Connections is the National Theatre’s nationwide youth theatre festival. Connections celebrates great new writing for the stage and offers a unique opportunity for youth theatres and school theatre groups to stage new plays written for young people by some of theatre’s most exciting playwrights, and to perform in leading theatres across the UK.
Theatre Royal Stratford East will host a festival involving 10 groups of talented young people both on and off stage, who will inspire and entertain audiences with plays for and about young people that are current, challenging and resonant.
Connections gives young people experience of professional theatre-making. Their experience mirrors that of a company producing a new play in any theatre in the country. Each year we are thrilled by the skill, creativity, commitment and passion that go into each production that we showcase on our main stage here at Theatre Royal Stratford East.
Click this link to see the 2017 NT Connections playlist.
https://connections.nationaltheatre.org.uk/plays-2017#.V-Gf24WAHOd
National Theatre Connections Festival Schedule
Tuesday 28th March 7pm
FOMO by Suhayla El-Bushra performed by Petchey Players
Age suitability 14+
Status Update by Tim Etchells performed by Stratford School Academy
Suitable for any age
Wednesday 29th March 7pm
The Monstrum by Kellie Smith performed by Act 2 Academy
Suitable for any age
FOMO by Suhayla El-Bushra performed by Greig City Academy
Age suitability 14+
Thursday 30th March 7pm
Musical Differences by Robin French performed by Woodbridge High School
Age suitability 14+
Status Update by Tim Etchells performed by Lister Company
Suitable for any age
Friday 31st March 7pm
The Monstrum by Kellie Smith performed by Bodens Performing Arts
Suitable for any age
Extremism by Anders Lustgarten performed by Theatre Royal Stratford East Youth Theatre +
Age suitability 15+
Saturday 1st April 7pm
The Monstrum by Kellie Smith performed by Queens Theatre
Suitable for any age
#YOLO by Matthew Bulgo performed by Churchill Theatre
Age suitability 14+
Synopses
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.
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.
A gothic melodrama about the terrifying onset of adolescence.
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?
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.
#YOLO
by Matthew Bulgo
‘How am I supposed to deal with... that... with the idea of... when I haven't dealt with life yet?!’
It's A-level results day and Jack has it all laid out in front of him. After a summer of love and laughter with his mates, he's off to university. He can't wait for 'Freshers’ Week' and all the adventures that will follow. Life is just beginning and it couldn't be better. But when Jack gets blind-sided by a revelation about his health, he gets propelled into an adult world before he's had a chance to enjoy his youth.
Will Jack be able to become an adult in time to save himself?
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