Leeds youth theatre actors stage two productions in the city this summer

Theatre maker Lizi Patch has seen the effect at the sharp end. As well as writing, directing and sometimes acting in her own work, Patch is the artistic director of Leeds Grand Youth Theatre and Leeds Actors in Training.

Working under the aegis of Leeds Heritage Theatres, which operates at Leeds Grand Theatre, she has been guiding young people through drama productions for many years – and generally through life in particular, over the difficult last few years.

“The effect on young people of the last few years is a huge question,” says Patch. “I’m fortunate because I’m in a position where the young people I work with have given themselves a purpose, access to new friends with common goals and the opportunity to develop as individuals, all things that were in short supply over the pandemic, just by choosing to come. Those lost years are affecting every young person in myriad ways that we are only really just starting to understand. Young people have been so badly let down, becoming more isolated and less socialised as screens took over as the primary means of communication and education.”

It was, of course, necessary for educational establishments and other organisations working with young people, to find ways to work together remotely.

The problem was that the pandemic saw these young people plunged into a vastly smaller world than their predecessors at an important juncture in their development.

Patch says: “I’ve really noticed the difference – they lost two years of their lives at a critical time –and I’m so grateful that LHT (Leeds Heritage Theatres) prioritised continuing youth theatre online throughout the pandemic.”

Drama, as I often write in these pages, is an important part of education not just for the young, but for everyone. Famed American writer and critic Roger Ebert called film a ‘machine for empathy’. That goes double for theatre.

Patch says: “We are nothing without purpose, connections, creativity and self-expression. LAIT and LGYT provide the environment where young people develop the skills, resilience and self-belief to know they can make a difference. They become part of a network too, something bigger than themselves.”

In a time when, post-pandemic, our leaders are making the case for mathematics over the humanities, where artists are being urged to ‘retrain in cyber’, people like Patch, making the case for the arts are more important than ever.

“The arts are both reflections of our times and drivers for revolution – sometimes quiet, sometimes a bolt of lightning. By being part of a creative company, you feel part of potential change, which is energising and vital,” she says.

Next week, the results of the work of Patch and LAIT can be seen on stage at Leeds venue Seven Arts, where there is a ‘sharing of process and material’.

Patch explains: “Without the process there is no material. I’m always fascinated by process. The end result is a tiny part of the picture and the actors standing in front of them have been on a journey. So we’re sharing that journey too. Creativity is messy, with successes and failures going hand in hand. I want the audience to get to know the learning behind the end result, to get to know the young people standing in front of them and enjoy peeking behind the scenes as we demystify some of the process of acting.”

If you want to see more or an end result, Leeds Grand Youth Theatre is also staging The Addams Family Musical at Leeds City Varieties at the end of July.

“The show is a director’s dream; from the tightly written, hilarious script to the iconic tunes it’s a slice of pure escapism and we all need that right now, and I have the most fantastic team around me who are loving this show,” says Patch.

LAIT, Method and Material, June 29, Seven Arts, Leeds. The Addams Family, Leeds City Varieties, July 28, 29.