Connections is the National Theatre’s annual, nationwide youth theatre festival. The programme is 29 years old and has a history of championing the talent of young people from across the UK. Every year, the Connections commissions ten new plays for young people to perform. The programme brings together some of the UK’s most exciting writers with the theatre-makers of tomorrow. In 23/24, Connections are working with nearly 270 youth companies from every corner of the UK.
As a partner theatre, Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch are thrilled to be welcoming six companies over three days to present their work. Find out more about NT Connections here
NT Connections Day 1 – Thursday 18 April
Shout by Alexis Zegerman, performed by Roding Valley High School
Back in the Day by Yasmeen Khan, performed by The King Edmund School
NT Connections Day 2 – Friday 19 April
Kiss / Marry / Push Off Cliff by Josh Azouz, performed by Shenfield High School 6th Form
Shout by Alexis Zegerman, performed by The Sydney Russell School
NT Connections Day 3 – Saturday 20 April
Age is Revolting by Abi Zakarian, performed by Ormiston Rivers Academy
Replica by Titas Halder, performed by Green Shoes Arts, Young Actor’s Club
The plays
Shout by Alexis Zegerman
In a world full of words, how can Dana survive when she can’t speak? Dana has selective mutism, but that doesn’t stop her vivid imagination. Shout is a funny, moving play about anxiety, celebrating difference, and finding your voice. A play that wonders what exactly it takes to overcome anxiety and mental health issues when you’re a teenager. It’s not just the noise you make, that makes you who you are. Suggested content guidance: Recommended for ages 14+. Play explores experiences of anxiety disorders, moments with characters struggling with poor mental health
Back in the Day by Yasmeen Khan
A group of classmates are charged with the responsibility of being their school’s well-being champions. In a freak occurrence they are transported back to the 80’s via an impromptu and heavily improvised roller disco. Here they discover they’re not the only ones with skeletons in the cupboard, and there was more to the 80s than glitterballs and strange haircuts. Suggested content guidance: Recommended for ages 13+. One moment of strong language
Kiss / Marry / Push Off Cliff by Josh Azouz
A group of friends go camping – but after only one night, one of them is ostracised by the rest of the group and cast out into wilderness for something they said…or was it something they did…? it’s strange and it’s about to get stranger as friendships are tested, new alliances formed, trusts are broken and reality is twisted out of shape…the trip becomes a rite of passage…guided by a moral compass, that isn’t entirely reliable. Suggested content guidance: Recommended for ages 14+. Strong language, sexual references, scenes of drug use and distribution, scenes of alcoholism, and children drinking alcohol
Age is Revolting by Abi Zakarian
Choir is for mad old people, right? When a group of school kids rebel against their boring music lesson they hit the wrong note and magically transform into their 80 year-old selves…and now live in a care home. Suddenly age, and their understanding of it, feels very relevant as they begin to confusedly navigate their way back to the present; no longer older, but maybe just a little wiser. Suggested content guidance: Recommended for ages 13+. Some strong language.
Replica by Titas Halder
Something happened on the school trip. One of the class has been replaced by an exact replica of themselves. At least that’s what everyone’s saying. Once a rumour starts, it can be difficult to remember what is real – or who. Convinced that there is an impostor walking among them, a group of teenagers is determined to root out the intruder. A mystery about friendship, the nature of truth, and humanity. When it comes to it, how do you prove that you are a human? Suggested content guidance: Recommended for ages 16+. Strong language, some mildly violent language, used in a sci-fi context
