Photos: NYT Celebrates 50 Years of Star Support
Stars including Sir Ian McKellen, Timothy Spall, Diana Quick, Paula Wilcox, Bruce Payne, Jonathan Wrather, newsreader Krishnan Guru-Murthy and Little Britain’s Matt Lucas and David Walliams were on hand this afternoon to launch the National Youth Theatre’s 50th anniversary programme.
Currently in Birmingham with the stage version of their hit TV sketch show, Lucas and Walliams lent their support via live video link. Little Britain would not exist without the NYT, said Walliams, as the two comedians met in 1990 while members.
After the presentation of the anniversary programme by NYT artistic directors Paul Roseby and John Hoggarth – which will include several major new productions, a mammoth “playathon”, “God Save the Teen”-themed flash mob spectacles across the country and specially commissioned new writing from contemporary dramatists including Rebecca Lenkiewicz, Samuel Adamson and Stella Duffy – nearly 100 current and former NYT members took to the stage for a massive group photo. Other high-profile names who gave their backing in a special birthday film were actors Jeremy Irons, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael York and Con O’Neill.
Over the next six months, the NYT programme will include:
The National Youth Theatre of Great Britain was founded in 1956 by Michael Croft, the company’s director until his death in 1986. The company initially played in the East End of London but proved so successful that young people began applying to join it from all over the country. In 1960 the Youth Theatre was given national status and financial support by the Department for Education. Since its foundation, NYT has performed over 270 productions in over 50 cities in eight countries and involved over 120,000 young people (aged between 13 and 21) in the UK. During this anniversary year, it aims to work with 24,000 young people across its range of activities and give over 200 performances of 64 productions in 82 venues.
Speaking at today’s launch event, Paul Roseby also encouraged people to donate money to help fund NYT’s ongoing programme. He reminded the audience: “We are a charity. We just don’t talk about death and destruction, we talk about life and opportunity.”
– by Terri Paddock
TO SCROLL THROUGH ALL OF PHOTOS FROM TODAY’S NYT LAUNCH EVENT, JUST CLICK ON THE “NEXT >” LINKS BELOW THE FOLLOWING FRAME.