MIKRON Theatre Company’s new touring production Best Foot Forward is a celebration of the rich history of the Youth Hostel Association.

It spans over a hundred years and while always remembering where it has come from, it is also looking ahead. Maeve Larkin's play demonstrates how the YHA has adapted over the years through different struggles. The four cast members, Claire Marie Seddon, James McLean, Rose McPhilemy and Craig Anderson, tell the history through a range of sketches and original songs, framed within a story of the modern YHA.

The actors cover multiple generations' worth of experiences of the YHA, which they do particularly well when showing the YHA’s conception by German teacher Richard Schirrmann (played by McLean) who was inspired by the 1915 Christmas Day truce during the First World War to support international friendships.

York Press:

Craig Anderson, Claire Marie Seddon, Rose McPhilemy and James McLean in good voice in Best Foot Foward. Picture: Peter Boyd Photography

Best Foot Forward shows how Schirrmann was eventually forced from his own vision by the Nazi regime – as depicted by McPhilemy – who adopted the YHA building as their own to spread their ideology through camps for the Hitler Youth. Lighter topics are also broached as the play moves on to later decades, which sees a declining appeal of the YHA with the advent of package holidays.

Directed by Marianne McNamara, Larkin's play makes for a fun production that is passionate in presenting the story of how the YHA has effected the lives of many young people; how it has coped with almost ruinous events, such as the 2001 foot and mouth disease outbreak which saw the closure of many youth hostels, and how it has recovered.

Mikron's cast do the subject justice with splendid musical numbers by Kieran Buckeridge and comedy throughout.

Best Foot Forward will return to York on September 24 for a matinee at Clements Hall, York.