National Theatre reveals line-up for the 2025 Connections Festival

Celebrating its 30th anniversary, National Theatre’s Connections Festival will return this summer.

The annual event champions the talent of young people across the UK and celebrates the power of youth theatre. This year, it’ll see teenagers from ten youth groups across the UK reopen the Dorfman Theatre, which has been closed for government-funded capital works since November 2024.

Across the past three months, over 5000 young people from more than 270 companies and schools have performed across the country. Ten groups have been invited to perform on stage at the National Theatre from 24 to 28 June.

Previous alumni of the programme include performers Joe Locke, Jack Wolfe, screen star Naomi Ackie, Aisling Loftus, and David Oyelowo, and playwrights such as James Graham, Chris Bush, and Jack Thorne wrote their first plays for the NT through Connections.

The programme is as follows:

Fresh Air by Vickie Donoghue, performed by Central Foundation Boys’ School, Islington, London

Ravers by Rikki Beadle-Blair, performed by HOME Young Company, Manchester

Mia and the Fish by Satinder Chohan, performed by Abbey Grange Academy, Leeds, Yorkshire

The Company of Trees by Jane Bodie, performed by Hamilton District Youth Theatre, Lanarkshire, Scotland

Their Name is Joy by May Sumbwanyambe, performed by Nottingham Girls Academy Theatre Company, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire

Saba’s Swim by Danusia Samal, performed by Central Youth Theatre, Wolverhampton, West Midlands

Normalised by Amanda Verlaque, performed by Brassneck Youth, Belfast, Northern Ireland

No Regrets by Gary McNair, performed by Glasgow Acting Academy, Glasgow, Scotland

Brain Play by Chloë Lawrence-Taylor and Paul Sirett, performed by Chatham and Clarendon Grammar School, Ramsgate, Kent

YOU 2.0 by Alys Metcalf, performed by Everyman Youth Theatre, Cardiff, Wales

For dates, times and ticketing information, visit the National Theatre website.