National Youth Theatre

NYT Update

Unfortunately we have to announce that there will be no NYT production this summer. However, NAYD's commitment to a National Youth Theatre continues. We will be fundraising and developing artistic plans for NYT 2013 throughout this year! Keep checking out this page for updates!

NYT 2011: Final Curtain

NYT is over for another year. The first devised show in many years It Only Ever Happens In The Movies was a huge success with tickets selling out and a great response from the audience at each performance. A massive thank you and congratulations to all the cast and the artistic team, headed by director Mikel Murfi.

Sixteen young people from youth theatres all over Ireland lived, rehearsed and devised together over five weeks. Below are some of their thoughts on the experience:

The National Youth Theatre has taught me how to devise a play, how to tell a story and act through actions and gestures. I’ve learned how to work as part of a company, an ensemble – although there are 16 of us we are all telling the same story as one.

I think what an audience will get from this production is truth. Yes, there will be unrealistic parts, almost surreal at times, but we are telling the story of a boy trying to find love through our thoughts and ideas.
Mollie Ball - Boolabus Youth Theatre

Being a member of the cast of the National Youth Theatre is like joining a family. We’ve all became so close within a matter of days and since then have spent every possible moment together. It really is fantastic because we all share the same passion for theatre and making something that is truly ‘of’ us.
Clodagh Duggan, County Wexford Youth Theatre

Artistically I feel that I am learning so much. By working with all these extremely experienced and talented people, I am really getting an insight into the theatre world and I am now beginning to wonder if I would like to make a career in the arts. Quite simply, I feel so lucky to be part of the National Youth Theatre. It is a once off experience and I will honestly treasure it for the rest of my life.
Julie Maguire - CSM Youth Theatre

Check out the photos

To view rehearsal and production shots,  visit the NAYD Flickr page.

Photo: Ros Kavanagh

It Only Ever Happens In The Movies

The exciting news is that year's National Youth Theatre production will be devised by the cast and director. So far all we know is .......

It Only Ever Happens In The Movies

Derek is 17. He likes his laptop, ice cream, movies and DIY. By his own admission he doesn't 'do girls' very successfully.

It's July. Derek knows love is in the air and he'd rather not spend another summer unkissed and unloved. The one thing, the only thing that Derek has going for him is that he's mildly inventive and he has just come up with a plan!

  This summer the National Youth Theatre is devising a   work about love. Part Romantic Comedy, part FAILURE on a MASSIVE scale. Using classic romance movies as his inspiration, Derek puts his masterplan into action.

 Join us, it could be really sweet...., or a total disaster!

The Cast

David Atkinson - Co. Wexford Youth Theatre
Mollie Ball - Boolabus Youth Theatre
Donall Courtney - Dublin Youth Theatre
Lisa Daly - Lightbulb Youth Theatre
Darragh Downes - Co. Sligo Youth Theatre
Clodagh Duggan - Wexford Youth Theatre
Kate Finnegan - Independent Youth Theatre
Jordan Gallagher - Co. Sligo Youth Theatre
Charlie Kelly - Waterford Youth Arts
Julie Maguire - CSM Youth Theatre
Sarah McGoohan - Letterkenny Youth Theatre
Liam Mulcahy - CSM Youth Theatre
Michael Noonan - Boolabus Youth Theatre
Aine O'Hara -Dublin Youth Theatre
Molly O'Shea - CSM Youth Theatre
Eilis O'Sullivan - Co. Limerick Youth Theatre

Creative Team

Director: Mikel Murfi
Assistant Director: John Taite
Set Design: Sabine Dargent
Costume Design: Catherine Fay
Lighting Design: Eamon Fox

Production Details

Dates: 22-27 August
Venue: The Peacock Theatre, Dublin
Bookings: The Abbey Theatre Box Office. Phone: 01-8787222 or book online

Special ticket rates available for youth theatre members!

There is a special rate of 12 Euro for youth theatre members. This can be arranged by contacting the Abbey Theatre Box Office on 01-8787222.

Read the Press Release

NYT 2011 Details Announced!

We can now announce that the National Youth Theatre 2011 will be directed by Award Winning Director, Mikel Murfi. It will be on stage from the Peacock Theatre, Dublin from 22-27 August.

Mikel recently directed Arrah na Pogue at the Abbey Theatre and B for Baby at the Peacock Theatre. His work with Druid as an actor includes The New Electric Ballroom, Lyndie's Got a Gun, The Increased Difficulty of Concentration while he has also directed The Walworth Farce and Penelope for them. He is a founding director of Barrabas Theatre Company and trained at Ecole Jacque Lecoq.

Auditions

Over 140 youth theatre members attended workshop auditions in April . We would like to thank each and every one of them and we hope they had an enjoyable experience. We thank also their youth theatre leaders for encouraging them to come along. After some very difficult deliberations it was decided that 40 young people (representing 20 youth theatres!) be invited to attend call-back auditions on 7 and 8 May.

We will announce the cast and play after the call-backs have taken place.

The Rehearsals

The cast will be resident at the Marino Institute of Education, Dublin for the duration of the rehearsal and performance period.

Week 1: Sunday 24 July to Friday 29 July
Week 2: Sunday 31 July to Friday 5 August
Week 3: Sunday 7 August to Friday 12 August
Week 4/5: Sunday 14 August to Sunday 28 August.

The Production

The production will take place at the Peacock Theatre from Monday 22 August to Saturday 27 August.

For an NYT taster....

To find out more about what it is like to be part of a National Youth Theatre, you can view some short videos based on previous NYTs and you can also read some NAYD blog entries by participants.

NYT 2010

The National Youth Theatre is over for another year. A Dream Play by August Strindberg, in a new version by Caryl Churchill, was a huge success.

A massive congratulations to the cast, director Jimmy Fay, all the artistic team and production crew. NAYD would also like to thank the youth theatres who came along to support the production.

The run was a sell-out. Feedback on the production was overwhelmingly positive and it attracted an unprecedented level of publicity including features on RTE's Nine O'Clock news and in The Irish Times.

The Reviews.......

…Churchill’s version is slimmer and more lucid [than Strindberg’s original], with licks of irony that temper the original’s deep melancholy. The NYT ensemble follows that delicate balance, serving both as the dream’s interpreters and its conspirators… Fay resists the temptation to treat such sentiments as adolescent miserabilism, his 16 young performers leavening it instead with stabs of humour, artful stage devices and an occasional Joy Division freak out...The production is nowhere stronger, though, than when the entire company is present, gliding together in Liz Roche’s darkly entrancing choreography or performing exquisitely arranged versions of Jacques Brel and The Smiths under Philip Stewart’s musical direction...It’s a testament to the success of the NYT that the theatre remains a place to learn, to play, perchance to dream.
Peter Crawley, The Irish Times

A few furry spectators mark their territory as the audience file in to watch the National Youth Theatre’s production in the Peacock theatre. The humanoid bunnies fill a few seats, and eventually kick off the performance by eyeballing us from the gallery…this quirky conceit nicely sets the tone for a drama that confounds the distinction between reality and fantasy…
…a production that suitably challenges its performers, and rewards the audience with the results.
Fintan Walsh, Irish Theatre Magazine

Visit NYT on Facebook

You can view photos and read about the cast's experience on the NYT Facebook page.

NYT and Young People

The NYT surrounds the young actors with a professional team, with the focus on creating a strong group ensemble; the young people respond by committing to the process, working together as a group of actors towards creating great theatre.

The young actors take the process very seriously. They already have a solid grounding in drama and theatre skills through their participation in their own youth theatre. They understand the workshop process, feel comfortable with devising and developing new work, and respect theatre as an art form.

Step 1 - Auditions

NAYD holds open auditions for young people from youth theatres affiliated to NAYD. The young people must be aged over 16 years of age. Auditions take place in regional centres and take the form of a workshop rather than a traditional 'audition' format.

Step 2 - Rehearsals

The successful actors then come together for a 3-4 week rehearsal period on a full-time residential basis, usually during the summer on a university campus. This intense rehearsal period sees them work all day every day, unwinding in the evenings with an entertainment programme.

Step 3 - Performance!

The final stage of an NYT is a production/performance week; this is based in the venue so that the young people feel comfortable with the stage and set. The run is normally for 7 performances, and always sells out!

Step 4 - Finale

In short, an NYT is a wonderful experience for the young actors involved. It is also NAYD's opportunity to showcase all that is great about youth theatre. The model of youth theatre in Ireland has developed over the last 25 years, and the work of NAYD is unique across the world.

Irish youth drama has its own distinct place in the spectrum of theatre - and the National Youth Theatre is an opportunity to show it off!

Previous NYTs

1984	Our Town by Thornton Wilder	Directed by Ben Barnes
1986	Young Europeans by Gerard Stembridge	Directed by Gerard Stembridge
1987	The Crucible by Arthur Miller	Directed by Ben Barnes
1988	Parents (devised)	Directed by Tommy McArdle and Richie Ball
1989	Celebration by John McArdle	Directed by Ray Yates
1996	Strawberries in December by Antoine O'Flathartha	Directed by Brian Brady
2001	The Old Lady Says No! by Dennis Johnston	Directed by John White
2007	The Caucasian Chalk Circle by Bertolt Brecht (adapted by Frank MCGuinness)	Directed by Gyorgy Vidovszky
2008	A Midsummer Nights Dream by William Shakespeare	Directed by Gyorgy Vidovszky
2009	The Seagull by Anton Chekhov, in a version by Martin Crimp	Directed by Wayne Jordan
2010	A Dream Play by August Strindberg, in a version by Caryl Churchill	Directed by Jimmy Fay