Overview

Drawing together the work of ten leading playwrights – a mixture of established and current writers – National Theatre Connections 2013 offers young performers between the ages of thirteen and nineteen everywhere an engaging selection of plays to perform, read or study. Each play is specifically commissioned by the National Theatre’s literary department and reflects the past year’s programming at the venue in the plays’ ideas, themes and styles. The plays are performed by approximately 200 schools and youth theatre companies across the UK and Ireland, in partnership with multiple professional regional theatres where the works are showcased. The volume features an introduction by Anthony Banks, Associate Director for the National Theatre Discover Programme, and each play includes notes from the writer and director addressing the themes and ideas behind the play, as well as production notes and exercises. Published to coincide with the 2013 Connections festival, and the 50th anniversary of the National Theatre, this year's collection features work from Howard Brenton, Jim Cartwright, Lucinda Coxon, Ryan Craig, Stacey Gregg, Jonathan Harvey, Lenny Henry, Jemma Kennedy, Morna Pearson, and Anya Reiss.

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9781408184363

Table of Contents

Reviews

Reiss's Forty-Five Minutes ... a fine play ... Pearson's Ailie and the Alien ... touching ... Harvey's Tomorrow I'll Be Happy ... homosexuality - a tricky subject - is handled bravely ... no less stylish is Lenny Henry's (say-no-to-knives) Soundclash ... Craig's We Lost Elijah ... a compelling, spicy plot ... Mobile Phone Show ... an ebullient sequence of overlapping vignettes ... Howard Brenton's The Guffin examines the potential for evil of the creative mind. It's the most mysterious and ambitious play here ... What Are They Like? ... a wise play, well-formed -- Alexander Gilmour Financial Times 20130713

Reiss's Forty-Five Minutes ... a fine play ... Pearson's Ailie and the Alien ... touching ... Harvey's Tomorrow I'll Be Happy ... homosexuality - a tricky subject - is handled bravely ... no less stylish is Lenny Henry's (say-no-to-knives) Soundclash ... Craig's We Lost Elijah ... a compelling, spicy plot ... Mobile Phone Show ... an ebullient sequence of overlapping vignettes ... Howard Brenton's The Guffin examines the potential for evil of the creative mind. It's the most mysterious and ambitious play here ... What Are They Like? ... a wise play, well-formed -- Alexander Gilmour Financial Times 20130713 The National Theatre Connections 2013: make theatre - New Plays for Young People should be called the Big Book of Youth Plays as it has so many plays of such a wide variety that it could keep you busily in production for years ... In addition to the good quality scriptwriting in all ten of the Making Connections plays, the 'make theatre' book has notes from the author on rehearsal and staging ... Some of the language in some of the plays is hard hitting, some of it funny or poignant but all of the plays have the same thing in common, they have a modern relevance that will allow them to resonate with young actors and enhance their skills, providing 'an infinite variety of inspiration'! -- Fiona Quinn Youth Drama Ireland

Author Information

Anthony Banks is Associate Director for the National Theatre Discover Programme, where he commissions scripts for the Connections seasons, the Primary Theatre programme and Shakespeare Schools Festival, and curates a variety of projects and events for lifelong learning.

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