The Junior Workshop of 1992 with Tim Etherington who put them to the test with a wonderful presentation of
"The Green Wizard"
PROGRESSIVE AND PROSPEROUS TIMES: The Nineties
It seemed very appropriate and reassuring that the
activities during the early nineties emphasised the importance
of the young actor; appropriate because it reflected the tradition
that had grown up in the theatre since the time when the junior
theatre performed at the eisteddfods back in the 1930's and reassuring
because the future of the theatre would be guaranteed if a body
of trained and dedicated young people was continually being produced.
The need for the involvement of young people in the theatre on
a formal basis was recognised in the 70's.
Ray Costello, in 1975, was keen to foster "junior
drama" as he called it and volunteered to draw up a list
of suggestions related to the possible organisation of such an
activity. The subject of a "Junior Theatre" was raised
by Mary Webb in 1976 but apparently the difficulties in forming
a group was considered too difficult, reasons not stated. However,
apparently the sponsoring of a drama festival for high schools
was seen as one positive way the Theatre could encourage the interest
of the young performer and several of these were organised over
the next few years, with participating schools coming from as
far away as Lynwood. Despite the use of large numbers of young
people in many of the plays of the 80's, Barry Lucas, in 1990,
expressed his concern about the Theatre's apparent lack of commitment
in establishing a formal avenue to cater for young people's interest
in the theatre.
His proposal to initiate a Junior Theatre was acted
upon by the committee and at the end of the year a programme of
workshopping was commenced, to run for a period of 10 weeks. Barry
was assisted by Fred Longman and Barbara Davies in organising
the activities and in April the enthusiastic group of about 30
children, under the direction of Barry and musical director, Allison
Croft, staged a production of the childrens' musical play "Ship
of Dreams" by Mary Durack, who in fact, attended the theatre
to see one of the performances. The success of the 1991-92 programme
prompted Junior Theatre workshop courses to be conducted in 1992
and 1993.
The culmination of the work in 1992 was marked by
a short season of "The Green Wizard". The sparkling
performance demonstrated not only the hard work and patience of
director Tim Etherington, and again Alison Croft, but also what
can be achieved with a keen and committed juvenile cast. Significantly
much of the 1993 Junior Theatre workshop activities were organised
and conducted by younger members, who themselves had only just
graduated into the ranks of adult performers. No