Students take centre stage with new play

ON STAGE . . . Blue Coat School students are performing the play #YOLO by Matthew Bulgo today and tomorrow

YOUNG actors from Blue Coat School are taking to the stage today and tomorrow to perform a new play as part of National Theatre Connections, a nationwide celebration of new plays for young people.

Students are staging #YOLO by Matthew Bulgo, which is one of 10 plays written especially for Connections by a selection of the best playwriting talent in the UK.

The drama centres around a group of young people who have received their A-level results and are about to embark on the next stage of their lives, when one member of the group receives some bad news.

National Theatre Connections is one of the world's largest celebrations of youth theatre and this year will work with 260 youth theatres and schools to stage the 10 commissioned plays. Plays are commissioned for and about young people, from some of the best contemporary playwrights, and performed by schools and youth theatres all over the UK and Ireland.

Nikki Edwards-Cotton, Blue Coat drama teacher, said: "This a fantastic play and an excellent opportunity for our students. They've really risen to the challenge and the results are incredibly moving."

Rufus Norris, director of the National Theatre, said: "Connections is at the heart of the National Theatre's work for young people and one of the most exciting and important projects we do. We think it's vital that young people, wherever they are in the country and whatever their future path, have a chance to get involved in theatre." The play will be performed at the school on both evenings at 7pm.