Never Without Fault

KYDZ members never fail to amaze and their resilience in continuing to meet online during national lockdown and their areas position in Tier 3 for the remainder of the year is admirable.  They have used the time very productively and through improvisation have created a thoughtful, emotive and moving script which they have produced into a short video called ‘Not Without Fault’.

Filmed individually, utilising their homes and local environment as the set and creating their own wardrobe these talented young people chose an emotive and heart wrenching subject.  Through the eyes and clear narrative of news reporter Amelia Gibson, beautifully played by Imogen Paley, we are introduced to the main protagonist, Ashley, who we never meet, but who we soon learn was a teenager struggling with his emotions, bullying and teenage angst.

On what started out as a regular summer day Ashley takes a gun and massacres school ‘friends’ and staff at his school, Meadow View High in a ‘normal’ English town.  This report looks at the after-math and explores how the characters feel about the event, their relationship with Ashley and their own actions.  A short emotional clip introduces us to Ashley’s sister, Holly (Zoe Luby) who recognises how this will impact on the rest of her life.  Zoe played this well, being slightly absorbed with her own feelings and in a well-designed set to show a home ‘in mourning’.   The role of anguished best friend Joe, was excellently portrayed by Michael Corcoran, who along with Peter Harris (who played Harry Kennedy) show excellent potential for the future as they continue to develop as young actors.

Ashley’s cousin, Amy, (Rebekah Judson-Smith) gave a sensitive performance which goes some way to recognise her characters short comings whilst school ‘friends’  Hayley (Natallia Cooper) and Tilly (October Fox-Grange) give us clever portrayals of girls lacking empathy and self-awareness.  Likewise Hannah Woollett playing neighbour Maya and Lucy Chester as the schools ‘young and inexperienced’ school support officer, Miss Bailey, were very convincing in their roles – excellent interpretations from all of these talented young performers.

This was a great vehicle to showcase the abilities of this group who continue to demonstrate maturity beyond their years in tackling difficult subjects and producing creative material upon which we can all reflect.  The group wasn’t limited by the current situation and created footage of CCTV, 999 recordings, text messages, web camera’s as well as videos showing a wide use mediums all available on your average smart phone!

The group have the benefit of an experienced creative and technical crew who I am sure were behind the editing and direction and who deserve our thanks for keeping things going and supporting these young people during very difficult times.  Congratulations to everyone at KYDZ.

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