Middlesbrough Youth Theatre
Encyclopedia
Middlesbrough Youth Theatre is an umbrella company consisting of Middlesbrough Junior Theatre, earlier known as MLT Juniors (aged 11–16), together with a 'Kidstage' group of 7- to 10-year-olds, and an older 'Youth Theatre' of 17- to 25-year-olds.
The company performs in Middlesbrough Theatre
, and has run for many years with many of its members continuing to work in drama and the performing arts. The group is a member of the National Association of Youth Theatres (NAYT). The company has also taken part in the Edinburgh Fringe
, and is a regular at the Middlesbrough Youth Drama Festival.
The company has recently celebrated its 15th anniversary, and is noted as one of the largest voluntarily run youth theatres in the country.
The company is managed by 'leaders', consisting of both professional and amateur actors, dancers and singers. As a company, there are also directors, an administrator and a treasurer. These members of staff are often the directors, musical directors or backstage crew of the productions. The backstage, costuming and rehearsal crew itself is usually made up of volunteers, with professional lighting and sound crews, and occasionally an orchestra, being the only part of each production that does not come from within the 'group'.
Some limited special effects were made use of during MLTJ performances, including notably splurge guns during 'Bugsy Malone
', indoor fireworks during 'Santa Claus: The Musical' and a flying sequence during 'Peter Pan
'.
, North East England
, with productions staged in the town's 'Little Theatre'; now Middlesbrough Theatre
. The theatre itself seats around 500 people, and was the first theatre to be built in Britain after World War II
. The company now rehearse at Macmillan Academy
(Middlesbrough).
The theatre was opened by Sir John Gielgud, and its opening production was a lavish presentation of 'Caesar and Cleopatra
'. The Theatre was handed over to the local authority in 1972 due to rising maintenance costs, but MLT Ltd, the resident amateur company, still resides there, staging around six shows each year.
The company performs in Middlesbrough Theatre
Middlesbrough Theatre
Middlesbrough Theatre was opened by Sir John Gielgud in 1957 and was one of the first new theatres built in England after the Second World War...
, and has run for many years with many of its members continuing to work in drama and the performing arts. The group is a member of the National Association of Youth Theatres (NAYT). The company has also taken part in the Edinburgh Fringe
Edinburgh Fringe
The Edinburgh Festival Fringe is the world’s largest arts festival. Established in 1947 as an alternative to the Edinburgh International Festival, it takes place annually in Scotland's capital, in the month of August...
, and is a regular at the Middlesbrough Youth Drama Festival.
The company has recently celebrated its 15th anniversary, and is noted as one of the largest voluntarily run youth theatres in the country.
Show History
- 1995 - Oliver!Oliver!Oliver! is a British musical, with script, music and lyrics by Lionel Bart. The musical is based upon the novel Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens....
- 1996 - Alice in Wonderland
- 1997 - Bugsy MaloneBugsy MaloneBugsy Malone is a 1976 musical film, very loosely based on events in New York City in the Prohibition era, specifically the exploits of gangsters like Al Capone and Bugs Moran, as dramatized in cinema...
- 1998 - Ernie's Incredible Illucinations (Saltburn Drama Festival)
- 1998 - Two Daft Lasses in a Boat (Saltburn Drama Festival)
- 1998 - The Future is in Eggs (or It Takes All Sorts to Make a World) (Saltburn Drama Festival)
- 1998 - Oh! What A Lovely WarOh! What a Lovely WarOh! What a Lovely War is a musical film based on the stage musical Oh, What a Lovely War! originated by Charles Chilton as a radio play, The Long Long Trail in December 1961, and transferred to stage by Gerry Raffles in partnership with Joan Littlewood and her Theatre Workshop created in 1963,...
- 1999 - Guys and DollsGuys and DollsGuys and Dolls is a musical with music and lyrics by Frank Loesser and book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows. It is based on "The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown" and "Blood Pressure", two short stories by Damon Runyon, and also borrows characters and plot elements from other Runyon stories, most notably...
- 2000 - The Infant Hercules (Middlesbrough Millennium Celebrations)
- 2000 - Cat in the Road (Saltburn Drama Festival & Middlesbrough Youth Drama Festival)
- 2000 - Dream Jobs (Saltburn Drama Festival & Middlesbrough Youth Drama Festival)
- 2000 - Peter PanPeter PanPeter Pan is a character created by Scottish novelist and playwright J. M. Barrie . A mischievous boy who can fly and magically refuses to grow up, Peter Pan spends his never-ending childhood adventuring on the small island of Neverland as the leader of his gang the Lost Boys, interacting with...
- 2000 - Twelfth Night
- 2001 - Whistle Down the WindWhistle Down the Wind (musical)Whistle Down the Wind is a musical based on the 1961 film Whistle Down the Wind with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Jim Steinman, known for his work with Meat Loaf and Bonnie Tyler.-Stage Premiere:...
(with MLT) - 2001 - A Midsummer Night's DreamA Midsummer Night's DreamA Midsummer Night's Dream is a play that was written by William Shakespeare. It is believed to have been written between 1590 and 1596. It portrays the events surrounding the marriage of the Duke of Athens, Theseus, and the Queen of the Amazons, Hippolyta...
- 2001 - Cat in the Road (Edinburgh Festival)
- 2001 - Two Daft Lasses in a Boat (Edinburgh Festival)
- 2001 - Scrooge: The MusicalScrooge: The MusicalScrooge: The Musical is a 1992 stage musical with book, music and lyrics by Leslie Bricusse. Its score and book are closely adapted from the music and screenplay of the 1970 musical film Scrooge starring Albert Finney...
- 2002 - Dressing the Wound (Middlesbrough Youth Drama Festival)
- 2002 - Spectrum 6 (Saltburn Drama Festival)
- 2002 - Santa Claus: The Musical
- 2003 - Oliver!Oliver!Oliver! is a British musical, with script, music and lyrics by Lionel Bart. The musical is based upon the novel Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens....
(with MLT) - 2003 - A Midsummer Night's DreamA Midsummer Night's DreamA Midsummer Night's Dream is a play that was written by William Shakespeare. It is believed to have been written between 1590 and 1596. It portrays the events surrounding the marriage of the Duke of Athens, Theseus, and the Queen of the Amazons, Hippolyta...
- 2003 - Alice in Wonderland
- 2003 - The Lion, the Witch and the WardrobeThe Lion, the Witch and the WardrobeThe Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is a fantasy novel for children by C. S. Lewis. Published in 1950 and set circa 1940, it is the first-published book of The Chronicles of Narnia and is the best known book of the series. Although it was written and published first, it is second in the series'...
- 2004 - Les MisérablesLes Misérables (musical)Les Misérables , colloquially known as Les Mis or Les Miz , is a musical by Claude-Michel Schönberg, based on the novel of the same name by Victor Hugo....
(School Edition) (Reviews) - 2005 - West Side StoryWest Side StoryWest Side Story is an American musical with a script by Arthur Laurents, music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and choreographed by Jerome Robbins...
- 2007 - Titanic: The Musical
- 2007 - Les MisérablesLes Misérables (musical)Les Misérables , colloquially known as Les Mis or Les Miz , is a musical by Claude-Michel Schönberg, based on the novel of the same name by Victor Hugo....
(School Edition) - 2008 - A Tribute to Andrew Lloyd Webber
- 2008 - Pendragon
- 2009 - Kes (with MLT)
- 2009 - Scrooge: The MusicalScrooge: The MusicalScrooge: The Musical is a 1992 stage musical with book, music and lyrics by Leslie Bricusse. Its score and book are closely adapted from the music and screenplay of the 1970 musical film Scrooge starring Albert Finney...
- 2010 - Wizard of Oz
- 2011 - Beauty and the BeastBeauty and the BeastBeauty and the Beast is a traditional fairy tale. The first published version of the fairy tale was a rendition by Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve, published in La jeune américaine, et les contes marins in 1740...
The Group
The longest running section of the group itself was its "Juniors"; MLT Juniors being the group's official name until 2002. The "Juniors" typically has a membership of around 100, ageing from around 13 to 16 (although this age limit often changed). The older "Youth" group has around twenty members. The “Kidstage” theatre group brought about a new beginning for MLT Ltd as it took on a separate group of up to 30 pre-secondary school children.The company is managed by 'leaders', consisting of both professional and amateur actors, dancers and singers. As a company, there are also directors, an administrator and a treasurer. These members of staff are often the directors, musical directors or backstage crew of the productions. The backstage, costuming and rehearsal crew itself is usually made up of volunteers, with professional lighting and sound crews, and occasionally an orchestra, being the only part of each production that does not come from within the 'group'.
Some limited special effects were made use of during MLTJ performances, including notably splurge guns during 'Bugsy Malone
Bugsy Malone
Bugsy Malone is a 1976 musical film, very loosely based on events in New York City in the Prohibition era, specifically the exploits of gangsters like Al Capone and Bugs Moran, as dramatized in cinema...
', indoor fireworks during 'Santa Claus: The Musical' and a flying sequence during 'Peter Pan
Peter Pan
Peter Pan is a character created by Scottish novelist and playwright J. M. Barrie . A mischievous boy who can fly and magically refuses to grow up, Peter Pan spends his never-ending childhood adventuring on the small island of Neverland as the leader of his gang the Lost Boys, interacting with...
'.
The Leaders
Here is a partial list of some of the leaders who have worked with Middlesbrough Youth Theatre;- Ray Burton
- Janice Carmo
- Steve Catchpole
- Steve Cockerline
- Sylvia Cockerline
- Mike Crooks
- Darren Gamble
- Bobbie Jameson
- Wendy Lowe
- Jack McBride
- Matthew McGuiness
- Lewis Oliver
- Mark Reed
- Helen Roberts
- Kenny Robinson
- Ray Tye
Rehearsals & Performances
The group rehearses in many different venues in MiddlesbroughMiddlesbrough
Middlesbrough is a large town situated on the south bank of the River Tees in north east England, that sits within the ceremonial county of North Yorkshire...
, North East England
North East England
North East England is one of the nine official regions of England. It covers Northumberland, County Durham, Tyne and Wear, and Teesside . The only cities in the region are Durham, Newcastle upon Tyne and Sunderland...
, with productions staged in the town's 'Little Theatre'; now Middlesbrough Theatre
Middlesbrough Theatre
Middlesbrough Theatre was opened by Sir John Gielgud in 1957 and was one of the first new theatres built in England after the Second World War...
. The theatre itself seats around 500 people, and was the first theatre to be built in Britain after World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. The company now rehearse at Macmillan Academy
Macmillan Academy
Macmillan Academy is an academy in Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England.The school was founded in 1989 as the Macmillan City Technology College, one of the first of 15 City Technology Colleges established in England...
(Middlesbrough).
Middlesbrough Little Theatre Ltd.
Middlesbrough Youth Theatre was affiliated with MLT Ltd., which was born in 1930, and whose productions, although sometimes directed by professionals, were performed almost always by amateurs. Their first play, "To What Red Hell", by Percy Robinson, was presented in November 1930 in the Church Hall of St. John's. The company occupied this stage for twenty-seven years, until in 1945 a new theatre was proposed using money from the Building Fund. Complications meant that, as well as the cost rising to three times the original estimate, the Middlesbrough Theatre did not open until 1957.The theatre was opened by Sir John Gielgud, and its opening production was a lavish presentation of 'Caesar and Cleopatra
Caesar and Cleopatra (play)
Caesar and Cleopatra, a play written in 1898 by George Bernard Shaw, was first staged in 1901 and first published with Captain Brassbound's Conversion and The Devil's Disciple in his 1901 collection, Three Plays for Puritans. It was first performed at Newcastle-on-Tyne on March 15, 1899...
'. The Theatre was handed over to the local authority in 1972 due to rising maintenance costs, but MLT Ltd, the resident amateur company, still resides there, staging around six shows each year.
Website
The company has had several websites, the latest being mytlive.org.uk. The site is still online, though has not been recently updated, and acts as an internet source for information, photos and memories of the company. The original message board from the company also still exists, and can be found using this link: Original Middlesbrough Youth Theatre message board.Previous Members
Previous members of MYT have gone onto careers in the performing arts. The following internet links are to other websites concerning some of these people.- Mark BentonMark BentonMark Benton is an English actor, perhaps most famous for his roles as Eddie in Early Doors and Howard in Northern Lights.-Life and career:Benton was born in Guisborough, in the North Riding of Yorkshire, England....
, Actor - Peter Gordon, Actor
- Lisa Newton, Costume Designer
- Jessica RobinsonJessica Robinson (performer)Jessica Robinson is an English singer and actress. Robinson is most noted for her participation in the 2010 BBC talent-search Over the Rainbow.-Background:...
, Singer, Actress - http://www.bbc.co.uk/dorothy/dorothys/jessicarobinson.shtml