Shirley Brown discovers how some ex-Bristol Old Vic staff are using theatre skills to make a difference to young people’s lives

A Tuesday afternoon in the bar of the Colston Hall. The last of about forty teenagers have straggled in and settled on rows of chairs around a small square stage. Three actors signal the start of the action by playing a short musical round on chime bars before bursting into the arena. Their tuneful harmony belies the lyrics: ‘Rhona Sullivan is a slag!’

This play is called Jump, and it’s part of a workshop with Myrtle Theatre Company for an audience of young people brought together by Bristol Teenage Pregnancy Partnership. Some have come via Connexions. Some from YIPs – Youth Inclusion Projects. Others from PRUs – Pupil Referral Units where you end up if you’ve been excluded from school. All have had difficulties and disruption in their lives.

Through Myrtle’s performance of Lucy Catherine’s engaging and entertaining play, they have a chance to see some of the issues that affect their lives acted out on stage. Awkward relationships. Neglect, rejection, fear, violence. Looking for love. Finding ways of coping. After the drama, the Myrtle team run an equally entertaining and engaging workshop, examining the thoughts and feelings of the young couple at the heart of the action.

There’s nothing preachy or patronising about Myrtle’s method. Through rerunning short scenes from the play, they involve the group in a lively discussion about how actors understand and create a character, exploring the ‘sub-text’ of ideas and emotions that influence what a person says and does.

So the focus is apparently on the workings of theatre, but the process examines and clarifies real human problems, neatly incorporating some practical information and safe sex advice from a Brook Clinic nurse.

‘It’s a human instinct for people to act things out, but some of the audiences we perform for have never had that opportunity, or haven’t seen theatre that bears any relationship to what they know about or believe in,’ explains Heather Williams, Myrtle Theatre’s artistic director, who not only played several roles in the performance but also expertly facilitated the workshop. ‘Our work is about providing theatre that’s directly relevant to our audience, creating an imaginative context that can give them new insights or perspectives on aspects of their lives that may be difficult or challenging.’

Left: Myrtle Theatre’s summer school 2005.(Photo by Graham Burke)

Set up in 2004, Myrtle Theatre Company grew out of the Bristol Old Vic’s Education & Youth Theatre Department, where director Heather and administrator Hilary Davis worked together for four years.The company took its name from its first production, Lucy Catherine’s Myrtle on the Mainline, which was originally part of the BOV’s 1998 drugs awareness project. Lucy is part of the creative network of freelance writers, designers, actors and technicians who first worked with Heather and Hilary in King Street.

‘Without wanting to sound grand, I feel that because we had been working in one of the country’s top ten regional theatres, we bring all that experience, integrity and expertise into making high quality theatre within the field of social change,’ says Heather, who was already an experienced actress when she first trod the BOV’s boards in 1991, staying with the company to build up its enterprising outreach programme and drama courses with young people.

‘We established a working relationship with the health services while we were at the Old Vic,’ adds administrative director Hilary, who originally joined the BOV in 1996 as PA to artistic director Andy Hay. ‘And we used our theatre skills to address sensitive issues like bullying, drugs, sexual health and personal relationships.’

‘We’re very lucky to have Myrtle Theatre on our doorstep,’ says Elspeth Loades of Bristol City Council’s Children and Young People’s Services. ‘One of their great strengths is their ability to foresee, understand and deal sensitively with young people when problems arise. They are non-judgmental and inclusive. So the young people gain in confidence and self esteem not only from their involvement in drama, but also from their interaction with all those involved in Myrtle productions.’

16-year-old Naiidine Watts is a striking example of the effectiveness of Myrtle’s work. She had never acted or sung in public before meeting Myrtle through their outreach work at the Meriton school for young mothers in St Philip’s, which she attends with her three-yearold daughter. Naiidine was one of 25 young performers – many of whom had personal experience of being in care – in Myrtle’s City of One, written by Bristol playwright Mike Akers and premiered at the Tobacco Factory last September.

With her confidence boosted by the chance to develop and display her talents on stage, Naiidine was determined that City of One’s graphic portrayal of what it feels like to be in care should be seen by people with the power to improve children’s lives. She successfully applied for a grant from the Youth Opportunity Fund, for the company to take the play to Westminster, where it was performed for an audience of MPs, ministers, senior civil servants and artistic directors. ‘We took it in our stride – though it took very big strides to make it happen!’ smiles Hilary. ‘Our partnerships with children’s services led us down the path of working with young people in care, and part of Myrtle Theatre’s success was due to hitting the government’s Change for Children agenda at the right moment’.

Helen Chambers of the National Children’s Bureau is an admirer: ‘The NCB has worked with Myrtle to involve vulnerable children and young people, especially those in care, to say what should be in national government policy and tell a wide range of people what life is like for many of those in care,’ she says. ‘Their expert use of theatre technique and practice, coupled with a sensitivity for each child or young person involved demonstrates the sort of high quality artistic work with vulnerable children that NCB supports and encourages.’

All of Myrtle Theatre’s commissioned projects are fully funded by various agencies – NCB, councils, health and education services – enabling them to employ the best people in Bristol, often drawing on their BOV connections.

Right: A scene f rom Catherine Johnson’s Through the Wire. (Photo by Graham Burke)

‘But we wouldn’t be surviving without our wonderful angel, Catherine Johnson,’ says Hilary. ‘Her support for our core financial costs enables us to operate independently of the kind of official funding bodies that require you to fulfil complicated conditions that can distort the nature of the work.’

‘Catherine gives us a sense of being connected with mainstream theatre,’ adds Heather, ‘and giving back to the people of Bristol means a great deal to her.’

Like Myrtle, Catherine – now internationally known as the writer of ABBA musical Mamma Mia! – began her professional career at the Bristol Old Vic, when she won a 1988 playwriting competition. In 2006,a Myrtle Theatre cast of thirty 16- to 20-year-olds revived Catherine’s smaller-scale musical, Through The Wire, set in a young offenders’ unit and originally commissioned by the National Theatre.

Myrtle Theatre are not only on the mainline, but also connecting with society’s sidelines, encouraging individual confidence alongside a sense of community. Find out more at www.myrtletheatrecompany.co.uk or call 0117 902 9030.