Plays for and by Young People Slated for National Theatre Connections Festival 2017
By: BWW News Desk Mar. 17, 2017
Sheffield Theatres' Assistant Director George Richmond-Scott leads a team of twelve young Sheffield People's Theatre members in universal coming of age story Musical Differences on Monday 27 March. Written by co-creator of BBC's Cuckoo Robin French, the play explores impossible love affairs and brutal school politics, and uncovers the price we are willing to pay for success.
Other organisations involved in the festival are West Yorkshire Drama Academy, The King's School, Hinde House School, Rotherham College, Unlimited Theatre, Something Wicked This Way Comes (Talbot Specialist School), Flame Theatre Company, Yew Tree Youth Theatre, CAPA College, Castleford Academy and First Floor.
Connections is the National Theatre's annual festival of new plays for youth theatres and schools. It gives young people experience of professional theatre-making which mirrors that of a company producing a new play. Sheffield Theatres will be showing nine plays from emerging playwrights, including Sheffield based Tim Etchells, which will be performed by twelve local schools and groups.
Emily Hutchinson, Creative Projects Manager at Sheffield Theatres commented: 'We're thrilled to be working with such talented and enthusiastic young people as part of the National Theatre Connections Festival once again. The Connections Festival is a brilliant way to get the younger generation involved in the arts, and that's something we are really passionate about at Sheffield Theatres. Some of our young members have grown up performing with Sheffield People's Theatre and it's a real privilege to be part of their journey.'
Tickets for the National Theatre Connections Festival are on sale now from Sheffield Theatres' Box Office, priced at £6.00 a night. Call 0114 249 6000 or visit sheffieldtheatres.co.uk to book.
Sheffield People's Theatre last appeared on the Crucible stage in A Dream, and will return to the main stage with What We Wished For by Chris Bush from Wednesday 19 - Saturday 22 July.
IF YOU GO:
Mon 27 March
7.15pm
Musical Differences
Performed by Sheffield People's Theatre Young Company
The Snow Dragons
Performed by West Yorkshire Drama Academy
Tue 28 March
7.15pm
Extremism
Performed by The King's School
Three
Performed by Hinde House School
Wed 29 March
7.15pm
Status Update
Performed by Rotherham College
The Monstrum
Performed by Unlimited Theatre
Thu 30 March
7.15pm
The School Film
Performed by Something Wicked This Way Comes (Talbot Specialist School)
FOMO
Performed by Flame Theatre Company
Fri 31 March
7.15pm
Three
Performed by Yew Tree Youth Theatre
Zero for the Young Dudes!
Performed by CAPA College
Sat 1 April
7.15pm
FOMO
Performed by Castleford Academy
Status Update
Performed by First Floor
MORE ABOUT THE WORKS:
Musical Differences
By Robin French
In the summer of Year Ten, Alex Stokes takes the fateful step of buying an electric guitar and forming his own rock group. He teams up with a mysterious young singer by the name of Joel Lawrence. What follows could well be the most incredible saga in the school's musical history. The band survives different line-ups, impossible love affairs and brutal school politics. By Year Thirteen, they are a tightly knit four-piece, and their final gig is nothing short of remarkable - but have individual members paid too high a price?
The Snow Dragons
Raggi and her friends spend their free time in the woods and mountains around their sleepy fjord town playing games of Vikings, dragons and war. When soldiers occupy the town, they watch from their hut in the mountains: their friends and families beaten, silenced, abducted... Let down by the adult world they form The Snow Dragons, 'the last line of resistance' carrying out sabotage missions. But this is no game, and true courage requires great sacrifice.
Extremism
By Anders Lustgarten
The police just took Jamal away. Because Miss Tomlinson called them. Because she had to. Because of Prevent. But now Miss Tomlinson and the police are gone, and all that's left is a shell-shocked class. Who knew Jamal? What did he do? And what is gonna happen next? A play about fear, friendship and the creeping polarisation of our society.
Three
By Harriet Braun
It's a long, hot summer. Six teenagers are in various states of lust, longing and unrequited love. A boy has a crush on the girl next door; only she's going out with the school heartthrob. Two teenagers meet for a blind date but they're both thinking about someone else. A shy girl with a secret makes friends with the most popular girl in her class. Only these are love stories with a difference: thanks to the inner voice trailing around after each character, we get to hear what they're all saying and thinking. Fortunately there's a narrator to keep us all on track, but there's a small problem: our narrator would much rather be on reality TV.
Status Update
By Tim Etchells
We know facts. We know secrets. We have opinions, we have intuition and we have the stage. Status Update is an unflinching and funny catalogue of the things teenagers learn, believe and have sussed out about the world. From the ridiculous to the highly charged, all these truths and half-truths are laid bare before us, without the safety net of character or fiction.
The Monstrum
By KEllie Smith
In a cold village on the edge of nowhere, a disease has broken out, infecting the young and transforming them into monstrous creatures. The villagers fearfully watch their children for symptoms of the disease, whilst the Mayor has adopted tough measures for dealing with those who are infected. When Bolek, the local scholar, makes a breakthrough in finding a cure, few are prepared for the gruesome nature of the treatment. But with his own daughter showing signs of infection, there is no choice than to stop this terrible disease dead in its tracks.
The School Film
'What are great expectations?'
'It means he's going to be rich. And a gentleman'
The whole school assemble in the hall to watch 'the school film' which turns out to be an old British classic from the 1940s, in black and white no less. As the young viewers absorb the adventures of the characters in the old story they begin to discover what their own expectations might be.
FOMO
By Suhayla El-Bushra
Dani and Josh are the perfect high school couple. Their friends look on in envy as their love story unfolds on social media. But when the government switches off the internet for reasons of national security, the truth of their relationship is revealed. Told almost entirely through tweets, texts and status updates, FOMO takes a light, humorous look at the futility of comparing your own life to someone else's Instagram feed.
Zero for the Young Dudes!
By Alistair McDowall
The inmates at a bizarre summer camp are plotting a revolution. Or has it already happened?
Spending a day watching their schedule of exercise, lessons and meals, a long history of unrest and injustice lies hidden, and as the day wears on, a violent future looms large on the horizon.
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