The fairy lights are down, the celluloid film projectors packed back off to Cheltenham Museum, and the walls of Vamos Young People’s Theatre’s exhibition space are bare once again… bare, but echoing to the sound of tap dancing usherettes and Doris Day’s immortal crooning. Vamos YPT’s journey on The Projectionist is far from over!

The performance that Vamos Young People have been working on for a year will finally make its debut on Wednesday at 7:30pm at the Courtyard Theatre, Hereford. The project began last summer when we got inspired by Norman Holly, a family friend of one of our members. His real life as a projectionist in Evesham and a soldier in Korea was eye-opening, romantic, funny and at times tragic - the perfect starting point for a story in mask theatre.

The next step was to add even more colour to our picture of cinema in the 1950s. Once again VYPT turned to older generations in the local community to listen to their anecdotes and experiences. I feel so lucky to have met such a wide variety of people with endless stories to tell: about cinema-mad kids and Saturday morning club sing-alongs, holding hands and sneaking kisses in the back row, a mouse in a box of chocolates, and 2 projectionists who gleefully admitted shining bright spotlights on usherettes to see through their skirts.

Back in our rehearsal room we gradually wove our discoveries into a fully fleshed-out show. For a newbie like me – I had never even seen full mask performance until September – this meant learning the ropes right from the beginning. Keep moving your face under your mask! Know what you’re saying even if it’s not out loud! Hardest of all, keep acting like a human, not a cartoon. Having mastered the basics, we worked on scenes without masks, talking them through and developing stories and characters. After that, putting on masks again always brings us back to practical reality (often quite literally with a bump)! Suddenly I can’t see the stepladder to climb it, or keep a sneaky eye on everyone else’s dance moves to make sure I’m in time.

Not only have we been finding creative solutions to those problems, but new ideas have kept popping up right to the end. Last week I was pleasantly surprised to find myself lifted deftly into the air and swept West-End style off the stage by two strapping young gentlemen! We’ve also been introduced to the fantastic music for the show, chosen specially by Janie Armour, which evokes the 1950s atmosphere beautifully. Finding cues in the music has helped us keep to precise timings, so we can seem to react to other actors on stage even when we can’t see or hear them. By now the whole show is running along like clockwork. Well, most of the time!

The Projectionist has been hard work and a real learning curve, but also a huge amount of fun. Our performance promises to be just as thoughtful, energetic and often downright silly as rehearsals have been. I hope you’ll be able to join us at Hereford Courtyard Theatre this Wednesday or Thursday, in a double-bill with The Courtyard Senior Youth Theatre’s Stories on our Doorstep.  However distant the 1950s may seem to you, I guarantee you’ll go home feeling warmed and nostalgic, and humming happily through some familiar old tunes.

Beth Greenwood

photo: Charlie Hammond