Throughout my meeting with Michael Lesslie, I’m struck by his animated personality. At 28 years old, Lesslie’s writing has already been nominated for a range of awards, including a BAFTA, and he is now developing two new plays, two TV series and three feature film scripts. He’s not up to much at the moment, then. It’s a little ironic that someone so young has been intrinsic in giving a company of young actors, only a few years his juniors, the chance to perform at the National Theatre in his play Prince of Denmark, a prequel to Shakespeare’s Hamlet. But this is a reflection of his obviously generous character; very quickly I feel like we’re on the same page, and most definitely learnt more in an hour with him than in a year at university.

At university, Lesslie was taken under the wing of Patrick Marber, all because he simply took the initiative to make himself known to the playwright when he visited; Lesslie is adamant that “he really did give me a career, I owe him so much”. Marber’s advice to him was to “direct great plays, because it really teaches you to get inside them”. Lesslie is keen, but is yet to add a directing credit to his already impressive CV; instead he likens this to his acting experiences (apparently he was a terrible actor, but I get the impression his personality would definitely hold its own). “One of the things which helped Prince of Denmark was that I did play Hamlet at school. I tore the ligaments in my ankle the week before, I was a lame Hamlet. But my headmaster wrote a note to me saying ‘long after your ankle’s healed, the memory of the lines will live on’. Once you’ve learnt Shakespeare it’s in your head, it’s amazing how the rhythms stay with you.”

It seems Lesslie was blessed with teachers passionate about drama, as well as full of absolutely golden quotes for a writer’s essential arsenal of anecdotes. He remembers the influence that reading Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf had on him, and his first taste of Shakespeare. But then at university, he studied all of Pinter’s plays to death until “I just hit a wall. I could say the pauses and silences do this. Great. But the magic was in seeing it and how they work.” He knocks such dry approaches, especially to Shakespeare. “I’m not an authority on this, but in terms of my gut reaction, I think there is an unfair stigma against it as being hard and boring, and actually it’s the most exciting drama ever if you stage it right… People going out and saying kids have to read Shakespeare is as damaging as saying Shakespeare’s really difficult. It’s good for you, not the people telling you to read it.” He recommends students would find it more engaging to “read it out loud as the character”.

Prince of Denmark is a stepping stone for young people into Shakespeare, which steers clear of ‘fake-speare’ expression or an unjustified update. “I know how Laertes speaks, it’s in Hamlet. I couldn’t make him say ‘Wassup!’, it’d be ridiculous.” Lesslie initially questioned whether a prequel “was possible without being terrible,” until re-reading Hamlet and remembering there are ideas with which everyone still identifies and which make it so popular today. “Everyone sees themselves like Hamlet, like the protagonists of their own life. Aware that we know what’s going to happen to these characters, by calling attention to the fact in the very act of writing a prequel, the main point is, I feel like someone in control of my life. But am I in control? Or am I an actor in someone else’s tragedy? In the way the play is set up, there’s a sense that they could act in such a way that I was toying with the idea, what if Hamlet dies at the end of this?”

What’s refreshing about Lesslie is that he thinks “there is no difference between writing for adults and young people. I loathe things that patronise.” Reading Prince of Denmark, I’m struck by how it’s just as challenging as any other play, in no way patronising. Despite his rapid success, Lesslie evidently has both feet firmly on the ground and significantly echoes Marber’s kindness in the wealth of counsel he shares with me. “I’m not the best writer in the world by a million leagues, but just the fact that it’s actually what I do day in day out means I’ll have some advice. But I guarantee you will get contradictory advice too. It’s about finding the way that works best for you: what you want to say and how you want to do it. Writing is an incredibly selfish thing, what people want is you as a writer on the page.”

And the advice Lesslie gives rings true for me, and I’m sure for most young writers: “Write as much as possible and don’t worry about it. Don’t get precious and feel a need to perfect it, just get it out there or else you’ll cripple yourself because you never start. There’s nothing like writing an imperfect play to teach you how to write a perfect one.” Lesslie seems to churn out scripts at lightning speed; his ability to look forwards  is an example to young people wanting to get ahead in an increasingly competitive industry. “There’s nothing like biting the bullet. You’re never going to get perfection in a moment; a line only works in a scene once the scene’s finished, playwriting is as much about context as articulation.”

Considering everything he’s working on at the moment, Lesslie also feels “collaboration is the most incredible thing in the world”. As both a successful playwright and screenwriter, he compares his experiences working with directors in these mediums, and the idea of directing himself. “With a film, you see it in a certain way; you’ve only got one shot. With theatre, you’ve got hopefully endless reiterations of your play for years to come. Inevitably that means you collaborate with directors and make it something that wasn’t just the idea in your head. Sharing it with someone else will just make it richer.”

Prince of Denmark shares Hamlet’s world with young people by making the characters teenagers who have as much at stake in the decisions they make as teenagers today. “There is something in the characters with which everyone can identify: if someone’s in love, if someone wants something. But I think there’s a common approach to Shakespeare like it’s something unreachable. When we did Prince of Denmark at the National the first time [as part of the Discover season in March 2011, performed by members of the National Youth Theatre], we got really young audiences, and they loved it – there was silence, and people were really attentive. We’d been concerned that the language was going to be too challenging or too difficult but it wasn’t at all.” Lesslie’s play not only captures the essence of Hamlet, but of the Connections Festival itself: the breaking of boundaries and breaching of stigmas.

Michael Lesslie’s play Prince of Denmark will be performed at the Cottesloe Theatre, National Theatre, on Monday 25 June at 7.00pm by Calderdale Theatre School, West Yorkshire. For tickets and more information, click here.

Image credit: Prince of Denmark, March 2011 by Simon Annand

Have you ever dreamed of performing on one of the three stages at the National Theatre? Did you think that you would have to train at drama school and buy into the ‘it’s not what you know, it’s who you know’ conspiracy? Did you just not think about it because you thought it would never be possible? Well all that can change because Rob Watt, Youth Programme Manger at the National Theatre, is on a mission to get as many young people as possible through the doors of the National and onto its stages, in order to change people’s expectation of youth theatre and pave the way for the theatregoers of tomorrow.

The National Theatre’s Connections programme started 17 years ago and is now one of the largest, and most diverse and exciting, youth theatre schemes in the country. “We’ve created a back catalogue of 130 plays… we’ve had them on main stages here, they go on and be professional shows. For me, there is something about a quality back catalogue of brilliant plays that people can go and access. DNA, which was written by Dennis Kelly who wrote Matilda [the musical], is now on the GCSE syllabus, which started its life as a Connections show, so there is something about that resonating with young people and there is something historical there as well.”

Each year 5,000 young people take part and put on, with the help of their teachers and/or youth theatre leaders, brand new plays written specifically for young people. This year the writers include Meera Syal, Craig Higginson, Hilary Bell and Rory Mallarky, and have an international flavour as a nod to the Cultural Olympiad. Watt describes questioning, “how is it that plays and stories from the world have resonance with the young people across the British Isles? And actually they inevitably do because the themes will still be the same and teenage angst is still the same whatever country you’re in, and that political and sociological angst that people have will still resonate, and it’s done that.” It is very important to Watt that the writing is in the right language and set in the right world; it needs to click with young people in order that they may do the writing justice and vice versa, that the writers will do justice to the young people of today and give them a great story to perform. The writers are told “write your next play but write it for young people”. Some writers have perfectly clear ideas about what they want to write about, and then have a first draft reading with a group of young people so that the writer can get a sense of what does and does not work, other writers have no idea what they want to write about and so visit a group of young people to find out what matters to them and work out their story that way. What is most important is that the writing has to be tested by young people, so that they feel it is within their world, and secondly that it does not become censored by the teachers or youth theatre leaders. If the kids say it’s alright, then it’s alright by the National Theatre.

Each year ten new plays are written and published, and in the spring of that year are performed across the country in Northern Ireland, Scotland, England and Wales. Out of the 200 groups that take part, ten are chosen to bring their production to London and perform at the National Theatre. The show is treated like any other show at the National; the set is moved in, fitted and touched up, the actors have their dressing rooms and they play to a paying audience. Having so many young people around doing something they have enjoyed for years or are experiencing for the first time gives the National an atmosphere that does not always happen with their regular audiences. Because there are always other shows going on at the same time some audience members might not be expecting the youthful buzz that hums throughout the building for the five days that the productions are being showcased – but that is part of the excitement and a way of bringing new audience members to the Connections shows: through curiosity.

However, Connections is not a competition and getting to take your production to London is not a prize to be won. Watt has spent much of his time “working with young people who are either on the fringes of society or don’t get on with education very well, don’t get on with the world very well, and how theatre might have a role within their lives to explore other people’s stories and to explore their stories. I think Connections can do that really well. We’ve had quite a lot of success stories… the Lyric Hammersmith worked with a pupil referral unit, Bridge Academy, this year and did The Grandfathers, which is one of this year’s portfolio and did it absolutely amazingly… just watching it on stage it was just like any other show in terms of its professionalism and its impact, but what I also knew was that the journey these young people had made was one which was quite exceptional for them.”

There is a journey for everyone involved, though. This year, Artistic Director of the National Nicholas Hytner returned to his own school, which is now taking part in the festival for the first time. A sign of the new directions the National is taking with its youth participation work, and a statement, too, that theatre by and for young people is more than worthy to be judged alongside any other production in the country. For Watt, ”it’s not necessarily just about the National Youth Theatre doing amazing pieces of theatre, which is great and wonderful, and I respect and love that. But where my passion lies is working with young people who don’t even understand or know that they are theatre makers and accessing them with these great pieces of writing and then giving them the chance to perform in a theatre that’s probably 20 miles away from them, that they don’t realise, and get that experience and get that buzz. You know as much as I do, I assume, that theatre, good theatre, has a hugely profound and positive effect on young people and I get that from every young person I’ve met throughout the Connections festival this year, as I did last. You can see that there is some change that has happened within them. So I think telling these Connections stories, it just gives them something really plausible to talk about… something to focus on, something to really get their teeth into, something different to their school musical, something different to their devising that they’ve done before. It challenges.” Given the range and extent of young companies taking part in the festival this year, we are clearly ready to take on the challenge. If you’re not involved yourself, visit the National this week to watch our generation rise to the occasion.

The festival runs at the National Theatre from 20 to 25 June and includes performances of all ten Connections 2012 plays. For more information and to book tickets, visit the Connections website.

Applications for Connections 2013 are also currently open, so if you and your youth group would like to be involved, visit the Take Part section of the website. Plays for 2013 include pieces from Lenny Henry, Anya Reiss, Lucinda Cox, Howard Brenton and Stacey Gregg. Applications close 1 July so get in while you still can!

Image credit: National Theatre Connections

At 24, Andrew Whyment has already done things that most would only dream of achieving in a lifetime. An acclaimed director and theatrical entrepreneur, his directorial credits include productions at the Old Vic Tunnels. He is an associate of the National Youth Theatre and runs his own company, Squint, which has received rave reviews for productions Bluebird and Frozen, the latter of which was described as “fascinating”, “skilful” and “slick” by reviewers.

On paper he’s a youthful amalgamation of Kevin Spacey and Alan Sugar. However, upon meeting Whyment, currently doing an MFA in Theatre Directing at Birkbeck College, it is immediately obvious that any hunger for fame and power is not part of his agenda. Rather, he’s the kind of director who believes in being absolutely engaged with every aspect of his productions, in working collaboratively and in challenging himself continually.

“I like to think I take risks as often as possible,” he tells me in between sips of tea. Whyment created Squint when he was only in his second year of university. “I knew that I wanted to test myself.” He describes the risk he took in staging the play Bluebird, which stunned audiences in 2011 at the Fringe. “[The playwright] Simon Stevens tells you in Bluebird that it is set almost entirely in a taxi. I would never choose to ignore that, because that is what he asks for in his script. But in theatre there is only so many ways you can do that. And we chose not to represent that taxi in any kind of naturalistic or conventional way. Our risk was to use the entire space as the interior of this taxi and have seats that could float about and move and people could stand up as much as they wanted and walk.”

Although dedicated to directing theatre, Whyment’s enduring engagement with film, music and acting strongly informs his work. “I guess somewhere I have always been directing but I’ve underscored that with lots of different things.” Having studied Film and Theatre at Reading University, aspects of film direction are integrated into Whyment’s approach to the stage. “I knew I wanted to be somewhere that looks at how the two combine.” He scans new writing for “pieces that have that filmic quality”, believing that it’s this visual panoramic feel that makes Squint’s work accessible to audiences.

Whyment’s history of working with sound also influences the musicality of Squint’s shows. “When I was at school, what got me into theatre was actually doing sound design and working creatively in technical fields. I do a lot of stuff with music and sound… but I’m not a musician by any means.”

Part of Whyment’s vast portfolio is an array of acting experiences. He enthusiastically emphasises the huge impact the National Youth Theatre has had on his career. “NYT has made me never feel intimidated by the industry because since I was 18 I felt like I have been in it already.” From being a young actor in the company to becoming an Associate, NYT seems to have provided Whyment with brilliant opportunities and he can’t recommend it enough to young people trying to penetrate the industry.

Does he miss acting? “I do! I love to be directed.” He recalls a particularly memorable experience from a run of interactive theatre in Glastonbury Festival’s Block 9, inside a set built to replicate the London underground. Whyment started performing at midnight each night and worked till 4am each morning. The run was for 11 nights. He confesses, “I didn’t shower the whole time I was there”.

With a weekend of casting for their new production coming up, I wonder whether Whyment looks for similar balls of steel in his performers. “If someone has a strange tic, that you can’t quite put your finger on and there is something just really intriguing about it, then they are probably more likely to be cast then someone who is a bit plain.” So is he only keen to direct eccentrics? “There are two things that I want, one is talent, but more importantly is for you to be a really nice person. It sounds really hippy but it’s essential. I don’t want any divas.”

It is no wonder that Whyment values congeniality so highly when a strong part of Squint’s ethos is collaborating with everyone involved in the creative process. “We are somewhere in between new writing and devised theatre, and I quite like that we are in the middle.” I ask him what defines whether a show has been successful or not. The reviews? The audience numbers? After a moment’s thought he responds, “If you can get every single member of your team, even if all they do is plug in something before the show and then cue someone on stage, if all of those people or as many as possible feel ownership of what they’re doing, then you are going to get the best theatre possible.”

Now well on his way to being a renowned director, it seems that Whyment is a bit of a Renaissance man; unafraid of getting his hands dirty as a performer, bringing aspects of film and sound into the creative space and taking risks at every opportunity. It looks like he’s got it all sorted, so is there any one piece of advice he would give to someone who’d like to take a similar path?

His answer is that you shouldn’t be afraid to take part in a lot of different projects. As long as you are engaged with each one of them, he believes there’s nothing wrong with throwing yourself into many roles. “If you want to juggle several things then do, because if you are questioning whether or not you’ll be able to, you probably can.” It’s an encouraging message for anyone with big ambitions who’s just starting out.

Squint recently showcased new show Broken News at the New Wimbledon Studio, with a tour in the pipeline for this year. To keep up to date with the company, follow them @squinttweet or visit their website, www.squintonline.com.

Image credit: Squint

30th March 2011 – even for those who benefitted from Arts Council England’s (ACE) National Portfolio announcements – will always be remembered as a bleak day for the arts. One of the 206 previous Regularly Funded Organisations that lost all funding was the National Association of Youth Theatres (NAYT). Like many of those 206, it faces closure if alternative funding is not quickly secured.

The NAYT  was set up in 1982 to provide free advice, support and training to young people and adults involved in youth theatre activity. It also aims to provide a national voice for youth theatre in England – raising its profile and encouraging participation. Its members range from small voluntary groups in rural areas where little else is provided for young people, to The National Youth Theatre which showcases young, rising talent to wide audiences. Currently, it works with more than 1,300 youth theatres, supporting participation in theatre for approximately 65,000 young people.

Jill Adamson, NAYT’s Chief Executive said that it was “totally soul destroying to see our organisation suffer and struggle for survival when it has played a vital role in supporting both grass roots and high profile organisations for almost 30 years”. She added that although NAYT understand that ACE had some very challenging decisions to make, they feel that no other organisation currently exists to provide the same kind of service.

The £140,000 a year ACE loss, which made up 50% of its income, came as a serious blow just as NAYT attempted to recover from a withdrawal of funding from the Department for Education – a source that had provided financial support for 11 years.

Adamson insists that with a small team of seven operating in Darlington, the investment NAYT needs is extremely modest and that it offers “excellent value for money. I can only assume that the perception is that we don’t play a part in influencing the work that our youth theatres are producing. We provide crucial advice, support and training to both young people and those who work with them. Enquiries can range from how to set up a new youth theatre to guidance on young people kissing and smoking on stage.” Other activities include commissioning research, setting quality standards and creating networks.

The positive impact created by youth theatres is widely recognised in the UK. David Osmond is a successful professional actor – credits include The National Theatre’s touring production of The History Boys and The Good Soul of Szechuan at The Young Vic. He attended the volunteer-run Congress Youth Theatre (CYT) in Cwmbran, South Wales for eight years and describes the effect it had on him as “colossal”. He believes it was the first major step in his career: “It transformed my vague interest in performing into a bug that became my vocation and never went away”.

Joshua Fisher, who also attended CYT, never wanted to pursue a career in the arts, but feels the youth theatre was invaluable for the life skills he acquired: “I was a very shy ten-year-old with severe confidence issues. During an eight year stint at CYT, I developed the ability to drive projects, communicate clearly, organise, work within a team and, when required, lead a team”.

Both David and Joshua trace the fondness and appreciation they have for youth theatre back to a dedicated and passionate small team of volunteers.

Adamson fears the impact of the closure of the NAYT for current and future youth theatres, which she believes would result in reduced participation and quality, and the elimination of the national voice and 30 years of knowledge and expertise.

Jo Wright is Head of Creative Learning at South Hill Park Arts Centre. Although she doesn’t believe that the number of youth theatres functioning in England would necessarily reduce in significant numbers, she does believe that the closure of the NAYT would represent a gaping hole in the sector: “South Hill Park Youth Theatre is a recent member of NAYT – already we have benefitted through their peer sharing policy and wide knowledge of the sector. We were hoping to take advantage of the excellent training offered by the NAYT for our tutors and assistants, as well as taking part in wider festivals. Now, with the funding cut, we don’t know what will happen.” Wright adds that if youth theatres are forced to work in isolation, “the richness or creativity young people and practitioners produce in partnership will be sincerely damaged”.

The only way forward, according to Adamson, is for politicians to recognise that organisations like NAYT need financial backing from the government. “We are not a business and cannot operate a business model because our sector have no buying power.”

In order to demonstrate the value of the organisation, NAYT have created an online petition. Young NAYT volunteers are currently discussing how best to use the petition – it seems likely that it will be presented to government ministers alongside a protest event. Adamson will also no doubt take it to the meeting she has with Darren Henley as part of the consultation process for the cultural education review.

For further information about how you can help or show your support please visit the NAYT website.