Vamos Young People’s Theatre is delighted to have received a funding award from the Sir Barry Jackson Trust, which will help fund its current project based on the life of Vesta Tilley.

During the project, the 9-13 year olds will be working with Archivists from The Hive in Worcester, who will help them research Vesta, an English music hall performer who became one of the most famous male impersonators of her era. The young people will also look into what life was like for people in Worcestershire during World War One.

The facts and stories discovered during the research will go towards the making of a theatre production, performed in full mask. This will be devised over several months, with a sharing taking place on March 5th (with Perfect Circle Youth Theatre in Malvern), a performance in a local care home, and at Highly Sprung Physical Fellowship in July.

Kathryn Green, who runs VYPT, said members of the group were delighted to hear about the funding: ‘it’s just fantastic to have support from the Sir Barry Jackson Trust, which will help our young people to learn more about mask performance, about the skills of devising, and how inspiring it is to create theatre from the stories of real people.”

Thank you to the Sir Barry Jackson Trust, and the group’s other funders: the Bransford Trust, Worcester Arts Council, and by Cllrs Derek Prodger and Paul Tuthill through the Worcestershire County Council Divisional Fund.