Each year, the National Theatre commissions ten new plays for young people to perform, bringing together some of the UK's most exciting writers with the theatre-makers of tomorrow. This 2021 pack captures the two new plays written for the 2021 festival that are perfect for schools and youth groups to perform and study. Written with flexibility in mind, these are perfect for exploration both virtually and in-person, responding to the restrictions in place due to Covid-19. It also includes National Theatre Connections 2020 anthology which features 9 plays, 8 of which are included in the 2021 festival performances. The plays included in this pack are: Find a Partner by Miriam Battye Like There's No Tomorrow, created by the Belgrade Young Company with Justine Themen, Claire Procter and Liz Mytton Wind / Rush Generation(s) by Mojisola Adebayo Tuesday by Alison Carr A series of public apologies (in response to an unfortunate incident in the school lavatories) by John Donnelly THE IT by Vivienne Franzmann The Marxist in Heaven by Hattie Naylor Look Up by Andrew Muir Crusaders by Frances Poet Witches Can't Be Burned by Silva Semerciyan Dungeness by Chris Thompson .

'They say we're like swans. Ruddy beautiful graceful things on the surface of a lake but underneath we're paddling like mad.' Maggie and Gordon first met, dancing to Rod Stewart songs, in 1971. Now in their sixties, and still very much in love, they've been finishing each other's songs all their marriage. But now Maggie is feeling foggy and some days the songs are all she can remember. Her son and his new girlfriend are coming to dinner, and her best friend is asking questions. Frances Poet's play Maggie May is an extraordinary drama about an ordinary family who must balance the challenges of daily life whilst living with dementia. A heartfelt and inspiring story of hope, it was first produced in 2020 by Leeds Playhouse, Curve Theatre, Leicester, and Queen's Theatre Hornchurch, directed by Jemima Levick. It was a finalist for the 2020-21 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize.

'We were two weans playing at wee hooses... Now we're both paying the price.' Jack is proud of his work at the Clyde shipyards. His wife, Beanie, who is nursing him through asbestosis, thinks he's a fool. But the real test of their marriage comes when they discover that the dusty overalls Jack brought home for Beanie to wash have poisoned her too. Meanwhile their daughter, Lucy, is struggling; will she be held back by her parents' experience, or will she have the courage to allow romance to blossom with Pete? Frances Poet's play Fibres is a big-hearted, hilarious drama about what it means to entwine our lives with another. A story told by four resilient, witty Glaswegian characters, the play asks can we ever cut the cords that bind us - and who will catch us if we do? The play toured Scotland in 2019, in a co-production between Stellar Quines Theatre Company and the Citizens Theatre, Glasgow.

National Theatre Connections is an annual festival which brings new plays for young people to schools and youth theatres across the UK and Ireland. Commissioning exciting work from leading playwrights, the festival exposes actors aged 13-19 to the world of professional theatre-making, giving them full control of a theatrical production - from costume and set design to stage management and marketing campaigns. NT Connections have published over 150 original plays and regularly works with 500 theatre companies and 10,000 young people each year. This anthology brings together 9 new plays by some of the UK's most prolific and current writers and artists alongside notes on each of the texts exploring performance for schools and youth groups. Wind / Rush Generation(s) by Mojisola Adebayo This is a play about the British Isles, its past and its present. Set in a senior common room, in a prominent university, a group of 1st year undergraduates are troubled, not by the weight of their workload, but by a 'noisy' ghost. So they do what any group self-respecting and intelligent university students would do in such a situation - they get out the Ouija Board to confront their spiritual irritant and lay them to rest - only to be confronted by the full weight of Britain's colonial past - in all its gory glory. Fusing naturalism, with physical theatre, spoken-word, absurdism, poetry and direct address - this is event-theatre that whips along with the grace, pace and hypnotic magnetism of a hurricane. Tuesday by Alison Carr Tuesday is light, playful and nuanced in tone. And a little bit sci-fi. The play centres on an ordinary Tuesday that suddenly turns very weird indeed when a tear rips across the sky over the school yard. The play touches on themes of friendship, sibling love, family, identity, grief, bullying, loneliness and responsibility. And in the process we might just learn something about ourselves as well as some astronomical theories of the multiverse! A series of public apologies (in response to an unfortunate incident in the school lavatories) by John Donnelly This satirical play is heightened in its naturalism, in its seriousness, in its parody and piercing in its interrogation of how our attempts to define ourselves in public are shaped by the fear of saying the wrong thing. Presented quite literally as a series of public apologies this play is spacious, flexible and welcoming of inventive and imaginative interpretation as each iteration spirals inevitably to its absurdist core. This is a play on words, on convention, on manners, on institutions, on order, online and on point. THE IT by Vivienne Franzmann THE IT is a play about a teenage girl who has something growing inside her. She doesn't know what it is, but she knows it's not a baby. It expands in her body. It starts in her stomach, but quickly outgrows that, until eventually ittakes over the entirety of her insides. It has claws. She feels them. Presented in the style of a direct to camera documentary, this is a darkly comic state of the nation play exploring adolescent mental health and the rage within, written very specifically for today. The Marxist in Heaven by Hattie Naylor The Marxist in Heaven is a play that does exactly what its title page says it's going to do. The eponymous protagonist 'wakes up' in paradise and once they get over the shock of this fundamental contradiction of everything they believe in.....they get straight back to work....and continue their lifelong struggle for equality and fairness for all....even in death. Funny, playful, provocative, pertinent and jam-packed with discourse, disputes, deities and disco dancing by the bucketful, this upbeat buoyant allegory shines its holy light on globalization and asks the salient questions - who are we and what are we doing to ourselves?.....and what conditioner do you use on your hair? Look Up by Andrew Muir Look Up plunges us into a world free from adult intervention, supervision and protection. It's about seeking the truth for yourself and finding the space to find and be yourself. Nine young people are creating new rules for what they hope will be a new and brighter future full of hope in a world in which they can trust again. Each one of them is unique, original and defiantly individual, break into an abandoned building and set about claiming the space, because that is what they do. They have rituals, they have rules, together they are a tribe, they have faith in themselves....and nothing and no one else. They are the future, unless the real world catches up with them and then all they can hope for is that they don't crash and burn like the adults they ran away from in the first place. Crusaders by Frances Poet A group of teens gather to take their French exam but none of them will step into the exam hall. Because Kyle has had a vision and he'll use anything, even miracles, to ensure his classmates accompany him. Together they have just seven days to save themselves, save the world and be the future. And Kyle is not the only one who has had the dream. All across the globe, from Azerbaijan to Zambia, children are dreaming and urging their peers to follow them to the promised land. Who will follow? Who will lead? Who will make it? Witches Can't Be Burned by Silva Semerciyan St. Paul's have won the schools Playfest competition, three years in a row, by selecting recognised classics from the canon and producing them at an exceptionally high level, it's a tried and trusted formula. With straight A's student and drama freak, Anuka cast as Abigail Williams in The Crucible by Arthur Miller, the school seem to be well on course for another triumph, which would be a record. However, as rehearsals gain momentum, Anuka has an epiphany. An experience resulting in her asking searching questions surrounding the text, the depiction and perception of female characters, the meaning of loyalty, and the values and traditions underpinning the very foundations of the school. Thus, the scene is set for a confrontation of epic proportions as Anuka seeks to break with tradition, before tradition breaks her and all young women like her and reality begins to take on the ominous hue of Miller's fictionalized Salem. Dungeness by Chris Thompson . In a remote part of the UK, where nothing ever happens, a group of teenagers share a safe house for LGBT+ young people. While their shared home welcomes difference, it can be tricky for self-appointed group leader Birdie to keep the peace. The group must decide how they want to commemorate an attack that happened to LGBT+ people, in a country far away. How do you take to the streets and protest if you're not ready to tell the world who you are? If you're invisible, does your voice still count? A play about love, commemoration and protest.

'Folk say you can trick a brain. Placebo power... I'm going to stand up and it'll feel better.' Gaynor's got to leave the house if she wants to meet her newborn grand-daughter. Stillness has been the only way to deal with her chronic pain but now it's time to move. Gilly's not sure what her dying dad is feeling but she knows, from experience, that it's best not to Google it. Dougie and Ciara have spent their last NCT class preparing for the labour pains ahead, but now it's time for one last night on the dance floor. And then there's Mick, who wakes up on Portobello Beach in the early hours of the morning with two gold rings in his pocket. He can't remember what they're for but he knows it's something important. He'll work out what if only his old pal, Pat, will stop buying him drinks... Five Edinburgh souls stagger towards each other and are transformed. Full of tenderness and humour, Frances Poet's play Still is a cathartic story of life, loss and joy. It premiered at the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, during the 2021 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, directed by the theatre's Artistic Director Gareth Nicholls.

If you are born in a country where being yourself can get you killed, exile is your only choice. Frances Poet's play Adam is the remarkable true story of a young trans man having to make that choice and begin his journey. It charts Adam's progress from Egypt to Scotland, across borders and genders, in his search for a place to call home. The play was first performed by the National Theatre of Scotland at the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, during the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2017, where it won a Fringe First award. It was directed by Cora Bissett, with music by Jocelyn Pook, and starred Adam Kashmiry, whose story inspired the play. A TV movie based on the play, written by Frances Poet and also starring Adam Kashmiry, was made by Hopscotch Films and National Theatre of Scotland, and was broadcast by the BBC in 2021. The film was the winner in the Television Scripted category at the 2021 BAFTA Scotland Awards.

Maddy and Rory are devoted parents to 3-year-old Joshua, committed to keeping him happy and safe. But when an everyday visit to a supermarket cafe turns into a far more troubling incident, their trust even in those closest to them is shattered. Fear and doubt consume them, until they reach a savage breaking point. Gut is a taut psychological thriller that explores who we can trust with our children. And whether it's more dangerous not to trust at all.

Bringing together five plays commissioned specially for the RADA Elders Company, this anthology provides a selection of dynamic and thought-provoking works for elders companies anywhere. The RADA Elders Company began in 2013 in order to provide opportunities for older people to experience the academy's training at its best. Each year, a playwright is invited to create a new piece for the company, encompassing a wide range of theatre disciplines and skills. This collection features five pieces that showcase the breadth and diversity of RADA Elders commissions: Broken Pieces by A. C. Smith Our Father by Deborah Bruce The Word by Nell Leyshon Down the Hatch by Frances Poet Of Blood by Christopher William Hill