Afsaneh Gray

National Theatre Connections 2026 draws together eight new plays for young people to perform, from some of the UK’s most exciting and popular playwrights. These are plays for a generation of theatre-makers who want to ask questions, challenge assertions and test boundaries, and for those who love to invent and imagine a world of possibilities. The plays offer young performers an engaging and diverse range of material to perform, read or study. Wrestling with themes like the Youth Custody Service, conspiracy, the climate crisis, exam pressure, grief and friendship, this collection lays bare a rich and complex terrain in which students can fully immerse themselves, explore and discover. This 2026 anthology represents the full set of eight plays offered by the National Theatre's 2026 programme, as well as comprehensive workshop notes that give insights and inspiration for building characters, running rehearsals and staging a production.

An outrageous Brechtian parable that explores the lines we draw between ourselves and other people. The clock moves towards midnight. Life is about to be turned upside down for one small town as the border crossing is sealed shut, dividing here from there, us from them, this from that. In the midst of it all, Stranger, a young girl’s beloved dog, has gone missing. Will Stranger be found before the border closes, or will he be trapped forever on the “wrong” side?

Set in a world where how British you are is determined by the state, three women have been called in for interview. Sara looks kind of Asian. Scheherazade kind of Middle Eastern. And Sarah is kind of white and has no idea why she's here. She also keeps bursting into song.