Yellow Leaf is a new Theatre Company with a great deal of history.
“New play, older players proves a worthwhile combination… Yellow Leaf effectively challenges the idea that there’s no more than character and half-remembered lines to the mature performer.” – Tomothy Ramsden in the Pocklington Post, York.
We were three professional actors, then in our late sixties now in our seventies, when we founded Yellow Leaf Theatre. From the start our emphasis was on maturity of performance rather than hefty production values. But whilst our early productions sought to celebrate the voice of experience, they refused to be exclusive. More youthful writers and performers also joined the celebration.
To this day the company is committed to creating highly mobile productions of accessible new plays for small scale and rural touring.
In 2005 we presented a specially commissioned play Bill Maxted’s Most Excellent Adventure by Angela Truby, which we toured to over a dozen different venues.
In the Spring and Summer of 2006 we toured Modelling Spitfires by Vanessa Rosenthal which we premièred in 2004.
In 2007 we toured Scribbler & Spouse by James Robson at the Pomegranate Theatre in Chesterfield, the tour proceeding in 2008.
In 2010, in association with The New End Theatre in Hampstead, we revived Modelling Spitfires for a further three weeks.
We didn’t tour in 2011, as members of the company were involved in other things, but various projects for 2012 and beyond are shown in our ‘News’ Section.
Apart from our main productions there are spin-off activities. After-show discussions are offered, open rehearsals and workshops.
One of our scripts has been used in conjunction with medical bodies in stroke-awareness work. The link continues to be developed. Face-Mail and two specially-written pieces, Old Skool Ties and Bobbles & Bowls, all by Alan Meadows, have been performed at a Derbyshire Hotel, Ringwood Hall in Brimington, helping to establish a new Dinner Theatre programme.
“For age is opportunity no less
Than youth itself, though in another dress;
And as the evening twilight slips away,
The sky is filled with stars, invisible by day.”
Longfellow
Company listing in the G.B. Economic & Trade Digest (gebet.com)