Derby Theatre Connections Company selected by National Theatre for final Connections 2021 showcase

Published Thursday 17th Jun 2021
Young people aged 13-19 from across Derby will perform in Like There's No Tomorrow, directed by Sam George.

Derby Theatre is excited to announce that the Derby Theatre Connections Company have been selected by the National Theatre as 1 of 10 groups to be filmed by Chocolate Films for the final Connections Festival showcase this year.

The company is made up of young people aged 13-19 from across Derby. Their performance of Like There’s No Tomorrow is directed by Sam George and was originally created by the Belgrade Theatre Young Company with Justine Themen, Claire Procter and Liz Mytton.

The Derby Theatre Connections Company version was first performed here at the Theatre at a regional showcase on Saturday 12 June 2021 and will now be filmed for the national showcase sharing in September. The play tackles the issue of the climate crisis.

Derby Theatre Connections Company perform Like There's No Tomorrow

Sam George (Director and Derby Theatre’s Young Artist & Participation Producer) said:

“The young people in Derby Theatre Connections Company deserve a huge amount of credit – they have produced an amazing performance in remarkably challenging circumstances.

We are so grateful to the National Theatre and their Connections team for selecting us for this year’s festival, and it means the world to our young company to have their work recognised like this.”

About Connections Festival

Each year, the National Theatre commissions ten new plays for young people around the country to perform, bringing together some of the UK’s most exciting writers with the theatre-makers of tomorrow.

The plays are performed by young people and youth theatre groups at regional showcases around the country before one version of each production is selected for the final showcase.

The Productions

The full list of this year’s chosen productions are:

1) A series of public apologies (in response to an unfortunate incident in the school lavatories) by John Donnelly, performed by Wren Academy Sixth Form Drama Society

2) Crusaders by Frances Poet, performed by Delanté Détras Theatre Company (Doncaster)

3) Find a Partner! by Miriam Battye, performed by Hele’s School (Plympton)

4) Like There’s No Tomorrow created by the Belgrade Young Company, with Justine Themen, Claire Procter and Liz Mytton, performed by Derby Theatre

5) Look Up by Andrew Muir, performed by The Boaty Theatre Company (Ellesmere Port)

6) The IT by Vivienne Franzmann, performed by Valley Park School (Maidstone)

7) The Marxist in Heaven by Hattie Naylor, performed by Brilliant Theatre Arts (Hemel Hempstead)

8) Tuesday by Alison Carr, performed by Shetland Youth Theatre

9) Wind/Rush Generation(s) by Mojisola Adebayo, performed by CWC Company (City of Westminster College)

10) Witches Can’t Be Burned by Silva Semerciyan, performed by Dudley College Performing Arts

Production photography by Chris Webb: Like There’s No Tomorrow performed by Derby Theatre Connections Company