Sabrina Mahfouz

Catherine Johnson

Pauline McLynn

Deborah Bruce

Simon Vinnicombe

Evan Placey

Matt Hartley

Luke Norris

Sam Holcroft

Dafydd James

Draws together the work of ten leading playwrights including Sabrina Mahfouz, Simon Vinnicombe, Catherine Johnson, Pauline McLynn, Dafydd James, Luke Norris and Sam Holcroft. This National Theatre Connections anthology is published to coincide with the 2014 festival, which takes place across the UK and finishes up at the National Theatre in London. It offers young performers between the ages of thirteen and nineteen everywhere an engaging selection of plays to perform, read or study.

Plays for Young People: Same; Horizon; The Wardrobe; Heritage; A Letter to Lacey; A Shop Selling Speech; Angels; Hearts; Pronoun; Tomorrow

National Theatre Connections 2014

Daf James

Drawing together the work of ten leading playwrights - a mixture of established and emerging writers - this National Theatre Connections anthology is published to coincide with the 2014 festival, which takes place across the UK and finishes up at the National Theatre in London. It offers young performers between the ages of thirteen and nineteen everywhere an engaging selection of plays to perform, read or study. Each play is specifically commissioned by the National Theatre's literary department with the young performer in mind. The plays are performed by approximately 200 schools and youth theatre companies across the UK and Ireland, in partnership with multiple professional regional theatres where the works are showcased. As with previous anthologies, the volume will feature an introduction by Anthony Banks, Associate Director of the National Theatre Discover Programme, and each play includes notes from the writer and director addressing the themes and ideas behind the play, as well as production notes and exercises. The National Theatre Connections series has been running for nineteen years and the anthology that accompanies it, published for the last three years by Methuen Drama, is gaining a greater profile by the year. Some iconic plays have grown out of the Connections programme including Citizenship by Mark Ravenhill, Burn by Deborah Gearing, Chatroom by Enda Walsh, Baby Girl by Roy Williams, DNA by Dennis Kelly, and The Miracle by Lin Coghlan. The series has a recognisable brand and the anthologies continue to be an extremely useful resource, their value extending well beyond their year of publication. This year's anthology includes plays by Sabrina Mahfouz, Simon Vinnicombe, Catherine Johnson, Pauline McLynn, Dafydd James, Luke Norris and Sam Holcroft.

A teenage boy is dead. In the aftermath of the unspeakable yet avoidable tragedy, a family finds itself torn apart by grief and turning for comfort to Daniel, the troubled teenager who lives next door. Having experienced their tragedy first hand, Daniel finds solace visiting their home, yet he soon becomes the target for their daughter's affections and the grieving father is confronted by the fact that Daniel knew his son in a way that he never could. However, it is Marion, the dead boy's mother, who expresses her grief through Daniel in a way that will ultimately lead both him and her family on a path that will irrevocably alter the course of their lives forever. Cradle Me had its world premiere at the Finborough Theatre, London, on 1 October 2008.

Cradle Me

I feel like asking him to stay. To never leave this room. But I know that soon he will leave and... I'm going to ring him that night. I'm not going to write anything down. I might not even say anything. Just listen to him breathe. Lucy and Jim are alone. To the world they seem to be doing alright: they have jobs, friends, ambitions (well, sort of). But inside they are drowning. Until their chance meeting on a London night bus leads to a desperate search for redemption, each through the other. Inevitably, though, their hopes for salvation are dashed as deep-rooted insecurities rise to the surface. City Love is an unflinching look at the opposing human needs for companionship and self-destruction. Sharp observations transform the mundane into the epic in this grim, witty and agonizingly real play that will pierce the heart of anyone who has ever been in love.

Simon Vinnicombe

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