JASSPA Youth Theatre Holiday Project

It’s amazing what can happen in 7 days: from nothing but vision a stunning performance was created by 33 young actors and their artistic team. Congratulations to JASSPA Youth Theatre and especially to Spencer James, Director, and to Will Stuart, and Simone Waller whose musical direction and choreography achieved such impact on the Caribbean island set, designed and built by Will Feasey. The story of this Broadway Junior Show, with shades of ‘Romeo and Juliet’, tests the strength of love against the power of death. It tested the patience of the staff for sure. “Flying by the skin of our pants,” said Will Feasey, who had to reprogramme the sound board when the technology went beserk, and to operate one of the moving lights by hand throughout the performance.  (We wouldn’t have known.)

In a nutshell, the story is that one small girl, waiting for her life to begin, meets the boy of her dreams, nurses him and cherishes her dream to marry him, but is trapped by the conventions of poor versus rich. The company clearly relished the heady mix of Caribbean rhythms, gods, legends and thwarted hopes. They moved beautifully and confidently through the story and the space, as if they’d been working on it for months, and the audience loved it.

Most of the actors are local or from South London, but 16 year old Jaye Hannah must have come furthest, travelling from where she lives in France to do the show. Jaye is an experienced member of the company having been in JYT shows since its inception. She remembers ‘King Arthur’ and ‘Bodywork’ and ‘Thoroughly Modern Millie’ with great affection. “JYT has come a long way. The cast was much bigger and had a wider age range; this is a smaller, tighter cast. Everyone seems to be 14-17 years old and it feels good, a real ensemble. This show was very focused on music, which was new. I think we’ve taken our performance to another level. I don’t have a best moment – I liked it all.”

17 year old Shaquille Taylor played Agwe, God of Water, his commanding presence even more defined by glittering make-up and a striking blue costume. “It was brilliant when I put my costume on for the first time. It really helped me to get into my character more. I’m at Lambeth College. I met Spencer doing a Glee Club and I knew two others in the company, but this is my first JYT show. My favourite moment in the show was my song, ‘Let there be no moon’. (Poignant moment for me was when he and the company sang ‘I wrapped her in a wave and laid her to rest.’) Working on the music has helped my singing. I want to do music – theatre when I leave college.”

Both Shaquille and Jaye  should listen to one of the lyrics: ‘Our lives become the stories we weave.’ Good luck to them and to the rest of the company.

Alison Venn

To find out more about dance, music and drama classes with JASSPA, visit: www.jasspa.org.uk

Photos by Nobby Clarke©