Wolverhampton's Central Youth Theatre has been a 'life changing adventure', says former participant

Jane was in her early twenties and an enthusiastic advocate of the fledgling company. Boys were in short supply and there had been a piece in the Express & Star asking for lads to come along and join in time for their next production; I was very keen to improve my acting and went along that week.

The group really was the antithesis of everything I had known to that point. It was mixed for a start, whereas my school, Tettenhall College, was all boys. As well as the opportunity to chat with the opposite sex there was also an anarchic energy and enthusiasm in every session I found immediately liberating.

I'm not saying my school was overly strict but you certainly listened whenever the teacher spoke; you stood up when a master entered the room, and you always called them 'sir'.

CYT was a very different experience.

The majority of the members were from very different backgrounds to my classmates. We met above a pub in the centre of town (the Tatton Sykes) and we tried to create theatre with varying degrees of success.

CYT was a safe place where you came to enjoy and express yourself; a place where you could ask questions you might normally be too shy or embarrassed to ask.

This was completely new and an important education for me that was to play a major part in the direction my life was to take.

During my time with CYT I was involved with two major projects that have had a lifelong impact. In 1985 we were chosen to represent England in a series of films for Channel 4 that were being made by, and about, young people. The series was called 'It's Our World' and Channel 4 commissioned four films in the UK (each of the home nations) with other countries taking part around the world. Jane had spotted the opportunity and researchers came out to interview all of the applicants; there were a lot.

I was in the middle group of CYT at this point, I think we were 12-16. We were interviewed by the production company and somehow made it through the first round.

The selection process involved developing story-line ideas, and of course they were busy talent spotting at the same time. I do recall it became quite a difficult process. Once we made it through the first couple of rounds the older group came on board and I seem to remember we had to fight tooth and nail to make sure the middle group maintained its place.

The conflict between the two groups actually ended up as the basis of our script…and amazingly this conflict somehow landed us the gig and we were selected to make a film for Channel 4 that would be screened around the world as well as at the Cannes Film Festival! It was a really big deal for us, and the Youth Theatre was headline news across the town with new members flocking to join.

Somehow I ended up as the villain of the piece. A young man with aspirations for power within the local authority given the task of creating a youth float for the town's millennium celebrations… His dream of building a float representing the castle of King Ethelred and/or Lady Wulfruna (the founder of the town) ended up being hijacked and destroyed by a radical local band that saw through his self-aggrandisement during a night of drunken debauchery… Are you lost yet?

It wasn't Shakespeare but it was 'sought of' us. My character ended up getting his revenge by taking away the building he'd had been given for the purpose of building the float from the vast array of community youth groups that had flocked to base themselves within its walls when the opportunity arose. The final scene is one of me closing the door and turning the key.

In one scene I was punched in the face and fell to the floor in my kingly robes.

I'm still not sure what it was really all about but I do remember I got a particularly good review for my performance from that paragon among papers the London Irish Times. Their film critic compared my acting to that of a young Orson Welles I'll have you know!

I seem to recall I carried that review in my wallet for years afterwards much to the amusement of my friends at university some of whom still remind of this fact even now!

My second major CYT event was a two week trip to the Soviet Union.

Somehow Jane had made a contact with a fixer who was able to get visas for us to travel around the old USSR. She had also made contact with several theatre groups who were keen to host a company from the UK. The first group was based at Moscow University, the second at the National Theatre of Vilnius in Lithuania and the third at the State theatre of Estonia in Tallinn.

We were invited to take two performances across to be performed in each country, and each host group would then share their work with us.

We were to stay in university accommodation while in Moscow, in the homes of students in Vilnius, and then at the old Olympic village in Tallinn. It was going to be another adventure! We would fly Aeroflot to Moscow from Heathrow and would then travel on overnight train from Moscow to Vilnius followed by a flight from Vilnius to Estonia before flying home.

The two performances we decided to take were Bridge to the Blues and Antigone.

Bridge to the Blues was an original piece of theatre with music – basically a two hander for a couple of older members, Howard and Jenny. Howard was an amazing guitarist and Jenny had a fabulous voice – it was more of a gig than a piece of theatre but it worked.

Antigone was our attempt at a political statement - the tragic story of one woman who sacrifices herself to thwart the Machiavellian machinations of the state encapsulated in the character of her uncle Creon. The version of the play we chose was the English translation of Jean Anouilh's 1960's French masterpiece. We were taking an English translation of a French play based on a Greek tragedy to a Russian speaking audience. What could possibly go wrong?

The trip was scheduled for August 1988. I had gone to Middlesex Polytechnic the year before to study a degree in drama and music and came back to Wolverhampton for the summer to rehearse it for a few weeks before the trip.

I was cast as Jonas the first guard charged with watching the young Antigone. I had hoped to play Creon but that role went to a slightly older actor.

As it was I spent a great deal of time chatting with the young Antigone. We flirted outrageously throughout rehearsals and it became obvious that it was only a matter before some form of romance blossomed, although it was a blossom I would quickly manage to make a mess of.

Anyway there were weeks of rehearsals and set building, stage management had to drive - yes drive to Moscow with our set and props - they left a week before us and had an adventure of their own!

In fact we never saw them until we returned to England. They had a nightmare at checkpoints across Eastern Europe and the USSR and ended up always being a few days behind us. There's a great film there somewhere.

We on the other hand made it to Moscow. Not without a few problems I hasten to add! Our visas didn't arrive and the day before we were supposed to fly Jane was frantically phoning her 'contact' to try and pull some strings. She finally tracked him down to Havana in Cuba where she spoke to him just after he returned from a hot air balloon trip with Fidel Castro. I kid you not. He made a call and the next day our visas arrived! Incredible!

We made it to Moscow where we were met by some friendly students who welcomed us with open arms. They were very forgiving about our performances (without set or props) and we spent a great deal of time trying to understand each other with those of us above the legal age imbibing a fair quantity of the local vodka and brandy.

We were housed at the university in one of Stalin's skyscrapers built after his trip to New York. They were incredible buildings 240m tall and at that time the tallest structures in Europe – a record that wasn't beaten until 1990. We were given the 25th floor and I remember sitting on the balcony dangling my legs over the side gazing at the vast panorama of Moscow. I don't think health and safety existed in those days.

The journey to Lithuania was another adventure! We left the Kiyevsky station in Moscow on our 20 hour trip via Kiev. I say we left… I left with half a dozen of our party and I had no idea where anybody else was…We lost Jane and the rest of the party as they were trying to find the stage management team. They were delayed and missed the train. Our 'minder' from the university told me to get on and not to worry as we would be met in Vilnius, so off we went, having more and more adventures.

And that's what CYT has always been about I guess: adventures. Life changing experiences for young people from Wolverhampton. Experiences that stay with them for the rest of their lives and will keep them warm in their old age.

CYT was a wonderful time in my life and I'll always be grateful to Jane for her commitment, talent and incredible patience.

Please help them raise the money they need for a new home so more generations of kids from the Black Country can continue to have wonderful, life changing adventures in theatre.

You can view the original post on the Central Youth Theatre's website here.