The Almeida Young Company

My advice to an aspiring actor would be to never stop learning or working for what you want. Nothing comes easy, ever, if you want something, you have to work for it. By working for it I mean work on your craft, learn from people who have something to teach. It's just like anything else, practice makes perfect.

James Lafferty

I went to see a play the other day – nothing really unusual in that however, when I tell you it was performed by a group of very talented individuals aged between 14 and 18 and was one of the best performances I’ve seen in ages, hopefully you’ll want to know a little more!

The Almeida Theatre is housed in a 19th century scientific society building, complete with a library, reading room, museum, laboratory, and a lecture theatre. It was reopened in 1980, as a 325-seat studio theatre and now has a well-deserved international reputation. The theatre takes its name from the street on which it is located, off Upper Street, in Islington. The Almeida produces a diverse range of drama and has always been synonymous with nurturing new talent including actors and production crew such as producers.

They get them young at the Almeida via the Almeida Academy which is essentially is a programme of weekly drama classes for young people aged 5 to 14. At this point the budding actors and producers join the Almeida Young Company, which actually is a bit of a misnomer in as much as it’s two companies, one for actors aged 14-18, and another of 18-25 year-olds. A year-round ensemble, they aim to shape the theatrical movers and shakers of the future, and empower young people through theatre. When the most we see of kids at that age is when there’s been yet another stabbing, what’s not to love about an institution dedicating time and resources to help develop the stars of the future!

The Almeida Young Company is entirely free for participants, and runs from October to September. The actors are selected through a diligent, transparent audition process – often, successful applicants have been inspired by the Company’s outreach sessions at local schools. Once they’ve joined this incredible programme, budding actors partake in weekly classes that explore acting, writing and devising techniques, run by a mix of Almeida Associates and visiting directors, musicians, and choreographers.

It’s all very impressive, and the Almeida has roped in some top theatre talent for their end-of-year shows. The two world premieres performed at the theatre last week are from Nina Segal and Molly Taylor, a pair of exciting young playwrights whose stars are decidedly on the rise. The 18-25 Company performed Nina Segal’s (This Isn’t) A True Story, which ricochets between the American Midwest, circa 1979, and present-day London, in a gripping exploration of conspiracy. I didn’t see this and I’m really sorry I missed this and it’s already in the diary for next year!

What I did see was the 14-18 Company stage a performance of Molly Taylor’s The Wave, which she actually developed with the current group. The Wave sees a sociology class turn into a jarring experiment when Mr Turner (Ian Cameron) decides to explain the rise of fascism with unconventional means. It's an open discussion on how discipline and control affect people, and have the potential to lead them on paths where danger lies around every corner. Directed by Roberta Zuric, the play was energetic and dynamic. Technology plays a big role in the performance with flashes of green light whizzing across the stage to symbolize WhatsApp messages going back and forth – it was really clever!

Taylor shows how easy it is for pride, belonging and loyalty to develop and grow. The young performers are AMAZING there isn't a single weak link in the chain, with the actors all working towards the same objective in a smooth ensemble, they were brilliant and I LOVED every second!

The actors are so going to be stars of the future however, you have to be quick to catch these performances; they play out over four nights at the end of their “term”. I’m only sorry I’ve not come across them before.

Respect to the Almeida for investing in these kids in such an energetic, inspiring and creative way!

What’s on this week?