Reviews: New Voices

The National Theatre has recently released a podcast on Audible called New Voices, made up of 10 audio plays with a range of lengths. The scripts are written by the young people involved in the National Theatre's New Views Programme – a scheme that enables young people to explore their playwriting skills by working with professional playwrights to produce 30-minute plays. The selected plays focus on a range of the themes from alcoholism, depression, identity and war.

If Not Now, When? by Isabel Hague is one of the standout plays in the collection: a beautifully written offering, with a range of dialogue and spoken verse to explore a range of poignant themes. This play includes a lot of strong language, so would be better suited to older students.

Teapot Troubles by Loesa Leka is a much shorter podcast, clocking in at just 25 minutes. It tells a range of stories from the Kosovan war, using traditional song to set the scene. Within a classroom setting, this will allow students to see how music and song can be used to break scenes in audio plays. The actors use their intonation to clearly communicate emotions in an impactful and thought-provoking way, which is a useful teaching tool for showing students how the voice can be used to communicate meaning.

Bus Stops by Mia Galanti is the final play in the collection. Although it also includes some strong language, it straddles drama and comedy, making it distinct from other works in the collection. Bus Stops tells the story of two people who dislike each other, thrown together when their best friend/boyfriend dies suddenly. The play deals well with complex themes of grief and friendship, with the actors capturing the emotions and subtext in the story to great effect.

The Audible collection is well worth a listen, even if you aren't usually a fan of audiobooks. It could be a great resource for a scheme of work focusing on audio plays.

nationaltheatre.org.uk/news/new-voices-podcast-on-audible