The Herald :: Society, 04.04.06
[Simon Sharkey, NTS Associate Director of Learning says] "We work with teachers in redirecting their energy, and our resources, towards exciting ways of delivering the text. What's most important is it's fun; the teachers are all saying they're reinvigorated and finding faith in the tool of drama again."

Indeed, Andi Wilson, head of drama at St. Margaret's Academy in Livingston, says exactly that. A team has been coming twice a week into her Higher and third-year drama class since November [...] Five of Wilson's students are [also] involved in the final production in Livingston. "It's like a light coming on, and it has also reawakened my passion for being a teacher," she says.

Each session is based around a different idea - practical drama, writing workshops and, with the younger ones, art and model-making. "I'm a lone drama teacher," Wilson says. "In school you feel restricted by following certain criteria, and over the years start to lose confidence. This experience has reassured me that you can stray off the path and be creative."
(Ruth Hedges)

TES :: Scotland Plus, 28.04.06
[...] For the educationist, the production is, however, only the cream on the cake. As part of the process, NTS Learn and TAG have put education teams into the five areas since November to work with more than 500 people in school and community groups. Fourteen schools, from Findhorn to Irvine, were offered a team of [up to] five artists (drama, music, dance, digital and visual art) to work with a class for 20 weeks.

"Most of the schools embraced the idea," said Emily Ballard, TAG's creative learning director. "What surprised us was that, where we expected the third-year classes, it was more the Higher English and Drama teachers who wanted the work. At St. Margaret's in Livingston, for example, the third year could benefit from the whole arts team, while the Higher Drama group kept closer to their examination needs. At Ross High in Tranent, the team worked quite differently with the Higher English class, though elsewhere we discovered that visual artists could make a significant contribution to literature and drama work.

Despite this success, NTS Learn teams don't want to be seen as auxiliary teachers. The emphasis is on the creativity of learning. Their mantra is: "you can't be creative without learning and you can't learn without being creative." To emphasise this, every theatre plans to display artwork that derives from this collaboration.
(Brian Hayward)

The Herald, 11.04.06 ****
[...] This TAG Theatre co-production of Arthur Miller's masterpiece is aimed at those aged 12 and over, and my teenager was enthralled even before he recognised one of the young girls as an acquaintance.

Let's start with her, though, because Guy Holland's production tours the country picking up community casts to supplement the company of nine. If they are all as good as this lot, they'll be doing very well indeed [...] it is a luxury to see a company of 23 at all and a real achievement that the non-professionals are so strong that the distinction between the two is meaningless. The older amateurs make the Salem community more realistic, while the young women in full hysterical flow are terrifying.

The allegorical significance of Miller's tale has never leapt with more clarity from the text than here, and with the highest production values extending through Moley Campbell's striking set, Paul Sorley's lighting, and Matilda Brown's spare score, this is storytelling at its best. The relentless progression of the effects of girls' forest frolics from the paranoid mind of Rev. Parris to the gallows is a lesson best learned young.
(Keith Bruce)

The Scotsman, 12.04.06 ***
[...] there is no greater play about [the] process of "othering" - separation and scapegoating - than Arthur Miller's mighty 1950s classic The Crucible. Guy Holland's new production, co-produced by NTS with TAG Theatre, is designed to travel to five towns across Scotland, pausing in each place to rehearse the play, which features a professional cast of nine, with the local youth and community actors who play the remaining dozen roles.

In other words it is a high-risk project, and it's strange to report that where it fails, it's not because of the community element of the show, which works superbly [...]
(Joyce McMillan)

The Guardian, 13.04.06
[...] This is no token community involvement. Although the professionals play the central roles, the amateurs pick up substantial speaking parts, and in some cases - such as Livingston's Bob Whytock as Francis Nurse - acquit themselves with authority.

This is a play that shows how finger-pointing hysteria can grip every layer of society, and it makes sense to have such a broad cross-section on stage. A fully professional cast would find it harder to emulate the ear-piercing screams of the young girls in the court room or the genuine stoicism of the elderly participants.
(Mark Fisher)

TES :: Scotland Plus, 28.04.06
[...] It is always good box office to tour a modern classic found in many a classroom cupboard, but the NTS trumps that by casting it with a spine of nine professional actors and then inviting local schoolchildren and amateurs to take the supporting roles.

[...] The big question for the theatre-goer, of course, was would this professional/amateur mix work? To judge from the tour launch at the Howden Park Centre in Livingston, it works well enough. The four pupils from Bathgate Academy and the three from St. Margaret's, alongside the other local players, were word-perfect, disciplined and faultlessly supported a production that held the audience from start to finish.
(Brian Hayward)

Q :: What was it like to work in a group with such a wide age range?
"I thought it was fantastic as it seemed more realistic having older people actually play the older parts rather than just have younger people pretending to be older. Everyone got on really well with everyone else and for me it was liberating learning all the different stories that Kathleen, Helen, Ann and Bob had to tell each week."


Q :: Can you tell me about the day we spent at The Citizens' Theatre with all the other community casts. What was it like to meet them and to see the production all together?
"The day we all met up was tremendous [...] There was a good feeling of friendship and cooperation among the community casts and the professionals alike who were all taking part equally [...] Above all, watching the cast perform the play exclusively for us was deeply moving."

"It was really interesting meeting all the other community casts and in particular meeting the people who would be playing the same part as you [...] I loved watching the actor who played Betty perform as it gave me ideas and inspired me to really excel in my performance."


Q :: What was it like to work with the professional actors in our week together at Howden Park?
"Without exception they were approachable, helpful and encouraging."

"They were all really friendly and they inspired me to truly try hard with my performance to make it as professional as they did."

"The most enjoyable and inspiring rehearsals I have ever had! I think all us amateurs 'raised our game'."


Q :: What were the highlights of 'The Crucible' project for you?
"Probably too many to list. The comradeship of my peers. I decided we were the most fortunate cast of the whole tour because we were first when it was still very fresh and new."

"The actual shows were the highlights for me as I have never felt such a buzz. I was so nervous the first day but after I conquered my fears, I never wanted it to end."

"To have the opportunity to share the stage with professionals and (hopefully) hold my own."


Q :: How did the project make you feel?
"Excited. Nervous. A feeling of being involved in something really special. It gave me positive feelings about my abilities [...]"

"Liberated, excited, emotional, nervous, overwhelmed; exhilarated."

"Inspired, satisfied, happy; proud."


Q :: Any lasting memories?
"I will always have a great fondness and a feeling of being really lucky and extremely glad I was involved [...] the support, guidance, advice and comments offered - even the smallest - have stayed with me and have given me a confidence to pursue my goals."

"It was short; but very, very sweet. There were moments on stage when I felt a real buzz from the electricity!"