Kids, Dave and Terrapin
Dave playing the guitar
Howrah Primary School's portrait of my puppet Ovo.
Kids
The kids I teach. Watching them improvise and create stories, moulding original ideas with no barriers or limitations, both physically and cognitively, is something I envy and hold in the highest standard. I want to be able to open my body and mind in that same way, to play without worry of judgement or any oppressing mental filters. Most of the time when teaching singing and drama, I find I am simply structuring children’s ideas into a more malleable accessible form for an audience, and I am influenced endlessly by the beautiful ideas they offer the ensemble.
David
Corny, I know, but my partner Dave. He’s a classical guitarist, and the way he approaches his work with such technical skill, dedication and perseverance is something that I find infinitely inspiring. Also, despite how classical music is so strictly scored and played often in such a particularly restrained style, I find the way Dave alters this structure to play in an open and charged emotional experience so beautiful. I use musical language in all the work I make. For example, as a dancer my movements, so carefully practised, flow through shifting musical phrases; altering in dynamic, breadth, pitch and always subject to sudden change like a modern classical piece. I am also inspired listening to Dave practise, eventually hearing months of preparation finally brought to temporary life when he performs for a few singular minutes to an audience.
Terrapin Puppet Theatre
Last year I completed my first ever schools tour, puppeteering with Terrapin Puppet Theatre. Put simply, my mind was blown by the depth of dedicated work it takes to craft, maintain and produce a ten-week school’s touring show performed for over ten thousand Tassie school kids. This tour was also my first proper step toward working as a professional actor, and it hold special value as I employed by the company who used to perform at my primary school when I was only ten years old. In those weeks, I was part of creating a touching piece of children’s theatre that literally widened the eyes of kids who’d never seen a theatre, albeit a puppet show before. Just three of us; on the road in a tour van, with a set of speakers, resourceful set-piece and a beautiful puppet. I realised that with a tiny team of even just 3-4 people, we skill and dedication artists can put together a touching and enigmatic theatre show. This excites me, it revives my spirit and makes me believe something truly awesome can arise out of theatre.
Bella Young
March 2020