The best way to get a taster for musical theatre

Isn’t it the greatest challenge of all for a teacher or a parent to discover and refine their children’s natural talent that each child certainly has? Thankfully, nowadays there are endless opportunities available to overcome it including a wide range of companies providing educational and entertainment activities for young people. Especially in summer, when the summer long break seems the best time to have fun with new friends, explore potential and learn something new and exciting.

British Youth Music Theatre (BYMT), the leading provider of highlevel musical theatre training for young people, among other amazing and aspirational opportunities, offers a few unique options specifically designed for those young people who have a passion for performing arts, but unsure if it’s really worth to commit to a career on stage. Week-long fun-filled and actionpacked musical theatre summer camps with intense creative training led by top theatre professionals are open for anyone aged 11-17 willing to explore and develop their performing skills. No audition or previous experience is needed.

“I will never forget my first day at BYMT’s summer camp,” – says Suraya, 16, from Aberdeen, – “In the beginning I was really nervous, nearly having second thoughts, but then I remember saying to my mum on the phone in the evening: “I don’t want to go back to school, I want to stay and do nothing but BYMT.

In my first summer camp I was working with our Director Des Kennedy, who was the Associate Director for the original cast of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. It was such an amazing opportunity to work with someone from the professional industry.

The hardest part for me, the same as for everyone, was saying goodbye after the show in the end of the week. There were tears and hugs, no one wanted to leave. We just ended up becoming one big family.”

In each BYMT’s summer camp young people are training with top theatre professionals, developing their singing, acting and dancing abilities, meeting new friends and creating a brand-new piece of musical theatre that will be shown to their friends and family at the end of the course. It’s a great opportunity for any young person to get a taster of theatremaking and decide if they want to do it for living or just boost their confidence, polish their skills and choose another path.

One of BYMT’s practitioners,

Pete Gallagher, actor, director and writer, whose film, TV and theatre credits include Jesus Christ Superstar, Waking the Dead, Casualty, The Two of Us, Moon and Son, The Pirates of Penzance, Jesus Christ Superstar (Lyceum and Arena Tour),

The Rocky Horror Show, Guys and Dolls, Only Fools and Horses, Betrayal, and many, many others, says: “I would always recommend young people to join camps, if they love drama or just being creative. The most common response I hear is ‘I feel like I have made some friends for life’ and that has GOT to be worth it, hasn’t it? You will go through every emotion in the week, create something amazing and come out of it with new friends.”

Young people are staying in either a boarding school or a university.

All participants are living together in shared rooms or sometimes single rooms depending on the venue, and they are allocated in the rooms with their fellow-participants who are roughly their own age. Female and male bedrooms are on separate floors.

On the first day young people meet the creatives: a Director, a

Musical Director and a Choreographer. The creative team introduces an initial idea about the theme of the performance – usually a story or poem, historical event, myth or fairy-tale.

And then… as Pete describes it: “It is a week of hard but extremely enjoyable work, putting together a new piece of musical theatre based on an idea that is presented and then twisted all over the place by the participants until it invariably hardly resembles the original idea at all. This is called ‘ownership’ – a piece that is created and performed by YOU, based on YOUR ideas and YOUR choices. It is a great way to explore your own creativity; trying out a few ideas bubbling around inside your head if you’ve never explored creativity before, or perhaps running wild with your thoughts in an extremely creative environment if it’s something you’re used to.

From my perspective as a director, what I am looking for is positivity and engagement – a whole group of people who enthusiastically engage, first with the idea and then with the process of turning it into something new that we can make our own and ultimately perform and amaze people. There is an argument that nothing truly original has happened for a hundred years or more .... but even so, that is what I’m looking for! Something that will make even me – after nearly forty years in this wonderful industry – go WOW...I’ve NEVER seen or thought of that! That’s what I am hoping for...and BYMT participants rarely disappoint me.”

Young performers will be working long hours from 9am to 9pm with a few breaks for lunch and dinner. The ‘Grand Plan’ is that by lunchtime on Saturday, a brand-new piece of original musical theatre has been created! At 2pm on the last day, family, friends are invited along to watch your new musical, which normally lasts around 30 minutes, but we know it’s because of young people’s hard work, dedication and talent.

Working together on a Summer Camp is one of the best ways to make great, often life-long, friends, to share a unique experience and to come out at the other end proud of what achieved, whilst becoming more confident as a performer and as a person.

All BYMT summer camps are taking place across the UK. This year BYMT is holding 7 summer camps in London, Wiltshire, West Midlands, Yorkshire and Hertfordshire.

If you know a young person who would want to explore their creativity, their journey starts here: britishyouthmusictheatre.org/courses