Lunchtime Speaker – Woking Youth Theatre – Bruce & Jo Hazleton

This week’s speaker was Bruce Hazelton from Woking Youth Theatre (WYT). The Club supports WYT; a
group of us are going to WYT’s next production The Little Shop of Horrors on 10th April. Bruce gave us an
update on what the group has been doing since he last spoke to us in 2024. Last April, WYT put on a musical
called Stalkers, which a group of us went to see and greatly enjoyed. The script and the music were written and
composed by Bruce Hazelton himself, which meant that there were no royalties to pay. It was staged in the
small Buzz theatre in the Peacocks, rather than the larger Rhoda McGaw Theatre, which the group normally
uses. Buzz is smaller and more intimate than the Rhoda, although its smaller stage limits the use of scenery.
Financially Stalkers was a success, unlike WYT’s previous production Bonnie & Clyde, which lost money. In
addition to major productions, which is usually a musical WYT puts on Showcases. They are designed to enable
all members to participate by staging a scene from a play, musical, film or television programme. Last year for
example they did scenes from Mama Mia and from the films Crimson Peak and Clue. They are are held in small
purpose-built studio theatre in Export House. Last year the showcase was staged as a cabaret with smaller
audiences which meant that they could do three performances instead of the usual one. This proved to be very
successful. WYT also has an annual summer week-long film project which is held in the school summer
holidays. Bruce showed us a scene from last year’s film, which was called The Dead. It used the Export House
theatre as a studio and also had some external locations as well. In addition, WYT holds weekly drama
workshops. It also holds regular masterclasses with industry professionals, many of whom are former WYT
members on different aspects of theatrical performance and production. These include singing, dance acting for
screen, props, set design and construction, theatre lighting and costume design. These are all skills that you
would need in being involved in a play, musical or making a film as a performer, director/producer or in a
backstage role. Teresa Stedman gave the vote of thanks. She thanked Bruce for his excellent presentation.