It's no mean feat to take a group of youngsters - some of whom have never appeared on stage before - and give them just three weeks to get a show on the road.
But that’s what professional director Adam Sutherland, from Marsden, is doing at Huddersfield’s Lawrence Batley Theatre this summer.
When the curtain goes up on Thursday, August 13, for a first performance of The Jungle Book, it will showcase the talents of 20-plus young people, aged between eight and 18, from all over Kirklees. Some are members of the LBT’s own Young Company, but others are newcomers to acting and drama. They have been drawn mainly from North Kirklees, particularly from areas where such theatre opportunities are rarely on offer.
As Adam says: “We are trying to get people involved in theatre who wouldn’t normally get the chance; people who are completely new to it.”
And so, from August 13 until Saturday, August 15, the youngsters will bring the famous Rudyard Kipling story to life on the LBT’s main stage in a production that promises something quite different from the well-known Disney cartoon version.
Adam, who was a professional actor before turning to theatre production and is about to launch a third career as a primary school teacher in Honley, says the production arose from two workshops that he conducted in Dewsbury earlier this year and, like most of his work, will be ‘movement’ based.
“It gave them a taste of the work involved and all of the kids on the workshops signed up for Jungle Book,” he added. “While there is a script, which I have tweaked, there is a lot of physical movement in the piece. I come from a physical theatre background.”
The show is a highly collaborative affair and involves members of the West Yorkshire Drama Academy, Fieldhead’s Fusion Dance Group and Westborough High School as well as youngsters from the Fieldhead and Wilton Estates in Dewsbury.
Costumes have been fabricated by designer Kate Morton, who has worked for Mikron Theatre, Hull Truck and the Stephen Joseph Theatre, along with costume design students at Huddersfield University. She has also overseen set and prop production at Westborough High School.
Music for the show has been composed and will be performed by Kirklees musician Sam Hodgson, who plays a variety of instruments and will rely partly on improvisation.
This will not be a stage show that relies heavily on backdrops and scenery.
As Adam, who has worked with Mikron Theatre, Northern Broadsides and Sticks Theatre, explains: “The theatre will be stripped back and the sets will be created by the performers themselves. They will have large hand-held props. For costumes we have gone for traditional Indian fabrics, which have been printed by the university students, who researched them.”
Tickets for the show are £6 and £7 from www.thelbt.org or 01484 430528.
