What I Want to Say but Never Will

St Ives youth theatre have once again given me an amazing opportunity to direct a 2 act play fresh of the success of Bugsy Malone.

The play discusses the idea of being able to be honest with someone with out any fall out… or “what would you say to someone if you could say anything?” who that would be and why? In fact writer Alan Haehnel who teaches high school English and Theatre at Hanover High School in Hanover, New Hampshire, asked his students these very questions.

Each student was handed a slip of paper containing 3 questions.

If you could say anything you wanted, without any consequences or judgment, just what would you say?

Who to?

And why?

Using this as his inspiration he wrote monologs based on each story, stitching them together with the use of a very clever narrator.

Combining whit and dark humour together to create a piece that is in equal parts dark and difficult to digest, as well as humorous light hearted and fun… drawing on  its audiences heart strings and personal experience to create a feeling of self reflection, indeed the title of the piece itself is intriguing and enough to make you question yourself.

Based on student responses from around the country, What I Want to Say But Never Will explores this simple but intimate question, offering a glimpse into teenagers' most private thoughts.

Told through monologues and anecdotes from the playwright himself, these confessions range from a hilarious rant on an art teacher's bad breath to a touching piece of advice from a brother leaving for the Navy.

With auditions currently taking place and dates for the performance being clarified it is safe to say we are once again back in the thick of it.

There is little detail about this piece available but the themes and idea discussed in this text lend themselves extremely well to the young performers of St Ives youth theatre.

Through a mixture of rehearsals and workshops we aim to bring this play to life and even to the Edinburgh fringe festival 2013.

This play will be directed by myself and a amazing SIYT veteran and master of the fringe Mark Dominy whose work has be greatly reviewed locally and further a field , his credits including 5* reviews at the fringe festival this year.

This is my first collaborative effort and it is certainly a relationship I hope to cultivate to a strong and successful performance.

We are both keen to experiment with the use of light and massive advocates of physical theatre styles that are sure to challenge and engage our cast of 50 young actors.

All I can say at this stage is that this is something new for SIYT, but with this being my last directorial with the company before a short (3 year) break to study theatre at degree level, we aim to raise the profile and the competence of our brilliant company. 

GENRE
Drama

LENGTH
Full-length, 80-90 minutes

CAST
20 either (5-76 actors possible: 0-76 females, 0-76 males)

SET
Minimal.

NOTES
Mild adult language and content