Silva Semerciyan

Each year, the National Theatre commissions ten new plays for young people to perform, bringing together some of the UK's most exciting writers with the theatre-makers of tomorrow. This 2021 pack captures the two new plays written for the 2021 festival that are perfect for schools and youth groups to perform and study. Written with flexibility in mind, these are perfect for exploration both virtually and in-person, responding to the restrictions in place due to Covid-19. It also includes National Theatre Connections 2020 anthology which features 9 plays, 8 of which are included in the 2021 festival performances. The plays included in this pack are: Find a Partner by Miriam Battye Like There’s No Tomorrow, created by the Belgrade Young Company with Justine Themen, Claire Procter and Liz Mytton Wind / Rush Generation(s) by Mojisola Adebayo Tuesday by Alison Carr A series of public apologies (in response to an unfortunate incident in the school lavatories) by John Donnelly THE IT by Vivienne Franzmann The Marxist in Heaven by Hattie Naylor Look Up by Andrew Muir Crusaders by Frances Poet Witches Can’t Be Burned by Silva Semerciyan Dungeness by Chris Thompson .

National Theatre Connections is an annual festival which brings new plays for young people to schools and youth theatres across the UK and Ireland. Commissioning exciting work from leading playwrights, the festival exposes actors aged 13-19 to the world of professional theatre-making, giving them full control of a theatrical production - from costume and set design to stage management and marketing campaigns. NT Connections have published over 150 original plays and regularly works with 500 theatre companies and 10,000 young people each year. This anthology brings together 9 new plays by some of the UK's most prolific and current writers and artists alongside notes on each of the texts exploring performance for schools and youth groups. Wind / Rush Generation(s) by Mojisola Adebayo Tuesday by Alison CarrA series of public apologies (in response to an unfortunate incident in the school lavatories) by John Donnelly THE IT by Vivienne Franzmann The Marxist in Heaven by Hattie Naylor Look Up by Andrew Muir Crusaders by Frances Poet Witches Can’t Be Burned by Silva Semerciyan Dungeness by Chris Thompson .

‘Do you love what you do? Because I loved making the photographs. I loved the feeling of taking charge. Putting things in the frame, taking them out again. Writing with my eyes.’ During the First World War, seventeen-year-old Elsie Wright fools the world into believing she has photographed fairies in her garden. An ambitious young reporter seeks to expose Elsie as a fraud. But as she looks at the facts, she begins to think there's more to Elsie's story than a simple hoax. Inspired by the true story of the Cottingley Fairies, The Light Burns Blue by Silva Semerciyan is part of Platform, an initiative from Tonic Theatre in partnership with Nick Hern Books aimed at addressing gender imbalance and inequality in theatre. Platform comprises big-cast plays with predominantly or all-female casts, written specifically for performance by school, college and youth-theatre groups. ‘Drama is an important tool for building confidence and empowering young people. Platform will give girls opportunity to access these benefits as much as their male counterparts.’ - Moira Buffini

So maybe I just want to opt out you know? Maybe I don’t to be part of the master plan. The big assembly line in the sky. Summer in small-town America. Aimee Stright wants to be Banksy in a town that hates vandals. As outsiders investigate what happened on the day she walked into a church with a gun, it seems Aimee is one against the world and the world wants to know why. Shortlisted for the Bruntwood Playwriting Prize, I And The Village is a coming-of-age story that asks pointed questions about conformity, dissent and America's devotion to guns. The play received its world premiere at Theatre503, London, on 9 June 2015.