Chichester Festival Youth Theatre celebrates a remarkable landmark this December – 20 years of serving up the venue’s big Christmas show.
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00:00 Good morning, my name is Phil Hewitt, Group Arts Editor at Sussex Newspapers. It's always
00:06 fabulous to speak to Dale Rooks, who is the Director of Learning, Education and Participation
00:12 at Chichester Festival Theatre. And Dale, we're talking about a fabulous anniversary
00:16 this year, aren't we? It's 20 years of Chichester Festival Youth Theatre on that main house
00:21 stage. That's a phenomenal achievement, and you've directed probably three quarters of
00:26 those 20 shows. How does it make you feel when you think back to all that's been achieved
00:31 on that stage over two decades now?
00:34 Incredibly proud. I mean, it's very exciting to see young people performing and giving
00:42 the prestige of the main stage. Christmas, it's very unique. It doesn't happen, I don't
00:49 think, in any other theatre. And I do think that they produce high quality work. They've
00:57 got a great following.
00:59 And you're saying back in 2003, when it was first suggested that you should do this, it
01:04 was a little bit daunting, wasn't it? You'd done work in the Manilova before, but to step
01:09 up to the main house was really quite something, wasn't it?
01:12 It really was. And as you say, it was daunting, a little bit overwhelming. I'm not sure at
01:18 that time that we had the best singers in the world. We didn't really do musical theatre
01:24 as such. And so we've built the singing ability from there on. But it was wonderful to see
01:34 a production on the Festival Theatre stage.
01:38 And you've really built a tradition, haven't you? Because I speak through you to various
01:41 members of Youth Theatre who've done four, five, six, whatever, productions on the main
01:46 house stage. And most professional actors haven't done that. It's remarkable, isn't
01:50 it? What does it give them to be on that main house stage?
01:55 I think, well, number one, it gives them huge confidence, but also, like, so much enjoyment.
02:03 They come together as a family. They rehearse for three months. They work really, really
02:08 hard and they're incredibly committed and dedicated. And I think for them to be standing
02:15 in front of an audience of over 1,200 people is an extraordinary experience, whether they
02:21 go into the profession or not. It's an incredible thing, isn't it?
02:26 It must be the most massive boost for self-confidence to know that you can do that, whatever you
02:30 go on to do.
02:32 Absolutely, 100%. I mean, they all say that, that, you know, even if it's interviews or
02:39 being in a room with different people and being able to articulate and speak about things,
02:45 it's for all of them, it's a massive journey.
02:48 Yeah. And I think the other thing that's so brilliant about the achievement is that each
02:52 year you come up with something intriguing. And it's always interesting to think, oh,
02:55 I wonder what they will do this year. And then it's announced and you think, oh, that'd
02:59 be good.
03:00 Yeah, yeah. And I think the collaboration is the most important thing, both with the
03:06 creatives, but also with the young people. You know, everybody has a part to play and
03:11 it's not just the director that takes on that big load.
03:15 But equally, it can't be easy to come up with something appropriate every year.
03:20 It's not always easy. And we have repeated some of the titles, but done them in very
03:25 different ways. So it's hard. But actually, interestingly, recently, I have come up with
03:33 a few titles for the next few years that we haven't done before.
03:37 Oh.
03:38 Yeah. I'm not going to tell you what they are.
03:41 I know, next year's will be announced.
03:43 They are very exciting.
03:44 It's very, very difficult to get hold of, you know, off the shelf, good quality scripts.
03:52 And so to have new adaptations is a really, really great thing.
03:58 Goodness. And when you think back over those 20 shows, of course, it's very unfair to single
04:03 shows out, isn't it, as particular favourites. But we have to talk about Pinocchio, don't
04:08 we? That was so important in that ghastly 2020 year and what you achieved by taking
04:14 to the stage that Christmas.
04:17 Yeah, definitely. I mean, we worked in a very different way. As you know, we had to be socially
04:24 distanced. We couldn't use props. Nobody could hand one thing to another actor on stage.
04:32 We had to wear masks in the room. I mean, I had about seven masks on me to make sure
04:38 I was protected. You know, we were really, really delighted and proud that we got through
04:45 to Boxing Day with a smaller company. We had two different companies. They never actually
04:50 saw each other's work. You know, two companies of 35, but they went in the room together.
04:57 And Boxing Day, that's when it had to shut because of the latest lockdown at that point.
05:01 Yeah, but we went on for much longer than most shows. We could see the shows collapsing
05:07 everywhere, all theatres, you know, and nobody got Covid. Not one single member.
05:13 And that was the thing, wasn't it? It was such a tough, horrible time. And obviously,
05:16 it's very sad when the show had to stop. But the fact that you'd done it, what you retained,
05:21 I think, was the triumph that you'd done it, wasn't it?
05:25 Definitely. Yeah. And as you said, for the young people coming out of the pandemic, they
05:30 needed something. They needed to be together. They needed to create something really special.
05:36 And that's what that gave them that year.
05:38 Well, congratulations on 20 fabulous years. I've seen every single one of them. And I
05:44 feel proud to have done so. So thank you. Really lovely to speak to you.
05:49 Thanks for all your support.
05:50 My pleasure. Big pleasure.
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