Oxford Youth Theatre
Encyclopedia
The Oxford Youth Theatre (OYT) is based in Oxford
, England
. It was founded in 1962 and established the Pegasus Theatre in 1975.
. OYT take up residence in a former schools meals service kitchen in Magdalen Road in East Oxford. Their first production was A Christmas Carol
.
1966 - Tiered seating for 80 built by members of OYT during the summer in the temporary buildings that are their home in Magdalen Road. They also create a box office and crawl into the low roof to put in a lighting box.
1969 - A drama festival was held at the youth theatre premises. Up to fifteen shows a year put on.
1970 – Fund-raising appeal launched for new building.
1974 - Final performance in the old theatre: Oh, What a Lovely War!
1975 - Pegasus Theatre opens. Temporary buildings at the rear still used for rehearsals. The first production on the new stage was The Royal Hunt of the Sun
. Old working buildings still in use behind the theatre as rehearsal and workshop spaces. Gates erected at the side of the new theatre depicting the initials of Joyce Harris an actress who was voice coach to the youth theatre members.
1978 – Roy Copeman retires. Fred Richings becomes the new head of Pegasus Theatre.
1982 - Ray Harrison Graham
, regular actor and director at OYT devises and directs A WAY OF LIFE, the story of a group of young Mods in London's East End. He recruits and trains members of the OYT to perform this piece, which plays to packed houses every night. Fred Ritchings mentors Ray, as well as designing and building the set.
1983 – Tony Davis and Simon Mellor took over as joint heads.
1983 - Ray Harrison Graham returns from Webber Douglas Drama Academy to devise and direct YOP!, a play that tells of disastrous events unfolding on a Youth Opportunities Training scheme in Thatcher's Britain. Packed houses again... Lighting Design - Dave Cosgrave. Set Builder - Barnaby Stone.
1984 - The 1982 Company give the first performance in English of Dario Fo
's Mistero Buffo. Company members Annabel Arden http://www.performing-arts.co.uk/clients_detail.php?client=77&field=long (later Complicite), Neil Bartlett http://www.neil-bartlett.com/ and Annie Griffen return to perform and work with OYT at the Pegasus throughout the 1980s.
1984 – First Complicite
production, A Minute Too Late, rehearsed and performed at Pegasus Theatre. Complicite(Annabel Arden, Marcello Magni, Jozef Houben and Simon McBurney)also run a two week residency at Pegasus Theatre and collaborate with OYT on Theatre Without Words. This relationship forms the model for future youth theatre projects. Complicite also run a series of workshops in local schools including Marston Middle School, Oxford with teacher Philip Pullman
.
- December OYT perform Gas by George Kaiser
1985 - January: Complicite rehearse at Pegasus Theatre.
Sat 23 February: Complicite perform at a benefit performance for the Miners.
- March: OYT perform Vinegar Tom by Carol Churchill.
- April: The 1982 Company perform The Tempest
.
- June 3-9: Black Theatre Cooperative residency at Pegasus Theatre. They run a series of workshops for the youth theatre and in local schools and perform, A Raisin in the Sun
directed by Yvonne Brewster http://www.yvonnebrewster.com/.
- July 4-13: Neil Bartlett's 1982 Company create Casasola in collaboration with OYT based on photos from the Archivo Casasola, in Mexico City. The production tours to local schools, community centres and is also performed at the newly opened Museum of Modern Art in Oxford.
- July 14: Theatre de Complicite start a two week residency, they perform a double bill with OYT on Saturday 20 July.
1986 - OYT collaborate on Mahogonny Songspiel with Neil Bartlett, Nicholas Bloomfield and Leah Hausman (who went on to found theatre company Gloria in 1988)
http://www.contemporarywriters.com/authors/?p=auth568922060533a1666CqUq3A67B33 in 1988).
- Complicite also collaborate on two more shows with OYT, The Swindler performed in May and Fiesta in July. Fiesta is a benefit to raise funds for Chile.
- Sat 26 April: Rose English performs Thee, thy, thou and thine at Pegasus.
1987 - Tuesday Group formed for people with learning disabilities.
1987 - Basic Theatre Company - under Ray Harrison Graham
's artistic direction perform CHILDREN OF A LESSER GOD with Sarah Scott in the lead role.
1988 - Simon Mellor leaves Pegasus to work in the Education Department on the South Bank
and to administrate Neil Bartlett's new company Gloria.
1989 - OYT create a performance project with Gloria using their production of Ariadne as a stimulus. Tutors include: Annie Griffen, theatre; Nicholas Bloomfield, music; and Leah Hausman and Liz Rankin, movement (DV8).
1989 - The Right Size
formed. The internationally acclaimed theatre company were former OYT members.
1990 - Euton Daley joins Pegasus as Artistic Director from Greenwich Young People's Theatre in London
. Pegasus commissioned Eisenstein
– share the vision summer project with Museum of Modern Art, Oxford.
1991 – 12 companies from thirteen continents performed and led workshops at Pegasus
1992 – How to Trap The Sun - OYT performance and video project looking at ways of staging myths.
1993 – Pegasus links with London International Mime Festival
as satellite venue outside London
.
1994 – Black Toby written by Richard Pinner, directed by Euton Daley and over a hundred young people.
1995 – International youth exchange project between OYT and Studio Dum in Brno
.
1997 - Do You Come Here Often?
, successful West End
transfer from Pegasus by The Right Size
.
1998 – OYT and participants from Pegasus outreach projects perform Club Culture. First in a series of showcases for local young bands Sounding Off.
1999 – OYT commission a new musical Into The Fire. Catalyst Dragon on the Roof in a double bill with OYT.
2000 – Play by Richard Pinner The Bowery. New writing festival Page to Stage includes play reading, talks and performances. Shows include premiere productions of Winnie the Witch
with the newly founded Saturday Drama Club for 5–9 year olds designed by Korky Paul and Death and Everything After by OYT member Ben Coren.
2001 – Gelede Dance Company, founded by OYT member Menelva Harry, work with OYT on new dance piece In Becoming A Woman for International Women's Festival. First production by newly formed Junior OYT (10–13 years), The Golden Door
. First production by newly formed Adult Drama Group of Our Country’s Good by Timberlake Wertenbaker.
- Peepolykus, an internationally successful physical theatre comedy company founded by former OYT member John Nicholson, founder of theatre company Peepolykus, work with OYT to create a Christmas show The Sanity Clause.
2002 – Pegasus provides after schools clubs for schools in East Oxford, all of whom present their work in After Hours in Pegasus stage. OYT and the Cap and Stocking Players take The Pilgrimage
show to the Crearc International Youth Theatre Festival at Grenoble
in France
. Pegasus collaborate with Sure Start in Rose Hill
to produce Love Me Tender, a moving piece about domestic violence.
2003 – New work from Gelede Dance, Sky Burial created in collaboration with music group SoundArk. John Nicholson returns to work with OYT on Sanity Clause II, based on Paul Gallico story.
2004 – Pegasus successfully wins lottery bid of £2.7 million towards rebuilding the theatre and adding studio, rehearsal, meeting and office spaces as well as improving foyer spaces for the general public. Junior OYT involved in creating a special performance to be shown at a conference on family breakdown A Child’s Voice. Former OYT member Ben Coren adapts Philip Pullman
novel I was a Rat! for the stage.
2005 - OYT perform Discontented Winter: House Remix for the National Theatre
’s Connections Festival. OYT visit to Perm
in Russia
following the International Youth Festival. Sanity Clause III: Messiah inspired by illusions by Richard Bach created with John Nicholson.
2006 – OYT and OYD join together to create an environmental performance showcase The Lorax and Other Environmental Tales. Oxford Dance Forum is launched at Pegasus and the first in a series of dance residencies with Sakoba Dance Theatre takes place.
2007 – Pegasus as a founder of the Oxford Dance Forum is co-host of the city's first ever dance festival, Dancin' Oxford 2007. Gelede Dance premiere Snake In The Geisha Palm.
2009 – Pegasus Theatre demolishes all buildings to redesign, providing better services for actors, dancers and production teams.
Oxford
The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...
, England
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...
. It was founded in 1962 and established the Pegasus Theatre in 1975.
History
1962 - Oxford Youth Theatre (OYT) opened for 14–21-year-olds. The group was run by Roy Copeman http://www.pegasustheatre.org.uk/oytnews/homepage.phtml?id=109&page=oytnews&newspage=detail, an ex-Air Force pilot. From the 1950s, Roy Copeman ran drama groups in East Oxford including the Gladiators, in Marston RoadMarston Road
Marston Road is a road in the east of Oxford, England. It links the junction of St Clements and the foot of Headington Hill to the south with the suburb of New Marston to the north. This is a mini-roundabout connecting with Cherwell Drive and Headley Way at the northern end. To the north is the ...
. OYT take up residence in a former schools meals service kitchen in Magdalen Road in East Oxford. Their first production was A Christmas Carol
A Christmas Carol
A Christmas Carol is a novella by English author Charles Dickens first published by Chapman & Hall on 17 December 1843. The story tells of sour and stingy Ebenezer Scrooge's ideological, ethical, and emotional transformation after the supernatural visits of Jacob Marley and the Ghosts of...
.
1966 - Tiered seating for 80 built by members of OYT during the summer in the temporary buildings that are their home in Magdalen Road. They also create a box office and crawl into the low roof to put in a lighting box.
1969 - A drama festival was held at the youth theatre premises. Up to fifteen shows a year put on.
1970 – Fund-raising appeal launched for new building.
1974 - Final performance in the old theatre: Oh, What a Lovely War!
Oh, What a Lovely War!
Oh, What a Lovely War! is an epic musical originated by Charles Chilton as a radio play, The Long Long Trail in December 1961, and transferred to stage by Gerry Raffles in partnership with Joan Littlewood and her Theatre Workshop in 1963...
1975 - Pegasus Theatre opens. Temporary buildings at the rear still used for rehearsals. The first production on the new stage was The Royal Hunt of the Sun
The Royal Hunt of the Sun
The Royal Hunt of the Sun is a 1964 play by Peter Shaffer that portrays the destruction of the Inca empire by conquistador Francisco Pizarro.-Premiere:...
. Old working buildings still in use behind the theatre as rehearsal and workshop spaces. Gates erected at the side of the new theatre depicting the initials of Joyce Harris an actress who was voice coach to the youth theatre members.
1978 – Roy Copeman retires. Fred Richings becomes the new head of Pegasus Theatre.
1982 - Ray Harrison Graham
Ray Harrison Graham
Ray Harrison Graham is an English playwright, screenwriter, and director from a Jamaican family, and was born in Oxford in 1962. For many years, his parents ran the renowned Elm Tree public house, on the Cowley Road, in East Oxford...
, regular actor and director at OYT devises and directs A WAY OF LIFE, the story of a group of young Mods in London's East End. He recruits and trains members of the OYT to perform this piece, which plays to packed houses every night. Fred Ritchings mentors Ray, as well as designing and building the set.
1983 – Tony Davis and Simon Mellor took over as joint heads.
1983 - Ray Harrison Graham returns from Webber Douglas Drama Academy to devise and direct YOP!, a play that tells of disastrous events unfolding on a Youth Opportunities Training scheme in Thatcher's Britain. Packed houses again... Lighting Design - Dave Cosgrave. Set Builder - Barnaby Stone.
1984 - The 1982 Company give the first performance in English of Dario Fo
Dario Fo
Dario Fo is an Italian satirist, playwright, theater director, actor and composer. His dramatic work employs comedic methods of the ancient Italian commedia dell'arte, a theatrical style popular with the working classes. He currently owns and operates a theatre company with his wife, actress...
's Mistero Buffo. Company members Annabel Arden http://www.performing-arts.co.uk/clients_detail.php?client=77&field=long (later Complicite), Neil Bartlett http://www.neil-bartlett.com/ and Annie Griffen return to perform and work with OYT at the Pegasus throughout the 1980s.
1984 – First Complicite
Complicite
The British theatre company Complicite was founded in 1983 by Simon McBurney, Annabel Arden, and Marcello Magni. Its original name was Théâtre de Complicité. "The Company's inimitable style of visual and devised theatre [has] an emphasis on strong, corporeal, poetic and surrealist image supporting...
production, A Minute Too Late, rehearsed and performed at Pegasus Theatre. Complicite(Annabel Arden, Marcello Magni, Jozef Houben and Simon McBurney)also run a two week residency at Pegasus Theatre and collaborate with OYT on Theatre Without Words. This relationship forms the model for future youth theatre projects. Complicite also run a series of workshops in local schools including Marston Middle School, Oxford with teacher Philip Pullman
Philip Pullman
Philip Pullman CBE, FRSL is an English writer from Norwich. He is the best-selling author of several books, most notably his trilogy of fantasy novels, His Dark Materials, and his fictionalised biography of Jesus, The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ...
.
- December OYT perform Gas by George Kaiser
1985 - January: Complicite rehearse at Pegasus Theatre.
Sat 23 February: Complicite perform at a benefit performance for the Miners.
- March: OYT perform Vinegar Tom by Carol Churchill.
- April: The 1982 Company perform The Tempest
The Tempest
The Tempest is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1610–11, and thought by many critics to be the last play that Shakespeare wrote alone. It is set on a remote island, where Prospero, the exiled Duke of Milan, plots to restore his daughter Miranda to her rightful place,...
.
- June 3-9: Black Theatre Cooperative residency at Pegasus Theatre. They run a series of workshops for the youth theatre and in local schools and perform, A Raisin in the Sun
A Raisin in the Sun
A Raisin in the Sun is a play by Lorraine Hansberry that debuted on Broadway in 1959. The title comes from the poem "Harlem" by Langston Hughes...
directed by Yvonne Brewster http://www.yvonnebrewster.com/.
- July 4-13: Neil Bartlett's 1982 Company create Casasola in collaboration with OYT based on photos from the Archivo Casasola, in Mexico City. The production tours to local schools, community centres and is also performed at the newly opened Museum of Modern Art in Oxford.
- July 14: Theatre de Complicite start a two week residency, they perform a double bill with OYT on Saturday 20 July.
1986 - OYT collaborate on Mahogonny Songspiel with Neil Bartlett, Nicholas Bloomfield and Leah Hausman (who went on to found theatre company Gloria in 1988)
http://www.contemporarywriters.com/authors/?p=auth568922060533a1666CqUq3A67B33 in 1988).
- Complicite also collaborate on two more shows with OYT, The Swindler performed in May and Fiesta in July. Fiesta is a benefit to raise funds for Chile.
- Sat 26 April: Rose English performs Thee, thy, thou and thine at Pegasus.
1987 - Tuesday Group formed for people with learning disabilities.
1987 - Basic Theatre Company - under Ray Harrison Graham
Ray Harrison Graham
Ray Harrison Graham is an English playwright, screenwriter, and director from a Jamaican family, and was born in Oxford in 1962. For many years, his parents ran the renowned Elm Tree public house, on the Cowley Road, in East Oxford...
's artistic direction perform CHILDREN OF A LESSER GOD with Sarah Scott in the lead role.
1988 - Simon Mellor leaves Pegasus to work in the Education Department on the South Bank
South Bank
South Bank is an area of London, England located immediately adjacent to the south side of the River Thames. It forms a long and narrow section of riverside development that is within the London Borough of Lambeth to the border with the London Borough of Southwark and was formerly simply known as...
and to administrate Neil Bartlett's new company Gloria.
1989 - OYT create a performance project with Gloria using their production of Ariadne as a stimulus. Tutors include: Annie Griffen, theatre; Nicholas Bloomfield, music; and Leah Hausman and Liz Rankin, movement (DV8).
1989 - The Right Size
The Right Size
The Right Size theatre company is a British comedy double act made up of Hamish McColl and Sean Foley. They first met at a clown school in Paris late in the 1980s, studying with Philippe Gaulier, and formed their own small-scale theatre company...
formed. The internationally acclaimed theatre company were former OYT members.
1990 - Euton Daley joins Pegasus as Artistic Director from Greenwich Young People's Theatre in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. Pegasus commissioned Eisenstein
– share the vision summer project with Museum of Modern Art, Oxford.
1991 – 12 companies from thirteen continents performed and led workshops at Pegasus
1992 – How to Trap The Sun - OYT performance and video project looking at ways of staging myths.
1993 – Pegasus links with London International Mime Festival
London International Mime Festival
The London International Mime Festival is an annual theatre event in London. Its directors are Joseph Seelig and Helen Lannaghan, winners of the International Theatre Institute Award for Excellence....
as satellite venue outside London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
.
1994 – Black Toby written by Richard Pinner, directed by Euton Daley and over a hundred young people.
1995 – International youth exchange project between OYT and Studio Dum in Brno
Brno
Brno by population and area is the second largest city in the Czech Republic, the largest Moravian city, and the historical capital city of the Margraviate of Moravia. Brno is the administrative centre of the South Moravian Region where it forms a separate district Brno-City District...
.
1997 - Do You Come Here Often?
Do You Come Here Often? (play)
Do You Come Here Often? is a 1997 play written by Sean Foley and Hamish McColl of the two-person theatre company, The Right Size....
, successful West End
West End of London
The West End of London is an area of central London, containing many of the city's major tourist attractions, shops, businesses, government buildings, and entertainment . Use of the term began in the early 19th century to describe fashionable areas to the west of Charing Cross...
transfer from Pegasus by The Right Size
The Right Size
The Right Size theatre company is a British comedy double act made up of Hamish McColl and Sean Foley. They first met at a clown school in Paris late in the 1980s, studying with Philippe Gaulier, and formed their own small-scale theatre company...
.
1998 – OYT and participants from Pegasus outreach projects perform Club Culture. First in a series of showcases for local young bands Sounding Off.
1999 – OYT commission a new musical Into The Fire. Catalyst Dragon on the Roof in a double bill with OYT.
2000 – Play by Richard Pinner The Bowery. New writing festival Page to Stage includes play reading, talks and performances. Shows include premiere productions of Winnie the Witch
Winnie the Witch
Winnie The Witch is a series of eleven picture books, written by Valerie Thomas and illustrated by Korky Paul. According to Oxford University Press more than two million books have been sold of this series....
with the newly founded Saturday Drama Club for 5–9 year olds designed by Korky Paul and Death and Everything After by OYT member Ben Coren.
2001 – Gelede Dance Company, founded by OYT member Menelva Harry, work with OYT on new dance piece In Becoming A Woman for International Women's Festival. First production by newly formed Junior OYT (10–13 years), The Golden Door
The Golden Door
The Golden Door may refer to:* Nuovomondo, a 2006 film about an Italian immigrant to the USA, whose title translated into English is The Golden Door* The Golden Door , a play by Toronto playwright Catherine Frid...
. First production by newly formed Adult Drama Group of Our Country’s Good by Timberlake Wertenbaker.
- Peepolykus, an internationally successful physical theatre comedy company founded by former OYT member John Nicholson, founder of theatre company Peepolykus, work with OYT to create a Christmas show The Sanity Clause.
2002 – Pegasus provides after schools clubs for schools in East Oxford, all of whom present their work in After Hours in Pegasus stage. OYT and the Cap and Stocking Players take The Pilgrimage
The Pilgrimage
The Pilgrimage is a 1987 novel by Brazilian novelist Paulo Coelho. It is a recollection of Paulo's experiences as he made his way across Northern Spain on the Pilgrimage of Santiago de Compostela in 1986.-Plot summary:...
show to the Crearc International Youth Theatre Festival at Grenoble
Grenoble
Grenoble is a city in southeastern France, at the foot of the French Alps where the river Drac joins the Isère. Located in the Rhône-Alpes region, Grenoble is the capital of the department of Isère...
in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. Pegasus collaborate with Sure Start in Rose Hill
Rose Hill
-People:* Rose Hill , British actress* Rose Hill , British wheelchair athlete-England:* Rose Hill, Derby, inner city suburb in Derby* Rose Hill, Oxfordshire, city council estate near Oxford...
to produce Love Me Tender, a moving piece about domestic violence.
2003 – New work from Gelede Dance, Sky Burial created in collaboration with music group SoundArk. John Nicholson returns to work with OYT on Sanity Clause II, based on Paul Gallico story.
2004 – Pegasus successfully wins lottery bid of £2.7 million towards rebuilding the theatre and adding studio, rehearsal, meeting and office spaces as well as improving foyer spaces for the general public. Junior OYT involved in creating a special performance to be shown at a conference on family breakdown A Child’s Voice. Former OYT member Ben Coren adapts Philip Pullman
Philip Pullman
Philip Pullman CBE, FRSL is an English writer from Norwich. He is the best-selling author of several books, most notably his trilogy of fantasy novels, His Dark Materials, and his fictionalised biography of Jesus, The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ...
novel I was a Rat! for the stage.
2005 - OYT perform Discontented Winter: House Remix for the National Theatre
Royal National Theatre
The Royal National Theatre in London is one of the United Kingdom's two most prominent publicly funded theatre companies, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company...
’s Connections Festival. OYT visit to Perm
Perm
Perm is a city and the administrative center of Perm Krai, Russia, located on the banks of the Kama River, in the European part of Russia near the Ural Mountains. From 1940 to 1957 it was named Molotov ....
in Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
following the International Youth Festival. Sanity Clause III: Messiah inspired by illusions by Richard Bach created with John Nicholson.
2006 – OYT and OYD join together to create an environmental performance showcase The Lorax and Other Environmental Tales. Oxford Dance Forum is launched at Pegasus and the first in a series of dance residencies with Sakoba Dance Theatre takes place.
2007 – Pegasus as a founder of the Oxford Dance Forum is co-host of the city's first ever dance festival, Dancin' Oxford 2007. Gelede Dance premiere Snake In The Geisha Palm.
2009 – Pegasus Theatre demolishes all buildings to redesign, providing better services for actors, dancers and production teams.
External links
- OYT news
- Pegasus Theatre, Oxford
- Butterfly Soup with Philip Pullman, BBCBBCThe 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...
Oxford, 19 November 2007 — on 17 November, Philip PullmanPhilip PullmanPhilip Pullman CBE, FRSL is an English writer from Norwich. He is the best-selling author of several books, most notably his trilogy of fantasy novels, His Dark Materials, and his fictionalised biography of Jesus, The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ...
gave a reading from a new unpublished work at an event to raise funds for the Pegasus Theatre