The Start Of AIYF 2008!

And it’s begun. The 36th Aberdeen International Youth Festival has started. Over the next two weeks there will be Opera, Dance, Steel Drums and much much more. With over a thousand participants from a number of countries this promises to be a truly world wide festival.
And what a way to start. John Godber’s Teechers, is a school-based comedy written from the point of view of three students, Salty, a bright and fresh-faced school-leaver; Hobby, a shy girl and Gail Saunders, a loud mouthed, bossy girl who is full of enthusiasm. These three friends then spend the next hour performing a play about their final year of school – with all the names change to protect the innocent of course!
It is this that makes the show stand out from so many other things. Between the three of them, the actors play up to twenty characters – with often only basic costume changes taking place. The characters of Mr Basford, for example, is created through the use of a fake nose and glasses combo that you only ever really see in cartoons. All three actors play their multiply parts with great skill.
However, AIYF is not all about one play, there are more coming just around the corner. West Lothian Youth Theatre present their civil war torn future of central Scotland (Lemon Tree Studio, 31st July & 1st August) or perhaps you’d rather hear the Jazz sound of NYCOS at Holburn West Church (31st July)…or go to www.aiyf.org and look through all our shows!