In the past, students like ours at CAPA College would have been able to hone their craft by joining a repertory theatre. But Rep theatre doesn’t really exist anymore in this country, which is why partnering with a pioneering theatre company like Red Ladder is such a fantastic experience for our young students to apply and develop their current training.

Working with Red Ladder gives them a chance to see the many stages of conceiving, developing and then touring a production. The relationship developed after programming My Voice Was Heard But It Was Ignored, a powerful play by Nana-Kofi Kufour. We were then part of the performance pitch at the Venues North event in Sheffield last year for Sanctuary. Rehearsing a short extract of the vision to be presented to the region’s gatekeepers not only gave the students a different type of performance opportunity but was their first experience of talking with venue producers and chief executives – as well as sharing a platform with talented and dedicated professional theatre makers. It was an insight into the work being created in the region and the importance of being able to professionally network with people.

It was a bit of a eureka moment for our students because it gave them an understanding of the whole creative process, one based around building relationships, collaboration and mutual respect. It also showed them what theatre can be, that it isn’t something only created by people in ivory towers, but ordinary people who look and sound like them.

When Mafwa Theatre and Red Ladder came in to develop workshops which our students then went out to facilitate in local schools, as part of the next stage of Sanctuary, one of our Muslim students really came into her own. Her family understands the complexities of being a refugee and seeking asylum in a foreign country and she made sure her voice was heard within the context of the work. Being part of the creative process not only boosts their self-confidence, but it also gives them space to explore sensitive and sometimes controversial topics safely with facilitators/creatives with lived experiences that reflect their own.

Vox credit Robling Photography

This autumn some of our students, most of whom will be 17 or 18, will be playing the chorus in Sanctuary and going out on tour to venues across the North of England. How many young theatre and drama students get the opportunity to work with such a renowned theatre company like Red Ladder? It really is priceless. They get to see the reality of what it takes to create a new piece of theatre. A lot of young people only see the end-product on stage, they don’t see the process of getting there, all the hard work – the partnerships and collaborations, funding meetings, networking, tour organising and planning – that goes into getting something on the stage in front of an audience.

That’s why our collaboration with Red Ladder is so important and not some box-ticking exercise. It gives our students the chance to work with brilliant artistic directors like Cheryl Martin, and talented writers like Boff Whalley and Sarah Woods. It also gives them an insight into the business aspects of running a theatre which they need to understand if they’re going to pursue a career in the arts.

With all the well-publicised arts funding cuts there are fewer and fewer opportunities for young people to get a foot in the door, which is why partnerships like this have never been more important. It’s crucial that local and regional theatre companies still exist in the future so that when students across Yorkshire and the North graduate from colleges, universities and conservatories, they actually have jobs and apprenticeships to go to, because if they don’t then we’re going to lose those career paths for our young people.

A lot of our students come from some of the poorest economic areas so for them to have the chance to share the same space as key creatives is something to champion and cherish. We hear politicians talk a lot about levelling up. Well, this is levelling up in action.

Thanks to partnerships like this one with Red Ladder, our students will have the confidence to go into rooms and speak to these artistic leaders without feeling like they are imposters. Hopefully, they will also realise that the theatre is a place for them, that there are still opportunities out there to forge a career in the creative industries but also that they are well-informed in what it realistically takes to develop their own creative practice.

By Stacey Johnstone, Artistic Development Manager at CAPA College, Wakefield

Main image CAPA students: Vox, Sophie Russell & Ella Watson (movement) credit Robling Photography

Sanctuary opens at Theatre Royal Wakefield on Thursday 19th September before touring to theatres and Red Ladder Local venues book here!