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Theatr Brycheiniog, Brecon

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Spotlight On: Aladdin Pantomime, 'It's An Act'
November 25, 2024
Q & A with It’s An Act Director – Jack Llewellyn Family Ticket: £65 (plus fees) for 2 Adults & 2 Children Under 16, or 1 Adult and 3 Children Under 16 for all performances Running Time: 2 Hours 10 minutes (Including 20 Interval)
Holly At Christmas 2024 32 Years of Rock ’n’ Rolling The World
November 15, 2024
Join Theatr Brycheiniog on Monday the 25th of November as we welcome Buddy Holly and The Cricketers onto our stage for a rocking night! The perfect Christmas night out!
The Very Hungry Caterpillar Show Will Begin Performances at Theatr Brycheiniog on Saturday 23rd to Sunday 24th November.
November 15, 2024
This much-loved children’s classic by Eric Carle is brought to life on stage through vibrant puppetry and will mesmerise young audiences, making it a magical family outing, the perfect family Show in the lead up to Christmas!
October 24, 2024
Autumn has arrived at Theatr Brycheiniog, and we are excited to unveil our brand new programme packed with thrilling events and shows perfect for families and young theatre enthusiasts. With half term just around the corner, it's the perfect time to plan some family outings and immerse yourselves in the wonderful world of the arts! At Theatr Brycheiniog, we believe that sharing experiences together creates lasting memories. Our venue is not only family-friendly but also welcomes your furry friends, making it the ideal spot for a day out.

Spotlight On: Katy Sinnadurai

Posted by velvet at 12:50 on 18 May 2021

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We have another show stopping blog entry! This week we have the amazing Katy Sinnadurai, Katy is a massive part of our theatre community. We asked Katy to tell us a little bit about herself, here is what she had to say!   

Can you tell us about your background in dance and theatre? 

I’m Katy Sinnadurai (former stage name Catharine Lane) and I feel I’m a very lucky person! I trained in London as a ballet dancer and worked professionally with 2 different ballet companies, the Bayerische Staatsballett in Munich, Germany and London City Ballet, a UK based touring company. I danced in many different productions, including all the well-known ballets such as Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, Nutcracker and Giselle. I performed in some amazing theatres, like the National Theater in Munich, Sadler’s Wells and the Royal Albert Hall, and have toured throughout the UK as well as to many cities in Europe and also toured to the Far East.

After dancing in over 1000 performances, I retired from the stage and moved to Brecon in the year 2000 with my husband and young family. I would not want to live anywhere else! I have been working here for the past 20 years teaching pilates and ballet classes and being involved with the theatre.

Can you tell us all about your involvement with the theatre over the years?

In 2006 I joined Mid Wales Dance Academy (then called “Ribbons Ballet School”) to teach the senior students in the school and start up new “boys only” ballet classes, to cater for the growing interest in dance from local boys. As well as teaching the many boys and girls that come to ballet classes as a hobby, I’ve been coaching the talented few that have the drive and dedication to try and make it as professional dancers themselves. It’s been so rewarding to see many of the Brecon-based young dance students obtain places in prestigious full-time training academies and I’m so proud to say that quite a few are now earning their living as professional dancers. Another role I’ve had at Theatr Brycheiniog over the years is as a choreographer, for both amateur and professional productions. I was the choreographer for the Westenders pantomimes for 12 years, which was always great fun. I choreographed for 6 of Brecon High School’s musicals, working alongside drama teacher Helen East. I really enjoy the challenge of getting people dancing who might be a bit unsure if they can do it – and this is often men! Years ago I hosted an event called “Blokes do Ballet” for Comic Relief, which got 20 local policemen, rugby players, teachers, butchers and pub landlords learning ballet onstage and we raised £1000 in one hour! Many years later I choreographed a new version of “The Full Monty” for a Westenders fund-raising gala that raised £10,000 for prostate and testicular cancer charities. There are many great stories to tell about that, but I couldn’t possibly repeat any of them here! I’ve also choreographed for the Brecon Baroque Festival, dancing alongside Rachel Podger playing violin in a piece we created together called “Zwilling” (which means “twins”, because we share a birthday). And since 2006 I’ve created many new ballet pieces and adapted some of the traditional ballets I danced in as a professional for the students of Mid Wales Dance Academy, for their annual showcase. Probably my biggest challenge was creating Brecon Festival Ballet’s production of the Christmas ballet,  “The Nutcracker” in 2019, which was co-produced with Theatr Brycheiniog. It involved a live professional orchestra and choir, 99 onstage performers and a huge team of volunteers behind the scenes and was the first ever full-scale production of this ballet to be created in Wales. A massive team effort! I never planned any of this. When I retired from the stage in 2000, I threw away my pointe shoes, bought some wellies and didn’t imagine I would be involved in dance any more. When we arrived in Brecon I was surprised to find such a great theatre and within a few years I found myself working there. It’s been a pleasure to work at Theatr Brycheiniog for all these years, I’ve met so many great people along the way and all the productions I’ve worked on have been fantastic team efforts. There’s a great community spirit in Brecon when it comes to putting on a show! 

I’ve also been teaching Pilates-based fitness classes in Theatr Brycheiniog’s lovely studio for over 10 years. I think one of the things my customers really enjoy is coming to the class to keep themselves in shape and then going to the café for a cuppa afterwards with the rest of the class, so it’s just as much a social occasion as a physical workout. For a few years I also served on the board of Theatr Brycheiniog and tried to be a voice for all the community-based artistic activity within the building.

What has been your favourite part about being involved in the theatre?

It’s very hard to choose a favourite as I’ve been so lucky to be involved in so many different productions and projects here over the last 20 years. What I think is so special about this theatre is that it’s very different from most theatres. Usually when you go to the theatre you’re in a busy urban environment, with traffic noise and crowded streets outside. But here in Brecon we have the best of both worlds: we have a stage big enough to host full-scale productions and to attract well-known acts of all kinds, but in a calm and peaceful setting by the canal. So you can go from a high energy performance or an intense rehearsal onstage (there’s always so much to do to get a show on – coordinating lighting, music, choreography, costumes, props, scenery etc), to grabbing a coffee from the café and sitting quietly by the water, watching the ducks and the canal boats come and go. I’m really excited that the theatre is refurbishing its café and will enjoy sitting by the canal with a drink once that’s open again. 

How have you adapted creatively during the pandemic?

In March 2020 all of my teaching work went online overnight. Some classes were live on Zoom and others recorded on Youtube and it stayed that way for most of the last 14 months. As a choreographer I really wanted to create a new dance piece that would express how lonely, isolated, fearful and frustrated we may have felt, particularly during the first lockdown. In August 2020, the Welsh Government gave permission for the professional dancers of Brecon Festival Ballet to come to Theatr Brycheiniog to rehearse, so I used this time to create this new short dance piece, which I have called “Plea”. This Summer we plan to film this piece and I hope it will be available to view shortly afterwards.

It’s such a relief to be back in the studio teaching classes live after 14 months of jumping around in front of a laptop at home on Zoom! While online classes have been a great help in keeping people fit and motivated during lockdown, it doesn’t compare to the energy in the room when you’re all there together. Leaving home to go to a dance or fitness class, or to see a show is something I think we took for granted before Covid, not realising that it was good for our emotional, social and mental well-being as well as keeping us more physically active. I have met so many great people at the theatre over the years, and that’s one of the things I enjoy most about my work. So it’s lovely to see all of these people face to face (distanced of course!) once again and to find out how they are doing.

Once social distancing limits are no longer a consideration and it’s safe to do so, I’m looking forward to bringing Brecon Festival Ballet’s “The Nutcracker” back to Theatr Brycheiniog for its second Christmas season. We’re looking at ways to adapt the production if there are limitations on what we can do, because of Covid. But I think we’ve all become experts at changing and adapting our plans over the past year! I’m delighted to say that Brecon Festival Ballet has just achieved charitable status, which means the hard work of fundraising can now begin again, so that we can afford to bring our professional dancers (some of whom originally trained in the theatre studio!) back to Brecon to work alongside the local community. It was so inspiring for the children that took part in Nutcracker in 2019 to perform alongside professionals and we can’t wait to bring that excitement back again. 

Wow! What an amazing insight into Katy’s career and her love for Theatr Brycheiniog. Thank you so much Katie! We are extremely grateful for you taking the time to give such amazing answers. 

Thank you for reading! We love that you love the Theatr as much as we do... It’s an amazing place after all! To stay up to date with what is happening at Theatr Brycheiniog sign up to our newsletter or follow us on social media!

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As a registered charity working to serve the community, the Theatr is always in need of extra support, whether for improvements to the building and to support community projects.