The Little Things

In September 2019 a group of 20 young people came together to form our Young Theatre Makers Perform Company. The majority of the group didn’t know each other and they worked with our RTYDS Resident Assistant Director, Jay Zorenti-Nakhid, to focus on building their creative skills and work towards a performance at Tobacco Factory Theatres in April 2020. This is their story…

After meeting, over the next few months the group explored a wide range of practical theatre skills as well as a philosophy of collaboration and kindness. The group started work on and were set to perform Joe White’s play Navajos, which focuses on an underground movement of young people battling the status quo in Nazi Germany during World War Two. However, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the show was heartbreakingly cancelled a couple of weeks before it was due to open to audiences.

During the height of the pandemic, the team at Tobacco Factory Theatres found themselves in an extremely difficult place. But we always had the YTM Perform group as a priority in the front of our minds, to ensure there would be closure on the project that these young people had begun together. Various possibilities were discussed for what could be done. Should we postpone Navajos to the summer or the autumn of 2020? At one point, we even considered creating an animated short film!

We had been meeting online with the YTM Perform group sporadically over lockdown, as it was important to us to maintain their input and collaboration on the final project, and we finally decided that a short film was the most suitable outcome. So, planning took place during January 2021 then a week of creating and 3 days of filming in April. The film was finished on Fri 16 April 2021 on top of Troopers Hill – one year to the day that the group would have performed their final Navajos show. And The Little Things was born…

During the filming process of The Little Things, we were immensely fortunate to collaborate with some amazing creatives, to whom we owe a deep debt of gratitude: Film Maker Mikael Techane, Movement Director Maisie Newman, Sound Designer/Composer Joseff Harris, Producer Ailie deBonnaire and Director Jay Zorenti-Nakhid.

And of course our biggest thanks go to the Young Theatre Makers Perform group. This film is not just a culmination of the filming process in 2021 but all the work and personal growth that has happened since 2019. The whole group of young people (including those who were not involved in the filming process) have come so far and we are incredibly proud of each and every member of the group. It has been a privilege and an honour to be part of their journeys of progress and growth.