National Theatre Connections 2023 draws together ten new plays for young people to perform, from some of the UK's most exciting and popular playwrights. These are plays for a generation of theatre-makers who want to ask questions, challenge assertions and test the boundaries, and for those who love to invent and imagine a world of possibilities. The plays offer young performers an engaging and diverse range of material to perform, read or study. Touching on themes like climate change, politics, toxic masculinity and gang culture, the collection provides topical, pressing subject matter for students to explore in their performance. This 2023 anthology represents the full set of ten plays offered by the National Theatre 2023 Festival, as well as comprehensive workshop notes that give insights and inspiration for building characters, running rehearsals and staging a production.

Hurling Rubble at the Sun That side of town. July 2005. One blistering night. One blazing day. T labours over hot-plates cooking up the final ingredients for his mission while his mother labours over a hot stove, cooking up his final meal. Wearied by staring into all-consuming retribution, T reaches out to her seeking fresh insight. Desperate to be folded into her bosom once again, instead he's thrust onto a course of his own design, but with a force far greater than his alone. Hurling Rubble at the Moon This side of town. The first years of the millennium and Skef's dad is back. Reliving his glory days on the terraces, he stands shoulder to shoulder with his son for the first time as they give it to the Asians. For Skef this isn't about reliving bygone glory but reclaiming all that's fast being stolen by the new insidious scourge all around. But, committed to battling this enemy within, he's in danger of soiling the very thing he's fighting for by violating the very thing he loves.