I first joined First Bite as a shy 9-year-old in 2003. Drama provided a fun, relaxed and friendly atmosphere every Thursday evening at Southside. My annual highlight was (aside from the main show obviously!) the role play. For 3 hours you could just immerse yourself as a completely different person, explore different themes and scenarios and experiment with any roles or techniques that you wanted to try. It was always fun, exciting and of course dramatic!
Highlight roles from the main shows included the eccentric Willy Wonka in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, a talking/whisky drinking/anti-Christ baby in Tall Tales and a murderous and raunchy villain in the Greek tragedy Agamemnon. Of course, the memory that sticks out for me (and probably for a lot of other members at the time) is the infamous cot scene in Tall Tales. My seniors debut was marred by what is now known as the legendary ‘cot scene’. As if a 13 year old boy dressed in a baby’s dress and night cap wasn’t already comedy gold, the cot that I was to climb out of decided to collapse live on stage on opening night. I somehow managed to keep going (a perfect example of ‘the show must go on’ mantra) and continued with the scene trying to hold back a mixture of tears and laughter. Needless to say it is now a firm favourite for reminiscing at Christmas – or at drama reunions!
One of the things I’ve really started to appreciate is how much I learned at First Bite – I developed so many skills that have helped me in life since leaving the group. I recently had to present a case in court in front of a judge, and I still rely on the skills and techniques that Rebecca taught us! From teamwork to communication, creativity to self-confidence there were so many skills that I developed through my time at First Bite. If it wasn’t for the group and my time there, I don’t think I’d be as confident as I am now, or have the same skills that I have today. I made so many lifelong friends as well– we were always given the time to catch up and get to know each other by playing games, sharing news and working in teams.
I still miss First Bite to this day, but I’m so glad that I have such amazing and fond memories (helped by a whole collection of show DVDs!) to look back on. Thanks to all those that helped throughout the years, and especially to Rebecca for providing such great memories and helping me develop skills that I still use to this day. I can’t physically stop smiling whilst writing this – we all had such a great time and this is all down to Rebecca’s hard work, determination and passion for drama.
Happy 25th Birthday First Bite – here’s to another quarter of a century!!
Ally Smith (2003 – 2011)
