SCOTTISH Youth Theatre project Rip It Off saw 12 of the North East’s young actors performing their own condensed version of Macbeth at The Lemon Tree on 3 August. The group had just 2 days collaborating with artist and director Sally Charlton to deconstruct The Scottish Play and infuse it with their own stories and perspectives to say something urgent about the world today.
Taking Macbeth as the blueprint, they explored innovative adaptation and devising techniques in theatre; writing, planning, rehearsing and performing their brand-new piece to an audience. For a lot of the group, this was their first time using adaptation to portray their own stories in what they were performing. One participant said:
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“I’d never done something like this before and it was a great introduction to devising and adaptation. I learned how free and open [adaptation] can be and [how to use] free writing as a way to generate new ideas.”
During a time when funding pressures and drastic cuts are affecting young people’s access to the arts on a local and national level, Scottish Youth Theatre works with local creative partners to meet the needs of young artists in the area and foster the development of thriving theatre-making communities across the country.
Rip It Off was made possible through partnership with Aberdeen Performing Arts and with support from the David and June Gordon Memorial Trust.
Jacky Hardacre, Chief Executive of Scottish Youth Theatre, said:
“At Scottish Youth Theatre, we are inspired by the creativity of young people to continue to build bridges between them and the professional theatre sector, wherever they are in Scotland. We’re very grateful for our local partnerships and hope to do more work together in the near future.”
This was Scottish Youth Theatre’s third visit to the North East over the last 18 months, with each project bringing young artists together to learn and explore theatre-making fundamentals they can apply to their own practice and career journeys. Scottish Youth Theatre plans to return to Aberdeen in 2025 with more free development and performance opportunities to meet the aspirations of the region’s young theatre-makers.
To be among the first to hear about what’s next, follow Scottish Youth Theatre on social media and find opportunities via the website: www.scottishyouththeatre.org.
