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From 3 – 7 April, the Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch will be hosting its first ever Take Part Festival. It features fantastic work performed by its youth theatre as well as other local young people including dance troupes and schools and community groups. The festival begins with six youth companies presenting brand new work from 3 – 5 April as part of the National Theatre Connections Festival 2018. Each year the National Theatre commissions ten new plays for young people to perform, bringing together some of the UK’s most exciting writers with the theatre-makers of tomorrow. The Queen’s Theatre is thrilled to be partnering with the festival for the third year running and is looking forward welcoming five drama groups from across Essex to its stage. On Tuesday 3 April, audiences will see two thrilling performances; St. Bernard’s High School is performing The Free9 by In-Sook Chappell and Store Room Youth Theatre will be bringing Chris Thompson’s Dungeness to life. The drama continues on Wednesday 4 April with Outloud Productions performing Chris Bush’s The Changing Room and Green Shoes Arts get political by staging a performance of These Bridges by Phoebe Éclair Powell. Finally, Big Deal Young Actors Company will be presenting a unique piece of theatre using [Blank] by Alice Birch and the Queen’s Theatre’s Cut2 Company will be performing The Free9 on Thursday 5 April. Performances start at 7pm and tickets are £6. (Cut2 recently performed TheFree9 in the atmospheric Barn at Thames Chase Forest Centre last month). The 20^th anniversary of the Queen’s Theatre’s dance showcase First Feat will take place on Friday 6 April at 7pm. First Feat celebrates the creativity and diversity of young dancers in East London and Essex. The showcase enables local dance groups aged 11 – 19 from different backgrounds with varying styles and interests to be united through a passion for dance. The Queen’s Theatre QDance group will be performing their new work, titled Boiling Point. Tickets are £7.50. Take Part Festival concludes with the QYouth One Act Play Festival 2018 Twisted Tales on Saturday 7 April at 7pm. This celebratory evening features four one-act plays brilliantly performed by over 100 members of the Queen’s Theatre’s youth groups. Tickets are £10. James Watson, Learning and Participation Producer at the Queen’s Theatre says, ‘We are so proud of all the young people we work with, and what better way to celebrate than a week jam-packed with young talent presenting powerful, vibrant and inspiring pieces of theatre.’ For more information about Take Part Festival and tickets call the Box Office on 01708 443333 or visit queens-theatre.co.uk