Musical Youth Theatre Company was an English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 youth theatre company founded in 1987 in Bath, Somerset in the South West of England.

Founded by Greg Vere, it existed for fifteen years until 2002 and produced a number of shows and notable members. Musical Youth Theatre Company's final production was a version of Mike Leigh

Mike Leigh

Michael "Mike" Leigh, OBE is a British writer and director of film and theatre. He studied theatre at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, and studied further at the Camberwell School of Art and the Central School of Art and Design. He began as a theatre director and playwright in the mid 1960s...

's play

Play (theatre)

A play is a form of literature written by a playwright, usually consisting of scripted dialogue between characters, intended for theatrical performance rather than just reading. There are rare dramatists, notably George Bernard Shaw, who have had little preference whether their plays were performed...

, Abigail's Party

Abigail's Party

Abigail's Party is a play for stage and television written and directed in 1977 by Mike Leigh. It is a suburban situation comedy of manners, and a satire on the aspirations and tastes of the new middle class that emerged in Britain in the 1970s...

in July 2002.

Notable members

Over the years Musical Youth Theatre Company had a number of members who are now notable actors, including:

Andrew Lincoln

Andrew Lincoln

Andrew Lincoln is an English actor, known for his roles in the TV series This Life, Teachers and Afterlife, and the films Love Actually and Heartbreaker...

 who went on to become an actor

Actor

An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...

, known for his roles in the BBC television drama

BBC television drama

BBC television dramas have been produced and broadcast since even before the public service company had an officially established television broadcasting network in the United Kingdom...

 series This Life

This Life

This Life is a BBC television drama that was produced by World Productions and screened on BBC Two. Two series were broadcast in 1996 and 1997 and a reunion special in 2007....

(as Egg) and Teachers

Teachers (UK TV series)

Teachers is a British television sitcom, originally shown on Channel 4. The series follows a group of secondary school teachers in their daily lives....

. He also played the role of Mark in the film Love Actually

Love Actually

Love Actually is a 2003 British romantic comedy film written and directed by Richard Curtis. The screenplay delves into different aspects of love as shown through ten separate stories involving a wide variety of individuals, many of whom are shown to be interlinked as their tales progress...

.

Indira Varma

Indira Varma

Indira Varma is an English actress. Her first major role was in Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love. She has gone on to appear in the television series Rome and Human Target.-Early life and background:...

 who has had a number television

Television

Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...

 and film

Film

A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...

 roles, including Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love

Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love

Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love is a 1996 American drama film directed by Mira Nair. The film takes its title from the ancient Indian text, the Kama Sutra, but this only serves as a common link between the characters....

in 1996

1996 in film

Major releases this year included Scream, Independence Day, Fargo, Trainspotting, The English Patient, Twister, Mars Attacks!, Jerry Maguire and a version of Evita starring Madonna.-Events:...

 and Bride and Prejudice

Bride and Prejudice

Bride and Prejudice is a 2004 romantic musical film directed by Gurinder Chadha. The screenplay by Chadha and Paul Mayeda Berges is a Bollywood-style adaptation of Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. It was filmed primarily in English, with some Hindi and Punjabi dialogue. The film released in...

in 2004

2004 in film

The year 2004 in film involved some significant events. Major releases of sequels took place. It included blockbuster films like Shrek 2, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, The Passion of the Christ, Meet the Fockers, Blade: Trinity, Spider-Man 2, Alien vs. Predator, Kill Bill Vol...

, and the young Roman wife Niobe

Niobe of the Voreni

Niobe, wife of Lucius Vorenus, is a fictional character in the HBO/BBC/RAI original television series Rome, played by Indira Varma.-Personality:...

 during the first season of BBC

BBC

The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

/HBO's historical drama series Rome

Rome (TV series)

Rome is a British-American–Italian historical drama television series created by Bruno Heller, John Milius and William J. MacDonald. The show's two seasons premiered in 2005 and 2007, and were later released on DVD. Rome is set in the 1st century BC, during Ancient Rome's transition from Republic...

.

Will Thorp

Will Thorp

Will Thorp is an English actor.-Early life:Living in Frome as a youngster, Thorp attended a Catholic college in near-by Trowbridge, Wiltshire. He studied at Bath College and joined Musical Youth Theatre Company at an early age. Thorp was also a member of the National Youth Theatre...

 went on to appear in the BBC medical drama

Medical drama

A medical drama is a television program, in which events center upon a hospital, an ambulance staff, or any medical environment.In the United States, most medical episodes are one hour long and, more often than not, are set in a hospital. Most current medical Dramatic programming go beyond the...

 series Casualty and also appeared in the third series of Strictly Come Dancing

Strictly Come Dancing

Strictly Come Dancing is a British television show, featuring celebrities with professional dance partners competing in Ballroom and Latin dances. The title of the show suggests a continuation of the long-running series Come Dancing, with an allusion to the film Strictly Ballroom...

in 2005.

Jennifer Biddall

Jennifer Biddall

Jennifer Biddall is an English actress who played the part of Jessica Harris in Hollyoaks from 2005 to 2008.She was born in Bath, Somerset and grew up in Corsham, Wiltshire. Before studying at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, she travelled around the Greek islands...

, who rose to fame playing Jessica Harris

Jessica Harris

Jessica Florida Harris is a fictional character from the British Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks, played by Jennifer Biddall. She debuted on-screen during episodes airing in October 2005. Biddal decided to leave the serial in 2007, Jessica last appeared in 2008 and Biddall has since admitted she...

 in the Channel 4

Channel 4

Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...

 soap opera

Soap opera

A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...

 Hollyoaks

Hollyoaks

Hollyoaks is a long-running British television soap opera, first broadcast on Channel 4 on 23 October 1995. It was originally devised by Phil Redmond, who has also devised shows including Brookside and Grange Hill...

from 2005 to 2008.

Richard Cambridge

Richard Cambridge (British actor)

Richard Cambridge is an actor.-Roles include:*"Pete Webster" in Hollyoaks*"David Hilton" in Idol of Evil*"Emilio" in US teen flick Demonic called in the UK Forest of the damned*US Butterfinger commercial...

 is known for playing Pete Webster in the Channel 4

Channel 4

Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...

 soap opera

Soap opera

A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...

 Hollyoaks

Hollyoaks

Hollyoaks is a long-running British television soap opera, first broadcast on Channel 4 on 23 October 1995. It was originally devised by Phil Redmond, who has also devised shows including Brookside and Grange Hill...

Adam Campbell

Adam Campbell (actor)

Adam Campbell is an English actor. Among his credits are roles in the American film parodies Date Movie, Epic Movie, and portrayed Cal Vandeusen in the horror miniseries Harper's Island.-Career:...

 who moved to the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 after graduat bhjryujing from university and who is known for his roles in the American film parodies Date Movie

Date Movie

Date Movie is a 2006 American parody film, which was directed and written by Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer, two of the writers of the first Scary Movie. Much of the story line was based on that of the well-known romantic comedy My Big Fat Greek Wedding and Meet The Fockers...

and Epic Movie

Epic Movie

Epic Movie is a 2007 American parody film directed and written by Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer and produced by Paul Schiff. It was made in a similar style to Date Movie, Friedberg and Seltzer's previous film. The film mostly references The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the...

.

Tabitha Wady

Tabitha Wady

Tabitha Wady is a British actress, best known for playing Receptionist Katrina Bullen in the BBC television soap opera Doctors and for her role as Gemma in "Kevin & Perry Go Large"....

 is best known for playing Katrina Bullen in the BBC soap opera Doctors

Doctors (BBC Soap Opera)

Doctors is a British daytime television soap opera, set in the fictional Midland town of Letherbridge, defined as being close to the City of Birmingham. It was created by Chris Murray; Mal Young drove its development, and Carson Black was the original producer. The first episode was broadcast on...

.

Ella Smith

Ella Smith (actress)

Ella Smith is a Welsh actress. She trained at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art and is a former member of the National Youth Theatre....

 made her television debut in an episode of the BBC Medical drama series Holby City

Holby City

Holby City, stylised as Holby Ci+y, is a British medical drama television series that airs weekly on BBC One.The series was created by Tony McHale and Mal Young as a spin-off from the established BBC medical drama Casualty, and premiered on 12 January 1999...

in 2006. In 2007, she played Jezebel Ogilvie in Channel 4's

Channel 4

Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...

 Cape Wrath

Cape Wrath (TV series)

Cape Wrath is a British drama television series produced by Ecosse Films which focuses on a family trying to escape its past while confronting an even more uncertain future...

. She also created the title role in the English presentation of Neil Labute's 'Fat Pig' at the Trafalgar Studios, then transferring to the Comedy Theatre. She also plays a role in St Trinians 2.

[Tom Payne (actor) Tom made his television debut in Waterloo Road, and has just completed filming ITV's version of the classic Bronte novel 'Wuthering Heights', alongside Andrew Lincoln. He is at present filming in the title role for a drama documentary based on the life of the young George Best

Sarah Lane (actress) Following training at Guildford, she joined the cast of 'Les Miserables' and played the role of 'Cossette'

Productions

Company productions and appearances included:

• 1987
  • September - Cabaret
    Cabaret (musical)
    Cabaret is a musical based on a book written by Christopher Isherwood, music by John Kander and lyrics by Fred Ebb. The 1966 Broadway production became a hit and spawned a 1972 film as well as numerous subsequent productions....
    
    

• 1988
  • January - "The Weekend Starts Here" on HTV
    HTV
    HTV, now legally known as ITV Wales & West, is the ITV contractor for Wales and the West of England, which operated from studios in Cardiff and Bristol. The company provided commercial television for the dual-region 'Wales and West' franchise, which it won from TWW in 1968...
    
    
  • February - First Charity Gala at the Theatre Royal, Bath
    Theatre Royal, Bath
    The Theatre Royal in Bath, England, is over 200 years old. It is one of the more important theatres in the United Kingdom outside London, with capacity for an audience of around 900....
    
    
  • May - Jesus Christ Superstar
    Jesus Christ Superstar
    Jesus Christ Superstar is a rock opera by Andrew Lloyd Webber, with lyrics by Tim Rice. The musical started off as a rock opera concept recording before its first staging on Broadway in 1971...
    
    
  • November - Salad Days

• 1989
  • May - The Wiz
    The Wiz
    The Wiz: The Super Soul Musical "Wonderful Wizard of Oz" is a musical with music and lyrics by Charlie Smalls and book by William F. Brown. It is a retelling of L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz in the context of African American culture. It opened on October 21, 1974 at the Morris A...
    
    
  • November - Little Shop of Horrors
    Little Shop of Horrors (musical)
    Little Shop of Horrors is a rock musical, by composer Alan Menken and writer Howard Ashman, about a hapless florist shop worker who raises a plant that feeds on human blood. The musical is based on the low-budget 1960 black comedy film The Little Shop of Horrors, directed by Roger Corman...
    
    
  • December - Sounds Familiar concert

• 1990
  • February - Second Charity Gala at the Theatre Royal, Bath
  • May - Billy
    Billy (musical)
    Billy is a musical based on the novel and play Billy Liar by Keith Waterhouse and Willis Hall. The book was written by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais, the music is by John Barry, and the lyrics are by Don Black.-Production:...
    
    
  • September West Side Story
  • November - A Taste of Music dinner cabaret

• 1991
  • January - Third Charity Gala at the Theatre Royal, Bath
  • April - Amadeus
    Amadeus
    Amadeus is a play by Peter Shaffer.It is based on the lives of the composers Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Antonio Salieri, highly fictionalized.Amadeus was first performed in 1979...
    
    
  • Juy - An American Dream cabaret
  • October - South Pacific
    South Pacific (musical)
    South Pacific is a musical with music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II and book by Hammerstein and Joshua Logan. The story draws from James A. Michener's Pulitzer Prize-winning 1947 book Tales of the South Pacific, weaving together characters and elements from several of its...
    
    
  • December - Ultimate Christmas Party cabaret

• 1992
  • February - GWR Night Out cabaret
• June - High Society
  High Society
  High Society is a musical film starring Bing Crosby, Grace Kelly, and Frank Sinatra, and made by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in VistaVision and Technicolor with music and lyrics by Cole Porter. The movie was directed by Charles Walters and produced by Sol C. Siegel from a screenplay by John Patrick, based...
  
  

• 1993
  • January - Mother Goose
  • April - April in Paris cabaret
  • July - One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
    One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (play)
    One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is a play based on Ken Kesey's 1962 novel of the same name. Dale Wasserman's stage adaptation, with music by Teiji Ito, made its Broadway preview on November 12, 1963, its premiere on November 13, and ran until January 25, 1964 for a total of one preview and 82...
    
    

• 1994
  • January Fourth Charity Gala at the Theatre Royal, Bath
  • June - Magical Musicals 1 cabaret
  • July - Billy
  • October - Blue Remembered Hills
    Blue Remembered Hills
    Blue Remembered Hills is a television play by Dennis Potter, originally broadcast on January 30, 1979 as part of the BBC's Play for Today series....
    
    
  • October - Magical Musicals 2 cabaret

• 1995
• January - Fifth Charity Gala at the Forum, Bath
  • March - Stags and Hens
    Stags and Hens
    Stags and Hens is a play written by Willy Russell. Like most of Willy Russell's work, the play discusses working class society in England in the 1970s. It makes comments about their intellect, life, party habits and exclusion of the different....
    
    
  • June - BBC National Lottery Live with Darren Day
    Darren Day
    Darren Day , is an English actor, singer and television presenter, well known for his West End theatre starring roles.-Early life:His paternal grandfather was a support and warm-up act for George Formby...
    
    
  • July - Opening Ceremony of the 1995 European Youth Olympic Festival
    European Youth Olympic Festival
    European Youth Olympic Festival, known by its initials EYOF, is a biennial multi-sport event for youth athletes from the 48 member countries of the association of European Olympic Committees. EYOF has a summer edition, held for the first time in Brussels in 1991, and a winter edition, which began...
    
     in Bath
  • July - A Chorus Line
    A Chorus Line
    A Chorus Line is a 1975 musical about Broadway dancers auditioning for spots on a chorus line. The book was authored by James Kirkwood, Jr. and Nicholas Dante, lyrics were written by Edward Kleban, and music was composed by Marvin Hamlisch....
    
    

• 1996
  • January - The Old Woman Who Lived In The Shoe
  • April - Whose Life Is It Anyway?
    Whose Life is it Anyway?
    Whose Life Is It Anyway? is a play by Brian Clark adapted from his 1972 television play of the same title. The play premiered at the Mermaid Theatre in London's West End in 1978 starring Tom Conti as Ken.-Plot:...
    
    
  • May - Music Hall at Bath Fringe Festival
    Bath Fringe Festival
    The Bath Fringe Festival is an annual art festival, held in Bath, England.Bath Fringe was founded in 1981 as a counterbalance to the 'classical'-dominated Bath Music Festival, which some people perceived to be elitist and out-of-touch with what a younger local audience wanted...
    
    
  • June - Four Steps to Broadway cabaret
  • July Miss Saigon
    Miss Saigon
    Miss Saigon is a musical by Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil, with lyrics by Boublil and Richard Maltby, Jr.. It is based on Giacomo Puccini's opera Madame Butterfly, and similarly tells the tragic tale of a doomed romance involving an Asian woman abandoned by her American lover...
    
    at Stourhead
    Stourhead
    Stourhead is a 2,650 acre estate at the source of the River Stour near Mere, Wiltshire, England. The estate includes a Palladian mansion, the village of Stourton, gardens, farmland, and woodland...
    
    
  • October - The Anniversary

• 1997
  • January - Sixth Charity Gala at the Theatre Royal, Bath
  • June - Hot Mikado
    Hot Mikado
    Hot Mikado is a musical comedy, based on Gilbert and Sullivan's The Mikado, adapted by David H. Bell and Rob Bowman...
    
    
  • July - Wild in The West at Stourhead
  • October - Rope
    Rope (play)
    Rope is a 1929 British play by Patrick Hamilton. In formal terms, it is a well-made play with a three-act dramatic structure that adheres to the classical unities. Its action is continuous, punctuated only by the curtain fall at the end of each act. It may also be considered a thriller whose...
    
    

• 1998
  • January - Hansel and Gretel
    Hansel and Gretel
    "Hansel and Gretel" is a well-known fairy tale of German origin, recorded by the Brothers Grimm and published in 1812. Hansel and Gretel are a young brother and sister threatened by a cannibalistic hag living deep in the forest in a house constructed of cake and confectionery. The two children...
    
    
  • April - Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
  • July - Stourhead by The Sea
  • October - Charley's Aunt
    Charley's Aunt
    Charley's Aunt is a farce in three acts written by Brandon Thomas. It broke all historic records for plays of any kind, with an original London run of 1,466 performances....
    
    

• 1999
  • February - Cinderella
    Cinderella
    "Cinderella; or, The Little Glass Slipper" is a folk tale embodying a myth-element of unjust oppression/triumphant reward. Thousands of variants are known throughout the world. The title character is a young woman living in unfortunate circumstances that are suddenly changed to remarkable fortune...
    
    
  • May - Romeo and Juliet
    Romeo and Juliet
    Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy written early in the career of playwright William Shakespeare about two young star-crossed lovers whose deaths ultimately unite their feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular archetypal stories of young, teenage lovers.Romeo and Juliet belongs to a...
    
    
  • July - La belle époque at Stourhead

• 2000
  • January - Seventh Charity Gala at the Theatre Royal, Bath
  • July - The Importance of Being Earnest
    The Importance of Being Earnest
    The Importance of Being Earnest, A Trivial Comedy for Serious People is a play by Oscar Wilde. First performed on 14 February 1895 at St. James's Theatre in London, it is a farcical comedy in which the protagonists maintain fictitious personae in order to escape burdensome social obligations...
    
    

• 2001
  • January - Blues in the Night
    Blues in the Night (musical)
    Blues in the Night is a musical revue conceived by Sheldon Epps. It was produced by Mitchell Maxwell, Alan J. Schuster, Fred H. Krones and M Squared Entertainment, Inc., and Joshua Silver ....
    
    
  • July - Dracula
    Dracula (play)
    Dracula is a 1924 stage play adapted by Hamilton Deane from the novel of the same name by Bram Stoker, and substantially revised by John L. Balderston in 1927...
    
    

• 2002
  • May - Cabaret
• Jul 02 Abigail's Party

• 2006
  • April - Keith Butterworths 60th Cabaret