A weekend (and a year) at Curve
Last summer, after watching an amazing version of Billy Elliot at Curve theatre, Leicester, my youngest daughter auditioned to be a part of Curve Young Community Company (CYCC). Every Saturday since she’s been to musical theatre class and last Friday night, that culminated in a junior production of Footloose.
[I make no apologies for the soundtrack that is now playing in your head. It’s an earworm].
The kids in Footloose were aged between 11-14 and the performance was in The Studio. Whilst this isn’t Curve’s main stage, if you’re 11, it’s still a pretty big, all-singing, all-dancing place (pun absolutely intended). For the show, there was full sound and lighting, plenty of costume and set changes too. Before we even talk about the performances, the technical and production experiences that the kids had at being part of this show was excellent.
I imagine that most parents are biased when it comes to their children. As such, I was expecting to go along to watch the production and beam with pride at my amazing daughter. And of course I did, and of course she was awesome. But, I was also mesmerized by some of the other performances too. The young chap who played Willard (Luuk Wierseme) magically grew in statue through the show as he got more and more laughs for his comedic performance. The young lady who played Vi (Edith Milson Hughes) sang so beautifully I caught my breath. Of course, it was a show performed by children and so at times there were missed lines, some dance moves were out of step, but honestly, that just added to the charm of it.
The most satisfying part was seeing all of the company, both leaders and students, beaming with smiles. There was so much giggling post show, a gorgeous mixture of relief and pride, I guess. The camaraderie and pure happiness from this shared experience is what it’s all about.
The following night, we returned to Curve. We went to watch the older CYCC group. This one was for 15-18 year olds, and if successful when she reapplies, my daughter will move up into this group from September. We went to see what the step up would be like. How much bigger, stronger, better would the older group be?
We had a lovely mother daughter evening watching Stephen Sondheim’s Merrily We Go Along, a show neither of us had heard of or knew. We read the synopsis before we went and learnt that it was a show about three friends, played out in reverse. Set in America, the cast had the opportunity to try their accents. There were mature themes covered, and never once did I think that the teenagers in Saturday’s production weren’t up to delivering. They absolutely did it justice, and the standout for me was the quality of the singing. There was a lot – it was a fairly long show – and the singing was pretty much constant. Such strength, such confidence, such skill to be able to do all of that! The standard was high. My daughter was both wowed and a little nervous about potentially being a future part of it.
Going weekly to Curve over the past year has meant that I’ve seen and appreciated it so much more than simply turning up to watch a show. A case in point was that earlier last week, whilst I was waiting for the rehearsals, Leicester Women’s Gospel Choir practiced in the theatre. I sat listening, immersed in the music. It was such a beautiful sound. Such a mood lift. Such a joy to experience. Curve is such an all round creative space to be.
The more time that I spend at Curve, the more I’m impressed. It’s been a great year for my daughter. She’s met new people, some old acquaintances too. She’s worked with new practitioners, she’s learnt technical skills, she’s gained confidence. She’s been able to perform on a real working stage and it’s given her even more drive to pursue her dreams. Friday and Saturday’s junior shows were good. Really good! When I think back to last summer when we first found out about the youth opportunity, and then today, a year on, I recognize what a privilege it is to have such a fantastic facility in my home city that is open to all.
