A Small Mind At The Theatre

The National Theatre Connections festival has become one of my favourite theatre events of the year and as each year has passed I have attempted to get to see more each time. 2014 I saw just the four, last year it was upped to ten, this year I had the pleasure of seeing twelve shows in four days. I pretty much loved everyone (with a couple of glaring exceptions). Last year a last minute decision saw me see one play a second time by a different group, and it was interesting to see the subtle differences in the pieces while maintaining exactly the same play. This year I was able to increase this and see four plays twice, and the difference on two of them was quite amazing and made this years festival a quite stunning eye opening theatre experience of a new kind. In order to get a grip over attempting to review twelve separate plays, I have decided to review the plays in the order I saw them, except the plays I saw performed twice. For those I will attempt to compare and contrast, and a...

There is something quite magical about youth theatre other grown-up productions don't exhibit. A vibrant energy exudes from the actors, be it because they either have something to prove (to themselves or others), or perhaps more simply just a feeling of youthful ambition. I think it is almost certain that they are free to enjoy the situation more, as at this time this is for the fun of it with no monetary reward. This doesn't detract from the quality of the situation as this group appears to work tirelessly well together, with no obvious frictions that their musician characters depict in this play). The Musicians by Patrick Marber ( Closer and Dealer's Choice ) is like all Connections plays a relatively short forty to fifty minute play specifically written for youth groups to perform. Originally written in 2004, this is part of the 2016 celebration of past material written for the yearly festival. It tells the story of a group of young musicians who find themselves at a c...