Download Youth Award Submission - Harlequin

NODA / UTOPIA COSTUMES YOUTH AWARD
SESSION 2015/16
HARLEQUIN-EASTWOOD THEATRE FOR YOUTH
Any significant anniversary for an organisation always gives the opportunity for review and
reflection. As Harlequin enters its 40th Anniversary year there is an opportunity for us to think about
where we have come from as a club, to consider whether the objectives to which we aspire have
been consistently delivered upon and to cast our thoughts to the legacy that this club has had for
those who have been part of its history and indeed what we have contributed to the wider
community.
Originating from a local church group, Harlequin put on its first production, the pantomime Snow
White and the Seven Dwarfs in May 1977 and that early success ensured a future for the club which
always has a queue of young people wanting to join. With an age range of 9-21 years, Harlequin
normally stages 3 productions per year-a pantomime around November, a senior show in March and
a junior show in May. All of these are performed at Eastwood Park Theatre, set in the heart of our
East Renfrewshire community.
The Constitution of our club states 3 objectives:
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To provide young people with the opportunity to take part at every point in a variety of
dramatic productions,
To stimulate, through these productions, interest in drama and music of all kinds,
To assist in such charitable causes as the Club shall determine
So how have Harlequin ‘made a difference’ in this final year of its fourth decade. At our AGM in
August 2015 our then President reflected on her personal journey with Harlequin, her opening
remarks stated that
‘ when she joined the club back in 1989 as a performing member, before any of the current
membership were born, little did she imagine the impact it would have on her life or that one day she
would be President of the club’
Such is the legacy of our club that we seek to develop and nurture talent, whether it be as a
performer or musician, or as back stage crew or production team, or indeed as a committee member
involved in club management. Many of those who started onstage are still actively involved in giving
back to the next generation of members.
A key item for every AGM is consideration of which charitable cause/s to support in that session and
in August last year we agreed to donate £500 to Maggie’s Centre. As a club which solely relies on
ticket sales to fund future productions and receives no funding from any other source, we continue
to be true to our charitable objective in this way.
As well as involvement in our own club, Harlequin committee members also contribute to the artistic
life of the area by actively engaging in ‘THUGS’ our local Theatre User group, in supporting the Town
Twinning association activities and also attendance at relevant events such as the NODA Youth
Conference. Through these involvements we are not only seeking to contribute and voice opinions
to enhance the arts, but to learn from and engage with others.
The first production of the 15/16 session for Harlequin was Jack and The Beanstalk, with professional
Director Alasdair Hawthorn (a former club member himself) back at the helm. The Production Team
for this show were supported by 3 of our former performing members in ‘trainee’ roles-that of
Assistant Director, Production Assistant and Assistant Choreographer. For us this was a conscious
decision not only to support the future legacy of the club but also to continue to develop and hone
further skills in production and staging for these 3. All had indicated that they would wish this
opportunity to be mentored by a professional Director and an experienced production team and this
show was a perfect opportunity to develop new talent.
Harlequin has always prided itself on pushing boundaries of performance for its young people by
selecting challenging shows, as well as providing quality productions for the local community that
may never have been seen previously in a local venue and in March 2016 we performed Avenue Q. A
real challenge for our professional Production team members, Director and MD alike, this was one
where some of the cast had to acquire new skills in puppetry, in addition to the usual acting, singing
and dancing to make the characters of Princeton, Kate Monster and Lucy come to life. Community
feedback was overwhelmingly positive and the opportunity to participate in this musical for the cast
was considered to be one of our best to date. As a part of this production a decision was made to
further support Maggie’s Centre with a charitable bucket collection and we raised a further £417 for
this very worthwhile cause.
To end our Harlequin year we staged Seussical with our juniors. This show was Produced by one of
our ‘trainees’ from the panto and was extremely well attended and highly regarded. In addition our
trainee Choreographer ran a highly successful club night to welcome our new junior members. For
both individuals these opportunities built yet further in the skills already learnt earlier in the year.
In this year we have seen some of our Harlequin alumni achieve success in their respective
professional roles in performance with David Carnan performing in his first professional panto,
Beauty and The Beast at Perth Concert Hall after graduating from Motherwell College, Stephanie
Stanway making her London debut with British Youth Opera directly after graduating with distinction
from Royal Northern College of Music in Opera and Karen Fishwick also a Motherwell graduate
touring to great acclaim in the UK, America and Australia with the National Theatre production of
‘Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour’.
These are only a few of our professional alumni but the value of a club such as Harlequin to its local
community is not just these successes on stage, it is to be found in every positive experience that we
can offer to each young person that joins our club-whether it be in new friendships formed, in
building self confidence and enhancing self esteem, in creating a fun, creative and safe environment
in which to perform and in creating lasting memories that clearly evidence that Harlequin has made
a difference to a generation of people’s lives.