Strangers Like Me
by Ed Harris
Elbow’s best friend, Hamster, has unexpectedly died. Everyone expects Elbow to be grieving… right? But Elbow isn’t sure how to do it.
Privately, Elbow is beginning to feel they weren’t even as close as everyone makes out. It would be better if everyone just left Elbow alone – his mum, dad, stupid big brother, Donut, but especially all those annoying kids at school pretending they really care by writing poems, singing songs and holding a vigil at Elbow and Hamster’s favourite meeting place. Who do they think they are?
Elbow doesn’t know. He just has a strange feeling inside – an absence of feeling at all.
Content Guidance:
- Recommended for ages 14+
- Play explores responses to the death of a friend of the lead character (unseen, offstage).
- Strong language.
- In a non-naturalistic scene, one character – who is the embodiment of part of the lead character’s psyche – has their tongue ripped out. It is then reattached later in the play.
Old Times
by Molly Taylor
When they were kids, everyone loved Tom Joy. He brought the fun to any situation. He would be the first to crack a joke, the first to take on a dare…and the first to take things a little too far.
Five years on and Tom Joy is back. But this time, the friends have to wrestle with their guilt, from the lies they told the grown-ups, and of the story they created, that ultimately sent their best friend to prison.
Old Times, by Molly Taylor is a new piece of writing commissioned by the National Theatre as part of their NTConnections programme, an annual nationwide youth theatre festival.
Now in their second year, In the Round Theatre is a vibrant new youth theatre group based in Rugby that focusses on actor training. The group is a non-profit making organisation with the sole aim of providing actor training to the young people of Rugby.
Content Guidance:
- Recommended for ages 14+
- References to cancer.
- Moderate language and two instances of strong language.
- Reference to the stabbing of a character (unseen, offstage).
- A brief reference to substance abuse.