Holocaust Project

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The Yaller Skunk Theatre Company lead by Mr Mark Curtis was at the heart of the Holocaust memorial project at the Key Theatre last Friday night.

This evening involved entertaining and thought provoking theatre from seven different schools based around Peterborough and the surrounding area.

Stanground Community College.
The Kings School
Jack Hunt School
Deeping School
Peterborough Regional College
The Thomas Deacon Academy

And Peterborough’s very own Key youth theatre formed the cast in this evening of harrowing story lines and historical settings.

As you would think with such a subject this may not have been an easy ride for its rapt capacity audience, but the sensitivity that Mark and his team have evidently passed onto this 150 strong cast exhumes with depth, and screams out an opinion many parents in the audience would be surprised is coming from their own.

“It began with the understanding that we are all the same..” explained Abbie Potter from Stanground Community College. “We wouldn’t have been able to continue from there if we didn’t except that fact. The workshops that Mark delivers are so interesting. They had us all thinking within moments.”

“It is serious stuff, but devising work is really fun. Mark had us thinking and laughing all the way.” Amy Graham Stanground College.

With seven of the Cities schools represented (I should add that two of these are steeped in an old fashioned rivalry) It was really refreshing to see a group of students ranging from 12-19 years in age supporting each other. And not only that, they openly were enjoying each others company.

The show began some thirty minutes before its scheduled start time. This was with a series of different images presented to music. I was just receiving my tickets from the box office when the down stairs doors came crashing open. There was no let up from this moment onward.

The Yaller Skunk Theatre Company recently formed played with audience focus so there was never any let up. We quite simply weren’t aloud to get bored, there was so much going on.

With performances taking place in the bar before and during the interval, regular announcements in German and an attempt to segregate the audience all the point were driven home with precision and a delicacy that had many sobbing by the end. The round of applause was well deserved and many of the themes will stay with me for some time.

Well done!