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No Adults Please, We're ArdenDateline: 4th September, 2005Last year I saw (and reviewed) a production of A Midsummer Night's Dream by the Arden Theatre Company at the Arc, Stockton. Arden is a youth theatre with a difference: it is run entirely by its members (aged at the time from 13 to 17) with no adult involvement of any kind in any aspect of its work - and that includes getting financial support from the Local Network Fund. They'd already done one production - Julius Caesar in 2003, when the oldest was 16. This flies in the face of accepted wisdom which says that if you put a group of teenagers together to organise something, nothing will happen because sensitive teen egos will lead to argument and dissension. The company - and I use that word rather than "group" advisedly for reasons which will become apparent - is currently rehearsing their third production, The Taming of the Shrew, so I went along to a rehearsal to find out a bit more. "We all respect each other," said 18 year old Nicola Jobson who plays Katharina. "At first I didn't agree with the interpretation but I realised there's no good arguing because Rob (the director) knows what he's doing and you have to trust him. It always comes down to that. If we trust him, we'll be fine." "He knows what he's doing but he's open to suggestions," added her stage sister, 18 year old Rachel Scott (Bianca). "He is open to suggestions, but he is very much in charge." "Everyone seems to have a different quality which they can employ to fulfil the various necessary tasks and, of course, Rob is an excellent director," added 17 year old Josh Mason, who plays Hortensio. "There are some strong wills, but one respects the authority of the directing team." As I listened to the various group members talking about the way things work, it occured to me that I could have been listening to members of any professional company. The words "trust" and "knows what he's doing" are repeated time after time. John Kirkbride (Biondello), who at 15 is one of the youngest in the company, emphasises the fact that the group are all friends. "The two new girls (Nicola and Rachel) and the new guy Peter (Peter Gordon who plays The Pedant) found it difficult at first," he said, "but they've settled in." In fact, although Rob Icke is the director (and plays Petruchio), he has two associate (a carefully chosen word, that: not "assistant") directors, Daniel Hill and David Kirkbride (John's elder brother). The motivation behind starting the group is perhaps one of the main reasons for its success. "It all started in 2003 when a group of us (most still in the current production) just before leaving school were keen, after seeing Michael Grandage's productions at the Sheffield Crucible, to try and produce theatre of a similar standard," Rob Icke says. "Measured against these productions, our own previous efforts at school, and the other amateur work we were seeing, seemed trite, flat and to have little regard for any dramatic excitement or indeed care for any audience. Hence the whole 'youth only' dictat - we knew we'd have to do things our own way to reach our own standards." Now that the majority of the group have reached an age when many will be going off to university, does Arden have a future? "The honest answer is that we don't know yet. Until we know what our schedules and commitments at all these various universities will be like it's difficult to make any firm commitment to returning or not returning next year or indeed in coming years. Of course we're also dependant on Kevin Parker (director of the Arc) liking what we do with Shrew to even have a theatre to come back to! "If there's plenty of people, perhaps there will be another full Shakespeare; if only a few, perhaps something with a smaller cast - if none, then nothing! It's not impossible either that some of the younger members will take up the reins and run things after so many of us disappear." I asked John Kirkbride the same question. He smiled. "We'll have to see what happens." Arden's production of "The Taming of the Shrew" runs at the Arc, Stockton, from Wednesday 14th to Saturday 17th September 7.30pm.
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