An opportunity to catch some of the hottest new writing for young people is currently on offer from Brighton to County Kildare. The National Theatre New Connections programme has commissioned ten of the UK's foremost playwrights to come up with new plays for young people aged 11-19.  These are being performed by 200 companies in regional centres across the UK from April to June 2008, culminating in a week of all ten plays at the National Theatre in London.

Playwrights this year include such well-established writers as Bryony Lavery in collaboration with Frantic Assembly, Mark Ravenhill, Nigel Williams, Moira Buffini, Anna Furse and Abi Morgan. 

Review: At Norwich Playhouse on April 15th, Black Box Productions (Norwich City College) presented Burying Your Brother in the Pavement, an outstanding new script striking a chord with the young performers and the audience,with its funny yet deeply touching story of a teenager dealing with his brother's unexpected death and unearthing a dark secret in the process.  The young cast dealt sensitively with the lively, raw writing style in a piece which used choral movement, rap, accapella singing, physical theatre and brash comedy to fine effect.  The play is written by young - and prolific - playwright Jack Thorne, currently Pearson Writer-in-Residence at the Bush Theatre.

You can catch all fourteen plays on tour from April to July 2008.