This year’s Connections Festival will take place at the Lowry in Salford from 25–28 June, the first time the festival has been held outside London. Eight youth groups from across the UK will perform their own interpretations of new plays specially commissioned for young performers.
Connections is the National Theatre’s annual nationwide youth theatre festival that champions the talent of young people across the UK celebrating the power of youth theatre. For the past three months, over 5,000 young people from more than 250 companies and schools have performed at home venues and on one of 33 professional stages across the country. The Connections Festival at the Lowry in Salford is the culmination of the nationwide programme with representation of the voices and creativity of young people from across the UK. By offering opportunities to work with professional directors and to perform on a professional stage, Connections offers young people a feeling of belonging, the chance to explore and develop their own voices as well as develop key skills for their future careers.
From developing new ideas to the final curtain call, young people have had the opportunity to dive into every part of the theatre making process, gaining hands-on experience, building new creative skills, and exploring the exciting world of backstage and offstage roles. Each year, the Connections’ plays are born from discussions and workshops with young people across the country focusing on themes that inspire and stories that matter to them, with the new writing this year including themes of global warming, national identity and bullying.
Over the past 31 years, over 130,000 young people have taken part in Connections, the National Theatre’s flagship annual youth theatre festival, producing over 230 plays written specifically for young people.
Jenny Riding, Director of Learning and Engagement at Lowry, said: “We are absolutely thrilled to be hosting the National Theatre’s Connections Festival at Lowry for the very first time in its 31-year history. This is a landmark moment for us and for Salford, and we’re incredibly proud to be welcoming so many vibrant, talented young companies from across the country to our stages. Their energy, creativity and voices are at the heart of the future of theatre, and we can’t wait to share their work with audiences here this summer.”
Kirsten Adam, Head of Participation at the National Theatre, said: “We are really pleased to be working with Lowry this year to bring our annual Connections Festival outside of London for the first time. It is brilliant to witness the impact of youth theatre to support young people in finding their voices and telling the stories that matter most to them, especially in a time of heightened youth isolation. Each year, it is an honour to watch thousands of young people from across the UK develop the confidence to express themselves authentically through our Connections programme and build meaningful communities together. We cannot wait to celebrate this year’s extraordinary energy and creative visions in Salford through our partnership with Lowry.”
Tickets for Connections are £5 per performance or £8 for two performances in an evening and will be on sale via the Lowry website on 22 May.
