Nurturing talent and enthusiasm: BYMT

Steven Dexter has always been involved into a wide range of creative projects with young performers. He has been working for BYMT, the UK's leading musical theatre organisation for young people, for many years and created a number of exciting shows, including most recently The Night The War Ended at the Theatre Royal Margate in August 2021.

The director's West End credits include Loserville (Garrick Theatre - Olivier Award nomination: Best New Musical, Broadway World Award nomination: Best Director); La Cava (Eon Productions), Romance Romance (Gielgud Theatre), Peter Pan and The Pirates of Penzance (in rep at the Savoy), AltarBoyz (Greenwich Theatre), the World premiere of the Olivier Award-Winning Stiles and Drewe musical HONK at the Watermill Theatre, and many others.

‘A big question I asked myself during lockdown was: “why is theatre important?”,’ Dexter says, ‘I think theatre is to a degree an essence of art, and art is all around us. Theatre inspires imagination and creativity that can be channelled into lots of different outlets one doesn't necessarily think about initially.

‘What I've found having worked with young people and performers after lockdown is that insecurity has built up, as well as the strong need to work together as a group. This is something we can encourage, building people's confidence and getting them to work together as a team on our creative projects.’

Bringing young people together and nurturing their talent and creativity are the main purpose of BYMT. Throughout all 18 years of its history, the company has been taking young people with a dream of working in the performing arts to projects with top theatre professionals like Steven, to build their confidence, develop their performing skills and create and perform a brand-new musical theatre show. As a Director for many BYMT projects as well as a member of BYMT's National Audition Tour audition panel, Steven has a wealth of knowledge about developing a show with young performers:

‘I've spent a lot of my career working with young people and I think one of the biggest aspects of what I'm trying to do is building their confidence.

‘At BYMT auditions everyone is treated as an individual, and everyone has an opportunity to develop on different levels. We work on young people's strengths, but at the same time we encourage areas where we feel a young person has potential to improve or has a talent that the young person may not think they have. It's a playful, relaxed, fun, supportive environment where a young person is encouraged to show off their very best. It's not necessarily always just about the talent, it's about that young person's enthusiasm towards the genre of music theatre.

‘BYMT auditions are run by professionals but they are very relaxed. We encourage young performers to understand that they are in a safe environment and they can make mistakes, but to off er up choices. As a director I look at how that performer embodies a character in terms of physical embodiment, vocal embodiment, do they connect with the text and what choices do they make? I think it teaches me a lot about how that young performer's mind works and thinks, and there is no wrong choice.

BYMT also run Discover Musical Theatre: an in-school career and audition day when students are immersed in the world of theatre and have an opportunity to unleash their creativity and learn about the range of careers in professional theatre and arts industry.

‘Discover Musical Theatre Days are a lovely introduction for young people who perhaps have not decided whether they want to perform or to be involved in the creative side of theatre,’ Dexter explains, ‘At a school, anyone who is feeling unsure or apprehensive about coming into a project has a support body around them of friends. The assessment of the young people during a Discover Musical Theatre day is exactly the same as in our other auditions. What I try to look for is a young performer who obviously has that aptitude towards the genre. Even if it's just a little glimmer of creativity we will encourage that spark. In my recent project The Night The War Ended, one of the leads who played Princess Elizabeth actually came from a Discover Musical Theatre Day.

‘In my experience of working with young people, my best piece of advice would be to treat them like adults, as professionals. When you give respect, you get respect. Listen to them, always make sure there is time in the process for people to ask as many questions as possible. The more involved a company will be with the show the more they will feel ownership over that piece and the more care and attention to detail they will put into the work that they produce.

In January-February 2022 BYMT is holding the National Auditions Tour, open to absolutely anyone aged 11-21. No previous experience of preparation is necessary. If you know a young person with a flair for performing arts, this can be a life-changing opportunity for them.

britishyouthmusictheatre.org/auditions