Shakespeare Showcase
Theatre Clwyd January 13 / 20 2009

Well done to everyone who performed in the Shakespeare showcase at Theatre Clwyd. What a great start to the year! The groups performed specially adapted versions of Macbeth, A Mid Summer Night's Dream and Romeo and Juliet. Both nights were a great success with fantastic feedback from the audience!

Check out the pictures from the evening in our gallery section. Information regarding the DVD and how to purchase will be given out over the next few weeks.
Welsh Assembly Visit

After the success of our earlier project for Neighbourhood Watch, we have been invited to perform down in Cardiff for the Welsh Assembly Government on Tuesday 28 April. This is an excellent achievement for the school as we are the first Drama group from North Wales to be invited!

Details of the trip will be given to parents whose children are taking part in the project in the New Year.

Annual Summer Production

I am delighted to announce that the Big Stage Annual Summer Production has been booked to take place at the Stiwt Theatre in Wrexham on 18 July 2009. The theatre holds over 400 people and has excellent technical facilities. I'm sure you'll agree this is a wonderful opportunity for the children to perform in a real professional working theatre.

We will be performing a musical production of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. The children will receive both singing and dance tuition during the up coming lessons with qualified teaching staff so we can produce a real show stopper! Please look out for any changes to the class timetables in the coming months.
Previous Achievements
Outstanding Youth Performance

A great success for the group earlier in the year was at the CCTA (Clwyd Community Theatre Association Festival). Each piece was adjudicated by David Hedley Williams GODO and Blue Stage performing arts won the award for Outstanding Youth Performance. The criteria for the awards were presentation, endeavour, production, originality, acting and theatrical attainment. The youth groups were also encouraged to use contrasting theatre styles and participate both on and off stage.

There were also awards given for the one act play, stage management, best individual performance and the adjudicators special award. There were thirteen entries for the One Act Play award.

The winning piece was devised around our town - Buckley and was written by Big Stage founder Rebecca Stanton and Stephanie Scott and was performed by members of Blue Stage. The piece explored Buckley from past to present and incorporated multi-media and a black and white silent movie which was especially produced for the show.

The piece was later repeated at the Emlyn Williams Theatre at Theatre Clwyd after several requests.

A special thanks to Buckley Society for all the images and slides we used in the piece.

Flash Attack

The piece was written for the opening of the Buckley Flash project. The area, known locally as the 'Flash' has been transformed into a community garden and park thanks to the work of local residents and other groups. Situated next to Bistre Church, the 'Flash' previously suffered vandalism and anti-social behaviour. It also lacked in play facilities for children, families and young people. The area now hosts a park with excellent facilities for children, a Remembrance Garden and in the future, A MUGA (multi-use games area) will be created.

The piece was performed outside in the flash area for over three hundred audience members during the official opening hosted by Dr Brian Gibbons, Assembly Minister for Social Justice and Local Government. With only two weeks to put the piece together, the group tell the story of the area through the use of puppets.

Due to the success of the performance, Blue Stage have been requested to perform the piece again in Cardiff for the Welsh Assembly Government. They will be the first Youth Group from North Wales to perform at the conference which i'm sure you'll agree is excellent news.