The Nottingham Emmanuel School took part in The National Theatre Connections Festival 2022 and their play Find a Partner will be performed at Nottingham Playhouse on Monday 4th April at 6pm, sharing a double bill with Carlton Academy in this prestigious annual theatre celebration of young talent.
A cast of 24 students from the school have been working on this production together for 6 months, meeting every week to rehearse, adapt and produce this specially scripted play for young teenage actors and audiences.
Directed by Demi Hughes, one of the school’s drama teachers, Ms Hughes has recognised and brought out the talented personalities and performances of her cast. They have also been mentored by one of the National Theatre’s directors from London and had the opportunity to see other student’s performances in the festival.
Find a Partner written by Miriam Battye especially for the National Theatre festival which aims to support young playwrights and performers. The play is essentially Love Island meets the Hunger Games, asking the audience to be part of the game show, where the aim is either to find love and – if you’re not ‘worthy’ of love – you are eliminated from the game. It deals with the search for the perfect partner – and in the play looks at how people find love, how they stay and survive in the game. All without losing themselves and their values, and their lives.
https://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/learning/connections
The performance at the Playhouse was a huge success with several members of the cast being praised for their characterisation by the National Theatre Director of the National Theatre in London. One student Mya Mercer was approached by the Nottingham Playhouse and offered a bursary to join their Youth Theatre!
The audience laughed along and there was a great buzz within the auditorium. It was a real pleasure to be able to view the show! Every single student who took part either on stage or behind the scenes were excellent; really represented the school in a positive light! – Mrs Stapleton
All of the cast involved did Emmanuel so proud!! This is my 5th year running this event and it was by far the most enjoyable, rewarding and by far the best outcome!! Bring on next year! – Miss Hughes
