• 2 years ago
Chichester Festival Youth Theatre production of Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book this Christmas might well be Grace Watkins’ youth theatre swansong.

Category

😹
Fun
Transcript
00:00 Good afternoon, my name is Phil Hewitt, Group Arts Editor at Sussex Newspapers. Really lovely
00:06 this afternoon to be speaking to Grace Watkins, who is one of our beguilers when Justice Festival
00:12 Youth Theatre take The Jungle Book to the stage. And Grace, you were just saying that
00:16 there's a lovely message behind The Jungle Book. It's going to be fun, obviously, but
00:20 there is a message too. What is that message as you see it?
00:24 Well, we think the message of this show is very much one of acceptance and family and
00:32 community and above all else, what it truly means to be human, regardless of any other
00:41 sort of separation or difference that we have, what it just means to be human and...
00:47 The things that bring us together.
00:49 Yeah, the things that sort of celebrate our differences and regardless of those, how everyone
00:55 can live just in harmony and just together.
00:58 Thank goodness. And when you put it like that, in a very, very worrying world at worrying
01:03 times, you couldn't possibly have a better message, could you? I suppose, especially
01:08 at Christmas, really.
01:09 Yeah, and I think that's what we all feel very much that is. It is such a lovely message
01:16 and it's so nice to see the show now it's coming together in its entirety, just how
01:23 all those characters really find those journeys and to see where they are at the end versus
01:29 the beginning.
01:30 It sounds great. And very rightly, you are not giving away too much, but you were saying
01:35 that it's something very exciting in terms of sets that we've got coming our way at Christmas,
01:41 isn't it?
01:42 Yes, I think for me personally, I think this is probably going to be my favourite set I've
01:46 ever gotten to use. And as I was saying, I've seen a lot of sets. I just think it's... I
01:55 think I said when we first saw the designs that I was like, I can just tell that they've
02:00 just told Simon just to have fun. And you can see that he's just sort of thrown everything
02:06 that he wanted to do. And it just... it was... it's been so much fun finding ways to incorporate
02:13 all the elements and just...
02:15 Oh, it sounds great. And it's a pretty good that it's your favourite set so far, isn't
02:20 it? Because potentially, possibly this is probably your last youth theatre production.
02:26 Yes. And that is something I think I've been very aware of this year, because it's been
02:34 something that I've heard of saying that is very, for me, synonymous with Christmas. Moving
02:39 on from this was definitely... it's going to be quite difficult, I think, because it's
02:44 something that I just really love. And yeah, I just think there's something so special
02:50 about CFT and what they do for the young people of surrounding areas, that I would always
02:57 encourage people to join the youth theatre, whether you want to do the shows, or they
03:01 just want to have a group of people.
03:04 And why? Come on, I'm going to put you on the spot. Sum up for me what you have gained
03:08 personally from your 10 years with the youth theatre.
03:12 I think I've gained a lot of confidence in myself to perform. I was never a performer
03:18 before I started CFT. Like I say, it was very much right place, right time. I happened to
03:24 get put in the show. There was 100 kids in that first show, they needed a lot of people.
03:29 And I just absolutely fell in love with that first show. And I was like, it was just so
03:35 much fun. And I just kept coming back. And I think that's... I've definitely developed
03:40 so much as a performer. Like Colin, our musical director, he's been there for every show I've
03:45 ever done. And just hearing him say stuff to me now that he was like, he's always...
03:51 he's telling me a little bit sometimes, he's like, "Okay, I think we can bring it back
03:54 a little bit. Like you're giving it your all. I think we can bring it back in some places."
03:58 Whereas when I was like 10, he was like, "You need to give it more. You need to give it
04:01 more." And I think it's so nice for me to see that I've kind of grown as a performer,
04:07 especially with some people that have been there that whole time.
04:11 Oh, that's lovely. Well done you. But if all goes well, where could you be next year? And
04:16 what could you be doing next year?
04:19 I'll be at drama school or uni or whichever particular route I end up going in, which
04:27 I hope to go for sort of a more applied theatre, potentially theatre-making route. As I think
04:35 I do really enjoy performing, but I am very much interested in directing. And I think
04:41 that's another thing that CFT is very good at, is just kind of letting you see all the
04:46 aspects of everything. You don't just come for... you get to work with so many directors
04:52 and so many different people and choreographers. And I think from that, I was like, "This is
04:57 actually something that I'd be really interested in doing." And I'm kind of looking into, as
05:04 well as keeping up my performance, how I can also expand that and be a more diverse creator,
05:09 I guess.
05:10 Well, very best of luck with that. And very much looking forward to seeing Jungle Book
05:15 on the Festival Theatre stage this Christmas. Grace, really lovely to speak to you. Good
05:19 luck with everything. Thank you.
05:22 Thank you very much.
05:23 Love to speak to you.
05:23 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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