Mitchell’s Wings (2011) The promenade performance concept worked brilliantly in the Oasis Academy space. Director Carrington, showed masterly control in utilising the space, the actors and the audience. Karen Robson Southern Evening Echo One Million to STOP THE TRAFFIK (2010) Physical theatre at its best, pacey, thought provoking, powerful, entertaining. For a young drama teacher just starting out you are an inspiration of what can be achieved with a group of young performers and the opportunities available to us as drama professionals. Olivia Murphy – Trainee teacher (Bitterne Park School) Here we had an excellent example of a play which not only shows the power of physical theatre at its best but also challenges the audience in its ideas. None of this would work if it were not for the seamless fluency of the performance in which the actors, set, lighting and sound all combined to give us a high-octane, exhilarating, disciplined production which swept us through the individual stories. I suggested it needed to be irresistible and so it was. Mike Kaiser Guild of Drama Adjudicators Granny and the Wolf (2009) A lively and inventive production based on a bright idea. Excellent comedy ... Red was played with great gusto and a beaming sunny smile, and her disposal of the wolves in the woods was a comedy highspot! The production was clearly envisaged in “cartoon” style and it enabled the youthful cast to show is their abilities in various forms of theatre. Rex Walford: Guild of Adjudicators Graham – World’s Fastest Blind Runner (2008) Mark Wheeller’s passion for physical theatre was tested to the full in this production as he wove the tale of his friend’s life and subsequent death through a monochrome ensemble kitted out with nothing but a couple of buckets full of white-washed broom handles and a string of pearls. The cast created a rich stage poetry that was as near to magical illusion as is possible without the help of smoke and mirrors. Paul Mills Head of Drama Westgate School, Winchester 1 Sequinned Suits and Platform Boots (2006) Its focus is the Glam Rock era of British pop music, and I'm afraid to admit it is a period of time I remember only too well. This is a feel good production from start to finish, the young cast obviously are enjoying this production, as much as their audience, their enthusiasm is almost tangible while performing. I can recommend this as one of the best ways to spend an hour during the late afternoon. One4Review.com – Edinburgh Festival. The Most Absurd Xmas Promenade Musical in the World... Ever (2005) A crazy, quirky Christmas show from a group whose energy, flair and sheer ebullience endear them to the audience. Barbara Godwin Missing Dan Nolan (2003) I have long been an admirer of Mark Wheeller’s issue-led plays… there is an immediacy and theatrical brio about his writing that gives his subjects an instant efficacy. I know of no other playwright in Britain working in this way, addressing important issues in a manner that is so immediately relevant and accessible to both cast members and audience. Heart-rending bold, direct and simple… even on the bare page this is a powerful piece of drama. This is more than documentary drama – it is also campaigning theatre at its most powerful. If anything positive can be said to have come out of the awful tragedy of Dan Nolan’s disappearance and death, then the knowledge that this play should serve as a lasting, and fitting memorial to Dan. I liked and admired much about this inventive, imaginative production – this is a director with great vision and marvellous control of pace and mood. The swift transformation from schoolboy roustabout to the poignant scene in which Sarah says the goodbye in her mind that she was denied in reality, was a great example. I loved the way in which you developed a sort of choral punctuation with two or more actors emphasising a word or phrase, and the way in which this was echoed by a very different sort of punctuation from the two on-stage drummers. Fabulous physicality… immaculate teamwork… exemplary. The individual performances were first class and the sort of teamwork that one always hopes for in youth theatre groups but one sees all too rarely. It showed the same flair, imagination and rigorous discipline as the writing! Very Well Done OYT, deserved winners of the Youth Award. Paul Fowler GODA (Adjudicator at The Woking Drama Festival 2003) Chunnel of Love (1993) "French with tears ... the bi-lingual elements give this play an added dimension ... the context and the action means that no-one loses the thread of the story." Sue Wilkinson - Southern Evening Echo Lethal In The Box (1991) A real ensemble piece performed with deafening noise, high energy, unpretentious talent, dance and mime and captures the mood of football terraces everywhere. OYT has produced a winner which could hold it’s own on any professional stage. Sue Wilkinson - Southern Evening Echo The ensemble work by this Southampton group ios immaculate and the way in which music, dance, mime and acting was brought together in the production was stunning. It was 2 imaginative, exciting, tuneful and very funny. John Hart – Times Educational Supplement Hard To Swallow (1989) One of my visits with the National Theatre Assessors was to OYT in Southampton. In the long and intensive rehearsal I watched Mark Wheeller was laconic in both praise and reproof, but afterwards he spoke warmly about individual students. Some teachers use a special voice when addressing young people, at once jolly and menacing – but there is no condescension in Mark’s manner. Treating his performers as adults, and ensuring they have a part to play in decision making pays dividends in performance. The play reaches moments of almost unbearable emotional intensity. When the lights came up the assessors’ pens and notepads lay idle on their laps. They sat pale, subdued and blinking rapidly.” Vera Lustig – The Independant. OYT’s Hard to Swallow should be compulsory viewing for anyone connected with the education of teenagers." Mick Martin - Times Educational Supplement 3