Here you will find more information about the four Youth Companies taking part in the Belgrade Theatre’s NT Connections Regional Festival.
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Alcester Allstars is Alcester Academy’s Performing arts department. In normal circumstances we produce a big annual show which is usually a musical as well as smaller productions throughout the year. We run an after school group every Wednesday evening between 6pm-7pm where our most talented students have an opportunity to explore a variety of drama which the curriculum time wouldn’t normally allow us.
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Perfect Circle was formed in Malvern, Worcestershire in November 2006 by Claire Revitt and Lee Farley. The company creates contemporary work and explores modern theatre practice via productions, workshops, street theatre, devised projects and education packages. We strive to create strong links with the local community, particularly with children and young people. Both Lee and Claire are Drama Graduates and have lots of experience in professional theatre as performers and youth theatre directors.
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Stratford Youth Theatre was established in 2018, as the performance arm of The Drama Club, with the aim to engage and inspire a community of young people who wish to create brave and exciting theatre. The main focus is on performance, and young people will be able to participate in at least one production every year. As a member of Stratford Youth Theatre young people are encouraged to strive for high standards in the arts of drama, music, movement and/or technical theatre skills. We offer Arts Awards (all levels up to gold) LAMDA & DofE support in Skills and Volunteering, and we are committed to achieving amazing theatre productions that our young people can be proud of and to create life long memories and friendships. We bring together industry professionals, those just starting out in a career in the Arts and volunteers who all contribute to an amazing experience for everyone involved.
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The Belgrade Youth Theatre is central to the work of the Belgrade and aimed at unleashing the creativity in our communities. We run in-house groups including Black Youth Theatre, Asian Youth Theatre, Middle and Senior Youth Theatre, Saturday drama groups and outreach groups in areas such as Spon End and Canley, and look for ways and opportunities to invite artists in to co-create with our participants. This year, we are very excited that our participatory groups will be able to collaborate with a range of artists and companies as part of the Coventry City of Culture 2021 programme.
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The National Theatre’s annual youth theatre festival Connections brings together talented young theatre-makers of tomorrow with some of the UK’s most exciting contemporary writers to produce and stage ten new plays. This year, workshops and mentoring took place digitally, and over 3000 young people will have the opportunity to stage their performances at 29 leading partner theatres across the UK.
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The Belgrade Theatre has an enviable track record of working in radical ways with young people through theatre. In 1965, it developed the first Theatre in Education Company, a company dedicated to using theatrical performance and drama workshops to explore issues of cultural, social, political and moral significance as part of a free service to schools and the young people of Coventry. TiE encouraged children to investigate challenging situations for themselves, to search to find the answer, rather than be given it on a plate. This ethos continues to inform the work of the theatre today.