A Tale of Two Sofas

The 1980s were a heady time for Keighley youth theatre HYT as imaginations took flight and talents were amplified.

I can only assume this intense creativity had long-term effects on some of the youngsters as they grew to adulthood.

This would explain how two of those former members -- Charlotte Crossley and Sarah Scott -- came up with something as strange as A Tale of Two Sofas. By their own admission this short play, performed by HYT's junior section the H-Club, was "wild and wacky".

The 23 youngsters, who helped develop the show related the life story of two sofas and their owners.

Charlotte and Alex Thiery were the chairs' human embodiments -- dressed in patterned costumes -- while H-Club members played the families.

Their stories were told in short scenes punctuated by -- and here's the wild and wacky bit -- sofa-related sketches like game shows and adverts.

This episodic style with its dozens of characters gave everyone a chance to shine -- a nice change to the previous two H-Club plays where only a handful stood out.

What we saw was predominately raw talent: lacking the polish of the more experienced HYT members, but clearly faces to watch in the future.

David Knights