So I attended First Bite from 1995 to 2000 as a participant, but continued to support with the junior group until 2001 (having started to help out when I was 15 in 1996). It seems a long time ago now, however the memories I have of that time are as vivid as if they had happened yesterday! Loves lost, roles played and Thursday night bus rides home!I was the first member of the Youth Theatre who stayed on after the age of 16. I am proud to have set that trend, but I couldn’t lose that key community in my life at that time, nor my guide. Over the years I was privileged to have a range of exciting roles, ensemble and leading, but a highlight for me was the inclusive nature of group nights and Rebecca setting the tone treating us like professionals, supporting us and setting the key agenda that the group and each other were the priorities.
Ensemble has stayed with me and has hugely influenced my own directorial style. Rebecca gave me the confidence to lead, to follow and to pursue a career in drama. Although I am no longer in the arts, the skills I learned and most of all the need for high expectations drives me forward in how I work with the young people I teach now.
Kieran Noel-Paton (1995 – 2001)
I remember going to a workshop in Motherwell with Mark and Wendy and our other great collaborator Colin with his chat that there are more Italians in Motherwell than Italy! I was never the best at remembering lines and I had many of those ‘conversations’ with Rebecca that I’m sure others have had, and I now delight in regurgitating those chats to my own kids. I can’t wait until they are old enough to join the group themselves! So much love to FBYT on its 25th
