About Us

The Company Music Theatre is a national musical youth theatre, backed by a creative and administrative team who deliver with passion and drive and draw out talent whenever they engage with young people.

Although we are a relatively new organisation, the collective experience of the creative, technical and administrative team is extensive and growing. As well as working with thecompany, all of our team members are developing within nationally and internationally recognised organisations, excelling as professional practitioners and placing thecompany within a supportive, collaborative network.

Unlike other some national youth theatres thecompany has no bias towards the south-east, or any geographic region. We strive to recruit performers and supporters from across the country.

Our team members are based in the south-east, midlands and north-west, and work even further afield. Taking our cue from the cultural renaissance enjoyed in the north-west over recent years, thecompany‘s debut production – ‘The Rose and the Ring - was presented in the Dancehouse Theatre, Manchester in 2008. It achieved critical acclaim and the support of the Manchester Evening News, culminating in winning the BIZA Award and a cheque for £5,000 at the Manchester Evening News (Guardian Group) Theatre Awards 2008.

The aims and objectives of the Company Music Theatre can be summarised as follows:

• To offer performances that are artistically challenging and socially relevant
• To create opportunities for audiences to engage and grow
• To benefit young people who seek to develop their potential by offering a wide range of training and performance opportunities for players, musicians and theatre craft
• To actively seek out participants across town, countryside and cultural divides
• To provide workshops and focus groups, which engage with young people’s aspirations within and without the arts
• To include opportunities to shadow and training for young designers, writers and choreographers
• To commission work from new writers, involving schools in writing and production

How we achieve this in practice involves a number of key operations:

Building on the success in 2008, we returned to the Dancehouse Theatre in August 2009 with two productions: Merrily We Roll Along and 3’s Company. They were cast at sessions in London, Manchester and Liverpool, followed by residential rehearsal events which took place in school or college holiday periods, involving fun, team-building and hard work in equal measures. All residentials are fully supervised by qualified teachers with a great deal of experience and provide a safe and creative environment in which performers can develop.

In 2010, thecompany moved to The Lowry, Salford, Manchester, for Parade, which gained accolades in the national press. From this success, thecompany moves to London in 2011 for Mack & Mabel and will return to The Lowry in 2012.

In addition to shows thecompany provides educational workshops to any groups who feel their members would benefit from our training and experience. If you would like to find out more about how we can help, please email thecompany.liz@gmail.com.