National Theatre Connections 2014

Drawing together the work of ten leading playwrights - a mixture of established and emerging writers - this National Theatre Connections anthology is published to coincide with the 2014 festival which takes place across the UK and finishes up at the National Theatre in London. It offers young performers between the ages of thirteen and nineteen everywhere an engaging selection of plays to perform read or study. <br/><br/>Each play is specifically commissioned by the National Theatre's literary department with the young performer in mind. The plays are performed by approximately 200 schools and youth theatre companies across the UK and Ireland in partnership with multiple professional regional theatres where the works are showcased.<br/><br/>As with previous anthologies the volume will feature an introduction by Anthony Banks Associate Director of the National Theatre Discover Programme and each play includes notes from the writer and director addressing the themes and ideas behind the play as well as production notes and exercises.<br/><br/>The National Theatre Connections series has been running for nineteen years and the anthology that accompanies it published for the last three years by Methuen Drama is gaining a greater profile by the year. Some iconic plays have grown out of the Connections programme including <i>Citizenship </i>by Mark Ravenhill <i>Burn </i>by Deborah Gearing <i>Chatroom </i>by Enda Walsh <i>Baby Girl</i> by Roy Williams <i>DNA </i>by Dennis Kelly and <i>The Miracle</i> by Lin Coghlan. The series has a recognisable brand and the anthologies continue to be an extremely useful resource their value extending well beyond their year of publication.<br/><br/>This year's anthology includes plays by Sabrina Mahfouz Simon Vinnicombe Catherine Johnson Pauline McLynn Dafydd James Luke Norris and Sam Holcroft.