National Theatre Connections 2022 - 10 Plays for Young Performers

Informationen zum Autor Miriam Battye is a writer from Manchester.? She was the first Sister Pictures Writer in Residence in 2018 and has various original ideas in development for television. Theatre includes: Trip the Light Fantastic (Bristol Old Vic); All Your Gold (Theatre Royal, Plymouth); Electricity (NYT/Arcola); Balance (Royal Exchange, Manchester); Pancake Day (Bunker/PLAY). Justine Themen (Director) is a theatre director and change-maker. She is currently Deputy Artistic Director of the Belgrade Theatre and Co-Artistic Director for its City of Culture 2021 programme. During her time at the Belgrade, she has built a small participatory programme into a broad-reaching ethos across the work of the building. The programme provides access to arts activity to some of the city's least arts-engaged communities, shapes talent development opportunities that strongly promote diversity across the sector and creates new work for the theatre’s stages. Her co-created work includes Rise (Belgrade Young Company) , Walk for Your Life (Belgrade Black Youth Theatre) , Hussan and Harry (Belgrade Youth Theatre with Coventry Refugee Centre) ; and The First Time I Saw Snow (Belgrade Theatre). Directing work focuses on new work from female writers of colour - Red Snapper (Liz Mytton) , Under the Umbrella (Amy Ng), both Belgrade Theatre. She played a key role in Coventry winning its bid to become UK City of Culture 2021, and is Co-Director of its Signature Event. She is also a Clore Fellow (2012-13). Prior to working at the Belgrade, she worked for 6 years in Senegal & Suriname co-creating theatre ( Hia Maun, Stiching Botopasi) & documentaries ( Abigail , VPRO) and using the Arts as a tool in Development & Cultural Diplomacy. Claire Procter (Co-Director) is the Belgrade Theatre’s Creative Producer for Education. She has over 20 years of experience working with children and young people, both as a class teacher and theatre practitioner. Prior to joining the Belgrade, Claire worked for renowned Theatre-in-Education (TiE) company, Big Brum. She has written and co-created a number of original plays for and with young people, including The Impossible Language of the Time (Belgrade Youth Theatre/ Chris O’Connell), Room to Grow (Belgrade TiE) and On the Line (Belgrade Youth Theatre/ Jennifer Farmer). Her work to integrate TIE methodology into the making of the Belgrade’s youth theatre work has been central to the development of the Theatre’s participatory practise. Liz Mytton (Wordsmith) is a playwright and poet based in the North West. She took part in the Critical Mass writing programme at the Belgrade Theatre in 2014, which led to the production of her first full-length play,? Red Snapper , a runner up for the 2016 Alfred Fagon Audience Award. In 2018 as a Bristol Old Vic Open Session writer, Liz wrote Across the River , about Marcus Garvey and the KKK, which featured in Bristol Ferment Fortnight. Liz has also developed a piece of work exploring hate crime,? Southside Stories , which premiered at the Tobacco Factory in February 2019, and recently her own musical project, Shame Shanties , which uses seas shanties to explore women’s mental health. Liz regularly works as a writer and lyricist with Talking Birds Theatre Company in Coventry, most recently on a commission for the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. She has worked with the Belgrade’s Young Company on two occasions in the role of wordsmith – firstly on Rise in 2017, and again in 2020 on Like There’s No Tomorrow. The Belgrade Young Company was established to give young people showing particular talent/ ability from across the Belgrade’s participatory programme an opportunity to grow their skills and abilities in a semi-professional context. Past work has included Frank Wedekind’s youth classic, Spr...

About the author

Miriam Battye is a writer from Manchester.? She was the first Sister Pictures Writer in Residence in 2018 and has various original ideas in development for television. Theatre includes: Trip the Light Fantastic (Bristol Old Vic); All Your Gold (Theatre Royal, Plymouth); Electricity (NYT/Arcola); Balance (Royal Exchange, Manchester); Pancake Day (Bunker/PLAY).Justine Themen (Director) is a theatre director and change-maker. She is currently Deputy Artistic Director of the Belgrade Theatre and Co-Artistic Director for its City of Culture 2021 programme. During her time at the Belgrade, she has built a small participatory programme into a broad-reaching ethos across the work of the building. The programme provides access to arts activity to some of the city's least arts-engaged communities, shapes talent development opportunities that strongly promote diversity across the sector and creates new work for the theatre’s stages. Her co-created work includes Rise (Belgrade Young Company), Walk for Your Life (Belgrade Black Youth Theatre), Hussan and Harry (Belgrade Youth Theatre with Coventry Refugee Centre); and The First Time I Saw Snow (Belgrade Theatre). Directing work focuses on new work from female writers of colour - Red Snapper (Liz Mytton), Under the Umbrella (Amy Ng), both Belgrade Theatre. She played a key role in Coventry winning its bid to become UK City of Culture 2021, and is Co-Director of its Signature Event. She is also a Clore Fellow (2012-13). Prior to working at the Belgrade, she worked for 6 years in Senegal & Suriname co-creating theatre (Hia Maun, Stiching Botopasi) & documentaries (Abigail, VPRO) and using the Arts as a tool in Development & Cultural Diplomacy.

Claire Procter (Co-Director) is the Belgrade Theatre’s Creative Producer for Education. She has over 20 years of experience working with children and young people, both as a class teacher and theatre practitioner. Prior to joining the Belgrade, Claire worked for renowned Theatre-in-Education (TiE) company, Big Brum. She has written and co-created a number of original plays for and with young people, including The Impossible Language of the Time (Belgrade Youth Theatre/ Chris O’Connell), Room to Grow (Belgrade TiE) and On the Line (Belgrade Youth Theatre/ Jennifer Farmer). Her work to integrate TIE methodology into the making of the Belgrade’s youth theatre work has been central to the development of the Theatre’s participatory practise.

Liz Mytton (Wordsmith) is a playwright and poet based in the North West. She took part in the Critical Mass writing programme at the Belgrade Theatre in 2014, which led to the production of her first full-length play,?Red Snapper, a runner up for the 2016 Alfred Fagon Audience Award. In 2018 as a Bristol Old Vic Open Session writer, Liz wrote Across the River, about Marcus Garvey and the KKK, which featured in Bristol Ferment Fortnight. Liz has also developed a piece of work exploring hate crime,?Southside Stories, which premiered at the Tobacco Factory in February 2019, and recently her own musical project, Shame Shanties, which uses seas shanties to explore women’s mental health. Liz regularly works as a writer and lyricist with Talking Birds Theatre Company in Coventry, most recently on a commission for the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. She has worked with the Belgrade’s Young Company on two occasions in the role of wordsmith – firstly on Rise in 2017, and again in 2020 on Like There’s No Tomorrow.

The Belgrade Young Company was established to give young people showing particular talent/ ability from across the Belgrade’s participatory programme an opportunity to grow their skills and abilities in a semi-professional context. Past work has included Frank Wedekind’s youth classic, Spring Awakening, rarely performed by young people of the same age as the characters; a physical production of The Tempest with Frantic Assembly; and Rise, co-created with a company of 10 young women aged 13 to 23 about their experiences of discrimination and rising beyond it.
Originally from a small village near Stirling in Scotland, Stef Smith studied Drama and Theatre Arts (with a specialism in directing) at Queen Margaret University in Edinburgh. Stef has worked as both an individual artist and with other theatre makers. Her work is predominately political seeking to unearth unheard stories and it always aims to examine both the lightness and darkness of life. Stef loves traveling and in the past few years she has visited Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, India, Korea, Mexico, Turkey and the USA for her work. Stef has also led creative writing groups for young people in India, ran writing workshops in Brazil and given lectures at Glasgow University.

Most notably in 2012 Stef won an Olivier for the show RoadKill. In 2013 she was invited for a residency to the Banff Centre in Alberta, Canada. She also appeared on The Lists Top 100 Cutural Contributors for 2015 and was named by the Independent as a part of a 'new generation of British playwrights who will dominate 2017'. She is also an Associate Artist at the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh and at Leeds Playhouse. In 2020, she was a finalist for the world’s biggest prize for female playwrights.
Katie Hims is a writer for stage, screen and radio. This year her stage work includes Variations for the National Theatre's NT Connections, Three Minutes After Midnight for The Globe Theatre’s Dark Night anthology series, and The Stranger On the Bridge which toured The Tobacco Factory and Salisbury Playhouse. Katie's previous stage work includes Billy the Girl for Clean Break at Soho Theatre and she has spent time on attachment to the National Theatre Studio. Since 2014 Katie has written for the radio series Home Front, including five seasons as lead writer. Other radio work includes Black Eyed Girls (winner of the BBC Audio Drama Award for Best Original Drama), Lost Property (winner of the BBC Audio Drama Award for Best Original Drama), The Gunshot Wedding (winner of The Writer’s Guild Best Original Radio Drama) and The Earthquake Girl (winner of the Richard Imison Award). Radio Adaptations include The Martin Beck Killings by Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo. She has also written for the long running television series Casualty.Abbey Wright is Artistic Director of Tackroom Theatre. Directing credits include Mrs Lowry and Son (Trafalgar Studios), Bitch Boxer (Soho Theatre),The Song of Deborah and Hidden Glory (The Lowry) and The Ones That Flutter (Theatre 503). Abbey was Staff Director to Danny Boyle on Frankenstein at the National Theatre and the Resident Assistant Director at the Donmar where she assisted Michael Grandage, Alan Rickman, Peter Gill, Sean Holmes, Jeremy Herrin, Jamie Lloyd and John Tiffany.Shireen Mula is a playwright and theatre-maker.

Shireen has been playwright-on-attachment at The Royal Court Theatre and Associate Artist at both Ovalhouse and Nottle Theatre, South Korea. She is an Associate Artist with fanSHEN Theatre Company with whom she’s created numerous works (most notably Lists for The End of The World (Summerhall) and The Justice Syndicate (UK & Ireland Tour). Shireen co-authored Why Is The Sky Blue? (Southwark Playhouse) which was nominated for two Offies. Her other plays include: 39 and Counting (Park Theatre), The Rise & Fall (Somerset House), Soon Until Forever (Theatre503), Same Same (Ovalhouse), Nameless (Arnolfini Theatre). Same Same was presented by the British Counsel in Italy, it was also shortlisted for the Royal National Theatre Foundation Playwriting Award, formerly the Meyer Whitworth Award (2013).

Shireen lectures in Drama and Performance at London
Lisa Goldman is a writer, dramaturg and director. Her NT Connections play Cable Street is now in development with BFI as a feature film. Other plays include Remedy (Attachment National Studio 2022) and Hoxton Story (2005). Her first short story ‘Easy Peelers’ was published last year in Mainstream anthology (2021). Her children’s novel was shortlisted for Penguin Write Now 2020. Lisa is author of The No Rules Handbook for Writers (Bloomsbury) and runs a script consultancy. The plays she has developed have won or been listed for every UK playwriting award. Lisa has worked in seventeen countries (including Iran, Turkey and Brazil). She has designed and taught MA modules in writing and dramaturgy at Essex University; RADA; City, University of London and UAL. Lisa was Artistic Director and joint Chief Executive of the Red Room (1995–2006) and Soho Theatre (2006–10). In 1995 she created the theatre for new work above the Lion and Unicorn. She has developed and directed dozens of acclaimed UK premieres including at Soho Theatre: Baghdad Wedding (also BBC Radio 3 Sunday play); Piranha Heights; Leaves of Glass; Shraddha; This Isn’t Romance (also BBC Radio 3 The Wire); Poor Polish Speaking Romanians (co-translated with Paul Sirett); Everything Must Go; Playing Fields. At Live Theatre: Inheritance. At Bush and Traverse and international tour: The Bogus Woman (also BBC Radio 4 Saturday Play); Bites; Stitching (Producer). At Coventry Belgrade: Behud; At BAC: Made in England; Sunspots; Obsession; Surfing; Ex; Seeing Red. At Theatre Royal Stratford East: Dangerous Lady.Ayeesha Menon is currently working on a play for the National Theatre. Her adaptation of THE JUNGLE BOOK, re-imagined in the concrete jungle of present day Mumbai, will be broadcast on Radio 4 in 2021.

At the BBC Audio Drama Awards, her adaptation of A TALE OF TWO CITIES won Best Adaptation in 2019. Her MIDNIGHT’S CHILDREN won the Outstanding Achievement award in 2018. She has won Sony Awards for her adaptations of Q&A (Slumdog Millionaire) and THE CAIRO TRILOGY.

Ayeesha’s original detective drama UNDERCOVER MUMBAI has run for three series on Radio 4. She also wrote INTO THE MAZE for the Riot Girls series. Her adaptations for radio include GIRL WITH A PEARL EARRING, OLIVER: Lagos to London, A TALE OF TWO CITIES: Aleppo and London, A FINE BALANCE, THE SEVENTH TEST, THE MUMBAI CHUZZLEWITS, SIX SUSPECTS, and MY NAME IS RED.

Ayeesha’s adaptation of Agatha Christie’s THE MIRROR CRACK’D, re-imagined for an Indian audience and directed by Melly Still, was performed in Mumbai in 2020.
David Judge is a playwright, performance poet and actor.

His most recent play SPARKPLUG, which David wrote and performed, toured the UK in Spring 2019 and was shown on Sky Arts in May 2021. David is working with Sky Studios on an in-house tv drama series developed by and for new writers with producer Vicky Wharton and has written his first episode of CORONATION STREET which was broadcast in June 2021. His first play SKIPPING ROPE was shortlisted for the Alfred Fagan Award and PANLID was commissioned by Talawa and the Royal Exchange. As an actor David played Tybalt in the National Theatre/Sky Arts feature film of ROMEO AND JULIET and most recently played Lysander in Manchester's Homeground's theatre production of MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM directed by Sean Holmes.
Fionnuala Kennedy is a writer and theatre director from Belfast. Her play, ‘Removed’, a commission by Prime Cut Productions to explore the lived experience of young people in care in partnership with VOYPIC, has toured across Ireland and won the 2020 Zebbie award for Best Play. She is currently under commission with Replay Theatre Company writing a show for PMLD audiences called ‘Thaw’ and NI Opera writing a new opera looking at housing rights. Writing credits include: ‘Hostel’, based on her own experience of homelessness (Produced by Kabosh, 2010 & 2012/Macha Productions 2017); ‘Entitled’ looking at the impact and inequality of welfare reform (Produced by Macha Productions, 2017). Fionnuala was one of 5 directors selected for the Headlong Origins programme 2020. Most recently, she has directed ‘Sweeties’ by Jo Egan, as part of 'Body Politics' with Macha Productions.Tim Crouch is a UK theatre artist based in Brighton. He writes plays, performs in them and takes responsibility for their production. He started to make his own work in 2003. Before then he was an actor.

Tim works with a number of associates and collaborators to produce his writing. There isn’t a company structure; things and people are brought together when they are needed. The starting process has always been a text written by Crouch. Early work was made in response to a self-generated impulse to tell a story or explore a form. This impulse is still the first motivation but, lately, it’s become slightly more formalized through the involvement of various commissioning theatres and organizations. Tim’s work tours extensively to UK and international venues and festivals.

Product details

• Authors: Miriam Battye, Belgrade Theatre, Belgrade Young Company, Tim Crouch, Lisa Goldman, Goldman Lisa, Him, Katie Hims, Hims Katie, David Judge, Judge David, Fionnuala Kennedy, Ayeesha Menon, Shireen Mula, Mula Shireen, National Theatre, Matt Regan, Stef Smith, Smith Stef, Abbey Wright
• Assisted by: National Theatre (Editor)
• Publisher: Methuen Drama
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 30.06.2022
• EAN: 9781350320444
• ISBN: 978-1-350-32044-4
• No. of pages: 624
• Dimensions: 156 mm x 234 mm x 40 mm
• Series: Plays for Young People
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Art > Theatre, ballet; PERFORMING ARTS / Theater / General, Theatre Studies, Modern and contemporary plays (c 1900 onwards), Plays, Playscripts