Review: CONNECTIONS 2023, National Theatre

In the largest space at The National Theatre, James Graham is examining the nation through the prism of football; in its smallest space, the nation is examining The National Theatre through the prism of its youth taking over the Dorfman. It’s how it should be.

Every year, the National’s Connections programme commissions new plays for young people to produce. The numbers are mindboggling given just how hard it is to get arts projects up and running in this country - ten of thousands of people give so much to 265 groups (this year) comprising over 6000 people aged 13-19. They get experiences they will never forget, learn the value of confidence and criticality of teamwork and, for some, how to deal with the disappointment of not making it to the South Bank for the showcase. They all have the thrill of a local show and the coverage of the four nations is impressively comprehensive. 

But others do make it to London, ten plays produced - and it’s not just those we see on stage who are still in their teens, so too the backstage crews - for audiences of friends, family, well-wishers and, yes, the odd reviewer or two. Very little I encounter either side of this midsummer annual festival is quite as life-affirming, especially the curtain calls, faces full of delight, pride and a little relief that they actually did it. I’d feel exactly the same and I’ve almost 50 years on these kids. 

I saw Tuesday, a dystopian fantasy by the award-winning playwright, Alison Carr. Boredom at the prospect of another one of those days that are neither the start of the week nor the end, chemistry for some, geography for others, PE if you’re really unlucky. Suddenly there’s a rent in the sky and kids and teachers are sucked up in a kind of Rapture, leaving others in school, dazed and confused. Things get worse when new kids arrive, but some are doubles of those left behind and one is even a dead sister. A nerdy girl (who has a nerdy double who is a boy) works out that the multiverse has glitched and they have to find a way to put it back together.

It’s an ensemble piece, but the writing is sharp enough and the acting strong enough for us to catch real characters in chaos of a new broken world. There’s the bully who learns he’s not so tough without his sidekicks and that kindness goes a long way; the kid who nobody knows because he’s caring for his ill father whom he resents, but no more; and the the boy who misses his sister, but has to let her go a second time since he’d only inflict his pain on his double in the other universe.

Plough Youth Theatre of Torrington, Devon deliver a beautiful parable about valuing what we have and the power of empathy, the action set against a zippy Zeitgeist vibe. They’ll all be better adults for the experience - and so will we.

Leo Butler’s Innocent Creatures has something of the same dystopian theme about it, taking us from a climate crisis that has sunk Big Ben below sea level and led to a sentient group of robots exterminating adults and replacing them with hybrid human-androids who can live forever but not reproduce, time passing filled with inane entertainment and a slowly recovering planet. 

One part Lord of the Flies, one part Bladerunner, the grim journey to the sun’s expansion finally swallowing the solar system is leavened by humour and a on-off relationship between the trusting Enid (Leah Fielding) and the rebellious Mia (Sasha Green). 

The Boaty Theatre Company is based in Ellesmere Port, rather appropriately in the shadow of the futuristic and somewhat scary lights and flares of Stanlow Oil Refinery, and they give it everything with video projections supporting scenes comic and tragic with dance and movement playing a key role. The play lacks a little of the punch of Tuesday and can feel a little relentless in its dire prognosis for the world into which the company must soon step into for real.

In fact, the downbeat nature of all new plays written for Connections 2023 is a valid criticism, though it will strike a nerve for Greta’s generation and there will be room for hope and redemption. It would be nice to see a bit of farce, comedy or even panto in the writing next year.

Ah, next year. If you want to be involved or think you know a group who might want to have a go, time is tight. Applications for 2024 close on 10 July - click here for the form.    

Not without good reason, The National Theatre can feel a little focused on the metropolis (wouldn’t it be great to see a National Theatre of the North in the style of Tate Liverpool for example) and pitched at a demographic of university-educated, middle-aged white people with sufficient disposable income to find pushing £100 for a night in the stalls. I know those people because I’m one of them and the NT works just fine for us

But though we are the past and a decent chunk of the present, we are not the future. The NT knows that which is why it puts so much into this commendable work. We saw the future in Connections 2023 - and it’s in good hands. 

Find out more about Connections

Photo Credit: Jimmy Lee

 

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