Patrick's BYMT experience

Meet Patrick, 19, from Ballymena, County Antrim, who performed in both our Paperboy shows at the Lyric Theatre Belfast in 2018 and in 2019.

Paperboy is a smash-hit musical about paperboy Tony aged 12 who lives in Belfast in the 70s. The city is divided and there are bombings on the evening news, but Tony is more interested in Doctor Who, the Bay City Rollers, outer space and his first love.

As Patrick talks about the show: “Paperboy is about life in the 70s in Northern Ireland during The Troubles, but the difference is that it’s from the child’s perspective. So it’s a lot different from how the adult would see it. He probably doesn’t understand it all and to get through it he uses all these fantasy scenarios.”

The musical was based on the heart-warming and coming-of-age memoir by Irish writer Tony Macaulay and brought to life by stand-up comedian Andrew Doyle, platinum-selling Belfast singer and songwriter Duke Special and the cast of 40 amazingly talented young people.

The young performers aged from 11 to 20 came from all corners of the UK but mostly from Northern Ireland to perform in this show. Many of them including Patrick received our bursary scheme which aims to support young people who want to take part in our projects and experience musical theatre industry from the inside.

Patrick played three characters in the show: Oul’Mac, Ian Senior and Big Isobel, Tony’s grandmother, and had a chance to realise all his brilliant creative potential from all perspectives.

As he shares his BYMT experience: “To sum up in one line for the Paperboy show itself I would quite simply put ‘immense’ and as for BYMT experience I would quite simply put ‘immense’. I loved it, it was such fun two weeks. The production team and the creative team are immensely talented at what they do. They were absolutely joy to work with and an honour and a privilege to work with. The chaperons were also incredible. Even though they were our chaperons we treated them as friends.

I want to pursue a career in drama and musical theatre industry. And BYMT has not only given me the experience but also has also given me some really-really great contacts to help me to proceed to the next stage of my life.”

Paperboy was an great success and had two sell-out runs in Belfast. This year we continue to follow Tony’s story and are looking to stage Tony Macaulay’s second memoir, Breadboy: What Paperboy Did Next.

Every February we are touring across the UK and Ireland auditioning talented young people and every August our successful auditionees star in 8 exciting new musical theatre shows.

This year our Northern Ireland and Ireland auditions will take place in Derry on 8 February, in Belfast on 9 February and in Dublin on 23 February 2020. Most of successful applicants will join the cast of Breadboy unless they let us know that they would like to be considered for all shows of our summer season.

If you want to join our summer season and star in a full-scale musical, book your audition HERE.