A Young Person’s story

“I’ve 100% changed since my first day at C3. Back in Year Seven, I was very shy, I acted out, and was a bit boisterous. I wasn't that social and I mainly stuck with one friend. I had horrible stage fright, so the idea of me being able to do multiple shows would have been unfathomable back then. I think I've matured a lot. Year Seven me was very naive, being ungrateful for all the opportunities. But now I can look back and be like, oh, this was like, really sick.

From the start to my first residential, I didn't talk to many people. But then in the first residential was when I properly started to integrate with people. It kind of forces you to talk to people and see them in a different light rather than some random people you have to do drama with.

For C3 shows in general, most if not all your lines are from your mouth, with some tweaks. If it doesn't sound like you anymore, you can just change it. Doing both When This is Over and #BlackIs… twice, and being able to change the shows based on how we’ve matured and grown was the cast being heard and allowing us to have the authentic nature from the first show while showing more of who we are now. It’s like… these people actually respect what I say. So then you can be more confident when something is not for you.

My time at C3 blew by very fast, and I was there for seven years, which is ages, but doesn't feel like seven years. I think you forget how many versions of yourself people have seen. Year 11 me to 11-year-old me, to like 14-year-old me, to me during lockdown, then 16, 17, to me at 18. I feel like I'd like to say I've changed a lot throughout — and even in yearly intervals, I've changed a lot. These people have seen me do all those changes, and these people are lots of the reason why I've done these changes. That's such a beautiful thing to have — so many people in your life who have seen you grow in such a way, and people who you've been really vulnerable with.

You can go as vulnerable as you want at C3. If you don't want to, you don't have to. But whenever I did take the chance to be a bit more vulnerable, I think it just made my connections with people feel a lot stronger. You realise how caring people are, because the world — at least the media — is very pessimistic, and it's like, the world's finished. We’re the loneliest generation. I think people just don't realise that other people feel the same ways as them, and they're so used to keeping everything to themselves and portraying a certain side of themselves on social media or in front of people, and not letting them see who they really are.

I think that makes people feel really lonely and really isolated. And I think C3 kind of forced me to not do that, in a very safe space where I was allowed to have my boundaries, but also felt really comfortable to just share my thoughts and how I felt in like little poems or monologues. When you do it in a play, and people in the audience come up to me saying, “that really touched me,” or “that's something I really relate to.” It makes them feel less lonely as well. It’s a knock-on effect because they realise they’re not the only one who thinks like this. Then maybe they'll talk to their friends a bit more about it. That being C3’s culture is a beautiful thing. It’s a theatre company that allows that culture to then be shared to a bunch of other people.

Something I will take with me is "wrong and strong." I think people are just very scared to just say things — especially in school or uni now. Sometimes it just takes one person to say something confidently. It can be wrong, but then you learn when other people learn, and that's how you progress.

Also the importance of reaching out to people. I think uni — I can imagine it will become very cliquey — so if someone's not in the group, they might feel really lonely. When I was in C3 and I saw a bunch of people by themselves, I'd go up to them and talk. I'll take with me to uni reaching out to people, making sure that people just don't feel lonely.”