Wokingham Youth Theatre presents: A Tale of Two Cities
Our Youth Theatre is getting ready to open the doors on this year’s production, an adaptation of Charles Dickens’ classic, A Tale of Two Cities. We’ve been catching up with the show’s director and Youth Theatre Tutor Indigo Hogg, to hear what audiences can expect from the younger members of our theatre family.
Without giving too much away, what is the play about?
A Tale of Two Cities is an epic story of love, sacrifice and redemption. We venture across London and Paris, following the story of Charles Darnay, Lucie Manette and Sydney Carton as the terror and chaos of the French Revolution unfolds. Themes of betrayal, love, loss, and injustice drive the tale forward, before our hero ultimately makes the greatest sacrifice for love.
What did you think of the play when you first read it and what appealed as a director?
As soon as I began reading the script for A Tale of Two Cities, I knew this would be an exciting challenge for our young actors. I have known some of these young people for many years, and as a team we felt that they were ready to tackle a script that would give them the opportunity to put their learned skills into practice and to extend those skills in characterisation, physicality and performance.
How have the youth theatre found working on this production?
Our young cast have worked incredibly hard to rise to this challenge and bring this epic tale to life. It is a complex story, which requires emotional maturity, and they have put in a huge amount of effort over the past few months. The fantastic costumes and pieces of set (including a guillotine!) also definitely helped!
Tell us about rehearsals, what have they been like?
This production has required time, dedication and hard work from all of the cast and team, which we hope you will see reflected onstage. The start of rehearsals back in September 2024 seems a long time ago, but it has also flown by, as we have thoroughly enjoyed working together to bring this complex and dramatic story to life onstage. Working with over 20 teenagers usually has its challenges, but it’s been a privilege to work on this production with our YT. Their enthusiasm, commitment and dedication has been absolutely wonderful.
What is your favourite moment in the rehearsal process?
When it all comes together in the final week! The work done by the set building team to create two different courts in two different countries, a working guillotine, a working carriage, and more (!) has been incredible. Seeing the young actors onstage in their fabulous costumes, with lighting and sound has just been lovely – a culmination of all of their hard work.
How do you hope audiences feel when they watch this play?
We hope that the audience will see the time and effort made to bring the characters to life, with the small nuances that depict each character. We hope they see the joy that acting and performance can bring to young people. We hope that we succeed in bringing this epic story to life and lifted off the pages of the script as the audience move through the various locations with the cast, all the while hopefully feeling happiness, surprise, shock and sadness. A Tale of Two Cities is also a great reminder to us all that, in the words of Sydney Carton, “there is always hope”.
Considered by Dickens himself to be the ‘greatest story [he has] ever written, A Tale of Two Cities opens at Wokingham Theatre on Thursday 20 February and will run until Saturday 22 February, including a matinee. Tickets are can be purchased here.
You can also hear more about the production in this article from Wokingham Today.