How to.. Each week, ET entertainments reporter Duncan Hall tries out a new activity. This week, Duncan tries out:
How to.. Theatre summer school
APART from a brief reading during South Wootton First School's ground-breaking production of the Nativity in 1984, I made my true stage debut the following year playing the Wise Man of the World.
I was on stage throughout the whole half-hour performance dispensing advice to an eight-year-old troubled king, in what I considered to be a splendid piece of casting.
My mum said it was a tour-de-force performance, so as any true lover of the acting craft, I retired from further stage appearances, choosing instead to work on my writing.
That was until two weeks ago when I joined the Key Youth Theatre's Summer School at Peterborough Regional College.
The first group performance of the Ping Pong Ball song - complete with actions - was designed to warm everyone up and make a bearded reporter expecting Shakespeare feel very silly indeed.
The 135 children who took part for that week of the three-week school were divided into four groups, each taking on a different half-hour production guided by a team leader, choreographer and musical director to form part of a musical show for parents, friends and family to enjoy on the Saturday afternoon.
I joined the youngest blue team, which was tackling Joseph and his Technicolour Dreamcoat, and the oldest green team taking on the Abba musical Mamma Mia.
The emphasis in the blue class, which was led by Key Theatre star Mark Curtis, was very much on having fun and playing games, while also getting down to the serious work of choreographing the opening number Jacob and Sons.
We started with a game explaining the different parts of the stage and stage protocol - including the best way to treat a director - before the long job of learning the song and blocking the number began.
Blocking basically means mapping out movements you make during a scene - something you don't think about when you're watching a performance but is obviously essential unless you want to fill the stage with people standing about aimlessly. When you have 35 children running around, it becomes even more complicated, but the patient way Mark and choreographer Tim Britton handled it impressed me.
They got the children doing the moves they wanted, but made sure they were enjoying it, while musical director Chris Lochery provided the backing on the piano. To round off the first session I was invited to join in a Yippee! This apparently is a technique all actors use to keep their energy up.
It involves running and jumping over an obstacle placed in the middle of the floor while yelling Yippee! at the top of your voice - then keeping that natural energy when you land. It was almost impossible not to feel energised after that - and I couldn't wait for my next session.
The atmosphere was just as electric in the green team's studio. The participants may have been older, but it felt as though nearly everyone had done a Yippee! before they went in.
The same basic blocking principles applied to the production, which was being put together by the husband and wife team of Paul and Lisa Collings and musical director Damien Smith. But this time, being older, the actors had a lot more to learn in a shorter period of time - and the opportunity to input some of their ideas. I joined the class to learn the blocking for the Abba classic Money Money Money.
Although this time there were no games, there was a lot of laughter and everyone got to feel part of the performance - even if they weren't playing a named part. Paul, who is also co-ordinator of the Key Youth Theatre, explained that a lot of the philosophy behind the youth theatre was to provide positive criticism and healthy encouragement.
He said: "There are a lot of talented kids. We can help them get to the next stage if they are interested in acting as a career, although a lot of kids are doing it just because they love it. "Being in a drama society teaches you excellent personal skills and communication skills, as well as confidence and teamwork.
The kids who come along feel like they can be themselves." He ran the youth theatre during the year with Mark and Lisa. It has become one big family - with many former members coming back to help out with the summer schools. On the Saturday afternoon after my session with the two groups, I found myself in the Key Theatre watching the final results.
Seeing the end performances took my breath away - having seen the first stumbling moves towards creating a finished project, it was amazing how much work the child actors had done in one week. It looked very smooth and polished, with any minor mistakes glossed over so professionally it was almost as if they were meant to be there.
And, most importantly, on that warm summer afternoon, it was obvious everyone on that stage was enjoying themselves.