside school, which is particularly important if the school one is not working.”

Andrew said that one of their guiding principles was that they wanted to attract people from all walks of life. “It’s not an exclusive club in any way. A lot of traditional theatre schools or stage schools charge fairly large fees and so you tend to get fairly well heeled people coming along.

“We are about making this as affordable and accessible as possible. We want people from all backgrounds to feel welcome.”

He said that while many other stage schools and theatre groups for young people focussed on staging musicals or give musical training, YoungBlood would concentrate purely on drama. “At the end of the day there are people who aren’t necessarily that interested in song and dance or musical theatre. There are many creative people who prefer to work in straight drama.

“We offer the opportunity to work in that area.” He said that they would also encourage writers as well as actors. “In the past we have had people come to us and say: ‘We can’t write’ and we tell them: ‘Yes you can,’ and point out the sketch or routine they created in a previous show. They were writing and didn’t even realise it.”

Beth added that YoungBlood was as much about building confidence for life in general as it was about preparing the next generation of actors for the stage.

“If anyone wants to enter the profession of course we will help them and help prepare for auditions but they will have to be very sure that this is what they want to do.

“There was that recent Equity survey which revealed that only 6% of actors had earned over �30,000 in the past year – so it’s not all wine and roses, you do need to go into it with your eyes open.

“But, for the majority of the youngsters taking part, they don’t want to be professional actors but they do love drama, they do enjoy performing with other kids and it’s a way to teach them skills which will serve them well in later life – things like presentation skills, having the confidence to talk to people, looking people in the eye when they are talking to them rather than staring at the ground.

“It’s all about confidence. If you appear confident then you are more likely to impress at job interviews and in all sorts of social situations. Plus it’s fun.”

She added that they planned to do a couple of productions a year plus several sketch nights. “The thing we have found is that young people are incredibly funny and very perceptive. You give them the freedom to develop their own ideas and they come up with some amazing material and material which is relevant to them. That’s the key, material which is born out of their experiences and reflect their concerns.”

Andrew said that it was also important for them to perform on a proper stage with lighting to give them the skills necessary to deliver a polished, confident performance.

He said that it was all about building trust. He came from a non-theatrical background and that his love of theatre developed through stage workshops which were very similar to the experience he and Beth were now offering.

“Our experience in London has showed that the majority of our young actors have come from ordinary, non-showbizzy, homes and were just looking for something interesting to do with their time.

“We have had many youngsters come in and who have decided to make acting their career. Some came in knowing that was their goal, while others came to the decision gradually – people like Carey.

“Carey was quite shy when she first arrived. Her dad was a hotel manager – she came from a supportive but non-acting background but, it was clear, quite quickly, that she had a special gift. However, she had one great hurdle, she couldn’t cry on cue. We worked with her on that, helped her, coached her and she has just blossomed and never had trouble with anything like that again.

“I’m not saying we made Carey Mulligan who she is. She had amazing talent but we certainly helped her and that’s what we can do for all our youngsters.

“We could spot that Carey had something special, even though at the time she couldn’t see it herself. And we could also see that in Ophelia Lovibond, who is going to be the next big thing.

“Ophelia has been with us since she was 12 and she was one of the first kids to get a job and now she has just finished a film with Jim Carrey. But, people don’t always want to go off and be stars, even those who want to work in the industry. Some are running young people’s companies of their own or we have one young lad studying on a director’s course at Brunel University. We have youngsters going off to be writers, to do stage management or just taking a new sense of confidence into their own world of work.”

Andrew started life as an actor before being invited to take over running the education arm of Riverside Studios. He was running Hammersmith’s Youth group Kaleidoscope and went into Riverside Studios to stage their production of The Lucky Ones by Tony Merchant when the facility asked him to stay on and run a youth programme.

Being based in a venue like that he was very keen to tap in to the expertise of other professionals as they passed through the building. For example: it was not unusual to have leading actor Brian Cox leading a youth workshop one evening.

This sharing of expertise and talent is something that Beth and Andrew are keen to continue in Ipswich. “We hope to get working professionals in to share their experience and expertise. We have found that youngsters really benefit from working with people who come in from outside and can give them a different perspective.

“We have relationships with people like Lenora Crichlow, star of Being Human, she used to be a member of YoungBlood, we’ve known her since she was 12 and she’s happy to come along and get her hands dirty, joining in with a workshop.”

Beth said that they would love to experiment with different performance methods – running workshops in everything from mime to puppetry.

“Also, we would love to have a good contingent of boys. Workshops work so much better with a good mix of ages and sexes. As the youngsters set the agenda through improvisation, we will be doing things which do interest them.”

Beth said that coming from a theatrical background there was never any doubt that she was going to end up in the theatre.

“I sometimes I think, if Dad had been a dentist would I have still been an actress, and I don’t think I would have. But, on the other hand, what else could I have done?

“I wasn’t an academic, I didn’t enjoy school and for me I moved to Ipswich at exactly the wrong time. I came from Liverpool, I had an established friendship group, about to start my O Levels and then Dad (Antony, known as Dick, Tuckey) gets this wonderful job on the other side of the country opening up The Wolsey Theatre.

“He did a great job and it’s a wonderful theatre, a very welcoming theatre, a lovely space but for quite a while I was a very grumpy little miss. At the time Ipswich seemed to be this place in the middle of nowhere, where nothing happened and all I wanted to do was go back to Liverpool and my friends.

“So for a long time I just followed Dad around his wonderful new playhouse, met everyone involved in the theatre and decided that this is what I wanted to be.

“I grew up, went off to London to be an actress and at the time there were jobs. When I left drama school I didn’t stop working. I didn’t stop for 12-13 years. It somehow seemed easier.

“Then as soon as I had a family, what did I do? Come back to Ipswich. It’s my home and we have been living here for 12 years now. It’s a lovely place but at 14/15 in 1979 you don’t quite see it that way.”

n The YoungBlood Theatre Company is starting its first series of workshops on June 7 and will be based at the Methodist Church Hall in Black Horse Lane, Ipswich. Classes for 10-13 year olds will be on Tuesdays, 14-18 year olds on Thursdays. Both workshops take place from 4.30-6pm.

Places can be booked by email on YBTC2000@aol.com or on 07415545913.