New Talent: YEP, Youth Theatre and LJMU Connections 

The Everyman has always been a launchpad for fresh talent. In the 1970s, it gave actors like Jonathan Pryce, Antony Sher, Bill Nighy, Bernard Hill, Julie Walters, Alison Steadman and Pete Postlethwaite their early chances. Postlethwaite, inspired by the theatre as a 16-year-old from St Helens, went on to perform in The Sea Anchor, Cantril Tales and Under New Management, returning to perform as Lear for Capital of Culture year in his last stage appearance.

​

Writers too have been given a start at the Everyman. Willy Russell, John McGrath and Alan Bleasdale were early success stories. More recently Maurice Bessman, Helen Blakeman, Michael Wynne and Jonathan Harvey have had work staged at the theatre.

The youth theatre has also been a fertile ground for future stars. Mark McGann played in Ken Campbell’s extraordinary ten-part adaptation of The Warp (1980) and later starred in Lennon (1981), 1984 Like (1982) and in Jimmy McGovern’s True Romance (1983), while his brother Joe returned in Michael Wynne’s Hope Place (2014). David Morrissey took on Macbeth in 2011 and Cathy Tyson, having been in the Youth Theatre’s In the City, returned in The May Queen (2007). Michael Starke has made numerous appearances over the years and will appear in this year’s rock’n’roll panto.

​

The youth theatre started in 1970 and has taken various forms over the years. In the late 70s and early 80s, run by Roger Hill, it produced a series of improvised large-scale shows including Suffer the Children, their response to the Toxteth uprisings. It was a show which in true Everyman style generated some controversy coming hard on the heels of the uprisings themselves, performed less than a mile from the scene of the actual events – and including a note in the programme thanking Merseyside Police for the loan of a pistol. In the programme Hill admitted to being anxious about the show but vehemently believed that young voices should tackle current debates. In the show the focus of the play was Debbie whose brother finds himself caught up in the events and ‘whom we pass every day on the street, whose point of view is always ignored, and whose life, until the riots, is a changeless routine of quiet frustration.’

​

After the theatre’s closure in 1993, the youth theatre was reborn thanks to the support of the Everyman Supporters Club. In 1989, it metamorphosed into the Hope Street Project as a unique training wing of the Everyman offering a range of courses to those under 25 who were unemployed. The relationship with the theatre broke down after a few years but the Hope Street Project went on to become an independent Creation Centre, gaining an international reputation, until it lost its funding in 2018.

​

The Young Everyman Playhouse (YEP), launched in 2012 under the leadership of Matt Rutter and Chris Tomlinson. It continues the Everyman’s commitment to developing new talent, establishing its own innovative approach to training for actors, writers, directors, producers, and technicians, and offering free courses to those under 25. Its inaugural production was Intimate, an immersive event at Camp and Furnace and it is still going strong most recently staging an adaptation of Patrick Ness’ A Monster Calls and looking to recruit new members this autumn (if you are 25 or under and interested have a look at www.everymanplayhouse.com/yep).

​

YEP has made a significant difference in the employability of young people, developing their skills and providing real opportunities and experiences. Previous Young Everyman Playhouse members are now graduating drama schools, appearing in tv shows and Hollywood movies, seeing their work on tv and on stages across the UK, creating their own companies and working at the National Theatre, Headlong, RSC, Philharmonic Hall and at Everyman & Playhouse.

​

Connections between LJMU graduates and the theatre have always been strong with many students working as producers, stage managers and technicians or taking up places on YEP after graduation to develop their skills. Notable alumni include playwrights Helen Blakeman (Caravan and The Morris) and Esther Wilson (Unprotected and Ten Tiny Toes). Four LJMU drama graduates have also made a contribution to the 60th birthday year: The Legend of Ned Ludd was written by Joe Ward Munrow; Gitika Butoo directed Tell Me How It Ends; and Jason Kelly and Cameron Mckendrick are acting in The Lieutenant of Inishmore.