This year all our Youth Theatres have been involved in a retrospective look at some of the amazing scripts that have emerged from the Belgrade Participatory programme over the past 20 years.
The brief:
‘Each group will explore a script, look at its themes and relevance in today’s context and get to understand the meaning behind the lines and what might have shifted since it was created before focusing in on select extracts or response pieces.’
The groups have been challenged to work with minimal tech, lights and sounds to allow space to work on text.
This July, all of our Youth Theatre groups will be sharing their work with us. See below for information on individual groups and to book tickets for the free sharings.
Performance Timetable
Junior Youth Theatre – Is This a Fairytale?
Date: Mon 11 July
Venue: B2
Time: 6.30pm – 7pm
Tickets: Free
BOOK NOW
Is This A Fairytale? is a play by Bea Webster. The play was written as part of a big project called Positive Stories for Negative Times.
The story is told by the Jesters, who quickly decide that they are very bored of all the usual fairytales that are out there and that they will make a new fairytale… and it’s going to be the best fairytale ever! This story is about challenging stereotypes, having fun, and breaking the rules!
Asian Youth Theatre – Hussain and Harry & Senior Youth Theatre – Impossible Language of Time
Date: Tues 12 July
Venue: B2
Time: 7.30pm – 8.45pm
Tickets: Free
BOOK NOW
Asian Youth Theatre have collated some select scenes from the Belgrade Youth Theatre’s Hussain and Harry, that focus on how two seemingly very different people can share similar experiences and find solace and combat isolation by being open to where those shared experiences can take them. While this piece was written a number of years ago, the group has found so many relevant connections to the world they inhabit today. The show explores themes of PTSD/torture that people may find upsetting or triggering.
Senior Youth Theatre will be preforming a devised spin off of the show The Impossible Language of the Time originally performed during the Inspiring Curiosity Festival in 2015. What do you do when your mores morals conflict with your dream job, and having to feed your family and doing right by your family? The show explores themes of bullying and homophobia that people may find upsetting or triggering.
Middle Youth Theatre – Ministry of Meh & Black Youth Theatre – Close to Home
Date: Weds 13 July
Venue: B2
Time: 7.45pm – 9pm
Tickets: Free
BOOK NOW
Ministry of Meh is a play which asks what might happen if the National Health Service was no longer free at the point of use in the UK. In the story, the government decides that everyone must now take responsibility for their own health, by taking advantage of free gyms and leisure facilities; maintaining healthy lifestyles; and paying for any medical care. But what does this mean for Fiona’s sick mum, for party animal Sam, or for workaholic Suni? And are the people making the rules, sticking to them themselves?
Black Youth Theatre will be showing scenes from the 2011 production of Close to Home, some of the scenes are from the original production, and others are devised scenes. This story investigates what it’s like growing up and running away from your own culture, and at the same time not being able to get away from the prejudices surrounding your culture. The show explores themes of bullying and makes reference to sexual violence that people may find upsetting or triggering.
