What makes REC, REC? 

There are lots of ways to make theatre.

Some young people love standing centre stage, while others are happiest inventing characters or making up stories. Some arrive bursting with confidence; others take a little longer to find their feet.

At REC, there’s room for all of them.

Our weekly youth theatre sessions are places for young people to explore ideas, build skills, make friends and grow in confidence through games, characters, stories and performance.

But REC has never just been about who can remember their lines or who feels most at home in the spotlight. It’s about everything that happens on the way there too.

The best way to explain REC is probably not by starting with the show, but with all the things that help it take shape.

So, what makes REC, REC?

Everyone brings something different to the stage.

There isn’t one type of young person who belongs at REC. Some are the first to put their hand up whenever someone asks for a volunteer. Some have been putting on shows in their living rooms since they could talk. Others love performing but still feel a flutter of nerves when it’s time to do it in front of somebody else.

Then there are the storytellers, the detail-spotters, the character inventors, the problem-solvers and the people whose ideas have a habit of sending everybody off in a completely unexpected direction. All those things have an important place.

At REC, young people are encouraged to find their own way of contributing rather than feeling they need to fit a particular idea of what a performer should be. Creativity might arrive loudly and energetically, or it might begin with watching, listening and quietly trying something out before taking the next step.

As the group works towards a performance, everybody brings something different to the stage – and that’s part of what makes the finished thing theirs.

There’s always something new to make, try and learn

No two weeks at REC look quite the same. Across the year, young people get to explore lots of different parts of theatre-making: characters, stories, scenes, games, performance techniques, working together and all the different bits and pieces that eventually come together to make a show.

Each term has a different focus too, with time to build skills, develop ideas and eventually bring those ideas together into a production.

That variety gives young people plenty to get curious about. One week might bring something completely new; another might give them the chance to return to an idea, try it differently and take it a little further.

Bit by bit, it builds a wonderfully varied picture of what theatre-making can be – not just the moment on stage, but all the playing, experimenting, problem-solving and making that brings it to life.

Every idea can lead somewhere

Phil and the REC team bring plenty of theatre-making experience, games, prompts, challenges and encouragement into the room, giving everyone somewhere to begin. The young people bring their own ideas, interests and imaginations, and those help shape what happens next.

Something might be tried, changed, and tried again. Somebody adds a thought that takes a scene in a new direction. An idea that sounded brilliant at first might not quite work once everybody gets on their feet, so the group finds another way.

That back-and-forth is an important part of REC. Young people aren’t simply there to follow instructions; there’s room to contribute, experiment and make the work their own.

Phil and the team are there to guide, challenge and encourage, so nobody is expected to arrive already knowing exactly what to do. There’s enough of a starting point to get things moving, and plenty of space for young people to make choices, try things out and see where an idea might lead.

Confidence doesn’t always make a big entrance

We talk a lot about confidence in youth theatre, but it doesn’t look the same for everybody. For one young person, it might be standing in front of an audience and owning the stage. For somebody else, it might be offering an idea to the group for the first time, trying a character they’re not quite sure about, speaking a little louder or getting something wrong and feeling able to have another go. Sometimes it’s simply walking through the door more easily than the week before.

One parent told us: “My daughter was scared to walk through the door, now she shines on stage!”

Those big moments are wonderful, but we notice the quieter ones too.

REC gives young people time to grow into things: to return each week, get to know the people around them, take on new challenges and discover what they’re capable of at their own pace.

Alongside the theatre-making skills, other things begin to grow too – creative thinking, problem-solving, communication, teamwork, listening and the confidence to trust an idea and see where it takes them.

A place to belong

Theatre is very rarely something made alone. At REC, young people become part of a group that plays, rehearses, swaps ideas, solves problems and encourages one another. Somewhere along the way, friendships form too.

One young person described REC as: “It’s like a family – everyone feels safe…it is a community you can be confident with.”

And one parent told us: “Our children have found a real sense of belonging at REC.”

That matters enormously to us.

Because that feeling of belonging grows through all the little things that happen between performances: conversations before a session starts, laughter during a game, somebody remembering another person’s idea from last week, encouragement when something feels difficult and those lovely moments when a group suddenly finds its rhythm.

Eventually, all those different ideas, personalities and contributions become something everyone can stand back and say they made together.

It’s all the bits in between

What makes REC special is the way all of those things sit together: learning new skills while having room to play, being challenged while knowing there are people around to help, and bringing an individual idea into something much bigger. It’s stories, games, friendships, experiments, mistakes, characters, and an awful lot of laughter.

And yes, there are performances. We love the moment when the lights come up and a group gets to share what they’ve made with an audience. But what matters just as much is everything that has happened on the way there – young people finding their feet, growing in confidence, making new friends, discovering what they enjoy and realising just how much they can bring to a piece of theatre.

That’s what makes REC, REC. And we’re always rather curious to see what they’ll make next…

If REC sounds like somewhere your young person might enjoy, we’d love to welcome them along. You can find out more about our groups here.