St. Ives Youth Theatre - News Release
	Date:	23rd February 2009
	Subject	Brawl in Market Square
	Contacts	For press enquiries about St. Ives Youth Theatre, please contact Ian Lloyd on 07803 088185. More information about the St Ives Youth Theatre is available on www.siyt.co.uk

St. Ives Youth Theatre wishes to apologise for any offence caused by the staged fight in the Market Square on Saturday morning.  We would like to assure the public that no one was hurt and that the fight sequence was carefully staged.  We wanted to promote our forthcoming production of Romeo and Juliet and the bitter war between the Capulet clan and the Montague clan.  It had been cleared by the police, who were planning to have an officer present.  We can also assure anyone concerned about unsuitable language, that any insults were strictly Shakespearean.

Shakespeare, writing in the 16th Century, tells a story of teenagers.  What has changed?  In one town in South Wales, last year 24 teenagers committed suicide.   Many of our inner cities have become ‘no-go’ areas at night, with many young people caught up in gang warfare and knife crime. Clearly Shakespeare has as much to say today, as he did 400 years ago – that is his genius. His themes are as timeless as are the social problems of our world.

The staged fight in the Market Square on Saturday allowed SIYT members to demonstrate what they have learnt from a series of stage fighting workshops that have been a key part of preparations for performances in early March.  

Photographs of rehearsals and the staged fight are available and SIYT members can be made available for interview.

Performances will be 4 - 7th March 2009 at the Free Church in St. Ives

More information about the production is available on www.siyt.co.uk/rj.html

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