New partnership and opportunities announced by National Youth Theatre and Royal & Derngate
Harriet Clifford
Tuesday, December 8, 2020
The National Youth Theatre (NYT) and arts venue Royal & Derngate in Northampton have announced that a new partnership will provide vocational learning opportunities for up to 500 young people under 21 each year.
Helen Murray
Both organisations will jointly lead an annual summer residency which will give young people the opportunity to learn skills in performing, as well as in creative and production roles under Covid-adapted conditions.
The residencies will be held in Northampton, but will be open to young adults of all backgrounds from across the UK.
In February 2021, the partnership will launch with two new co-productions performed by the NYT REP Company on the Royal stage. The first will be a 75th anniversary production of Animal Farm adapted by Tatty Hennessy and directed by Ed Stambollouian in collaboration with Kneehigh Theatre Company.
The second will be Othello directed by Miranda Cromwell in collaboration with dramatist Dzifa Benson and featuring Francesca Amewudah-Rivers in the title role.
The summer residency will take over the whole Royal & Derngate venue for five weeks, with teaching taking place on all three stages - Royal, Derngate and Underground. Three productions will be co-commissioned with NYT as part of the course.
James Dacre, Royal & Derngate artistic director, said, ‘Four years ago, Royal & Derngate and the NYT partnered on a co-production of The Tempest, enabling 30 young local actors to make their professional debut, many of whom have returned to perform on our stages since.
‘That inspiring experience left us determined to partner on widening such training opportunities across all theatrical disciplines and so we are thrilled to be able to announce an annual programme that will enable hundreds of young artists from the widest possible range of backgrounds to train at Royal & Derngate, learning from our teams and placing young people at the heart of all that we do.’
NYT artistic director and CEO Paul Roseby said, ‘This key partnership is part of our ongoing commitment to create a national programme prioritising opportunities for young people across the UK.
‘We wanted to give more young people the chance to experience theatre on a grand scale outside of London’s West End and being part of this prestigious venue will inspire a new generation to become story tellers, creative leaders and champions of live performances in our local communities.’
Applications to take part in the new summer vocational training with Royal & Derngate are open at www.nyt.org.uk/hub and young people can sign up to audition and access a range of online workshops and resources for £2-a-month or £24-a-year through the NYT’s new Hub subscription.
Tickets for Othello and Animal Farm go on general sale on 18 December, here.