Take a look behind the scenes at Zest Theatre to find out more about what we do and how we do it.
As the confetti falls on our 2019/20 national tour of Youthquake, we reflect on the entire process and hear from a selection of the Young People, Cast and Creative team that have made it all happen.
Read MoreDuring the afternoon of the vote for the 2019 General Election, #youthquake was trending in the echo chamber of Twitter, with hundreds of thousands of tweets sharing expectant excitement of the outcome the next generation could bring. Like 2017, we know the rest of the story. The majority of voters aged 18-24 did actually vote for Labour, but were outnumbered by the older generations. So what is the story for those young people?
Read MoreZest’s Artistic Director, Toby Ealden, has been making theatre for young audiences for over sixteen years, including youth theatres, school tours and national touring. His past work includes working as the youth theatre director for Nacro, the national crime reduction charity, before establishing Zest Theatre in 2007. We chatted to Toby to find out more about Youthquake and how it came to be.
Read MoreZest Theatre are currently Researching and Developing a brand new show based on the honest voices, thoughts and opinions of young people across the UK. So how do we do this? How do we genuinely unlock young voices to allow them to talk so openly? Read our 5 Tips to find out.
Read MoreWhat do we do when all our artistic experience and knowledge is challenged? On a recent participation project, Zest had to rethink everything they knew about making theatre, shaking the foundations of their process to its' core. What we discovered about ourselves and our participants has changed our practice for the better.
Read MoreFor the last twenty years or so, psychologists have studied the incredible strength of character that can emerge in a minority of people when they face painful events. Twenty years of research tells us that these events needn’t destroy us – in some cases, they can make us stronger. Some people become wiser, others kinder, others more connected. Pain develops people in all kinds of ways. This field of research is called Post Traumatic Growth, and forms the basis of the psychology surrounding the characters in Thrive.
Read MoreYou can wake up in one city, deliver a workshop in another and do an evening performance in another before heading back to another hotel. Most of the work I have done has been for young people and it isn’t unusual to engage with over 500 people in a day. A lot of the time, we take theatre to people that may never have experienced it before and it’s great to hear their stories when you chat to them afterwards and see how they connected with the work. For me, that’s a pretty powerful feeling.
Read MoreAs an actor, I’ve been very comfortable with immersive theatre for a while. In 2014 I took an immersive one-on-one piece (one performer, one audience member) to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. And I performed it a lot. I’m talking 5 hours a day, 6 days a week for a whole month. Audiences laughed with me, cried with me, shared food with me. One person even asked me out on date. (I didn’t realise it was actually a date until I was on it – yep, that was awkward.) I was pretty sure I’d totally sussed out the immersive theatre vibe and nothing could throw me. But of course, immersive theatre with younger audiences is a whole different game.
Read MoreEvery year over 500,000 children and young people in the UK experience bereavement. Few are prepared, few have friends who know how to support and too many go on to experience significant challenges throughout life. This is why St Barnabas Hospice in Lincolnshire were so keen to be involved in the development of Thrive.
Read MoreLiving in Britain, it could be hard to imagine growing up in a country like Australia. Over time you realise people make judgements about you based on where you’re from before getting to know you. For some, the questions (and the judgements) are far worse than “do you have a pet kangaroo?”
Read MoreBack in September we launched our new website, complete with this blog! As celebrate the end of an awesome year, here's our 5 most read blogs of 2016.
Read MoreHow do you react to someone who thinks completely unlike you? It turns out that joining an R&D process for a show about difference, otherness and broken communities was the perfect opportunity for me to learn how to listen.
Read MoreLast week saw us begin the process of making a brand new show. A show about difference and how the fear of those ‘other’ to us can spill into hate. And what a week we chose to begin that process.
Read MoreWe’ve have been talking theatre with young people up and down the country and our findings show that a much more proactive approach to getting young people into theatres is needed.
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