Young thespians take part in national theatre festival

Keen young thespians at Solihull Sixth Form College are taking part in a national theatre feature festival.

The students have been given a new and exciting playscript titled "Look Up" by Andrew Muir, as part of the National Theatre Connections festival, which has been written specifically for The National Theatre.

The play explores a world free from adult intervention, supervision and protection. It tells the story of nine young people, as they create new rules for what they hope will be a new and brighter future.

Rehearsals have been via Microsoft Teams during lockdown and they have recently started face-to-face rehearsals since the return to College in March. They also attended a Zoom workshop with Andrew Muir to learn more about the play, characters and the playwright's inspiration.

The students are responsible for all aspects of production from costume design to performing.

The group will perform a 'Home Performance', which will be watched by a mentor director from The National Theatre and be given guidance and support to refine their production in preparation for the Festival.

Students will then be collaborating with Nottingham Playhouse as part of the Festival and will have the opportunity to present their work on a professional stage and participate in workshops provided by the theatre during May half-term.

Drama teacher Nadia Kouhi commented: "The National Theatre Connections Festival is a fantastic project to be involved with and I'm so pleased we have been able to continue this despite lockdown.

"It has been great to see the students developing their ideas and they really enjoyed the Zoom workshop with Andrew Muir, which gave them so many ideas. Now that college has re-opened the students are able fine tune their performance with weekly rehearsals. I can't wait to see the finished product."

Pictured: Young thespians taking part in rehearsals