National Theatre Connections
Local Festivals
We regularly take part in local festivals including Halifax festival, Hebden Bridge Arts festival and Sowerby Bridge GLOW festival:
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'1968' a devised play to celebrate our 40th anniversary
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'Ruckus in the Garden' by David Farr rehearsed and staged in 24 hours
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'One Million Tiny Plays About Britain'
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'Minster Mysteries' about and performed in the atmospheric surroundings of Halifax Minster
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'Private Peaceful' for Halifax Festival 2013 and in 2014
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'Changing Tracks' in the grounds of Eureka
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The Green Man, a devised piece, performed on the Railway Steps, Sowerby Bridge as part of the GLOW festival in December 2021
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Icarus and scenes from a Midsummer Night's Dream performed in Halifax Minster as part of their Arts festival in June 2023
Calderdale Young Shorts and Hebden Bridge Arts Festival
In 2015 with generous support from Arts Council England, Calderdale Community Foundation and Square Chapel, we ran playwriting workshops in local schools. A selection of 15 short plays were chosen, rehearsed and performed by a cast of 15 – 21 year olds at Square Chapel and at the Little Theatre, Hebden Bridge as part of the Hebden Bridge Arts Festival.
In 2015, Helen Meller HBAF Director said - ‘Calderdale Young Shorts’ was one of my favourite bits of the programme this year. The plays were fun, fresh and engaging and the staging and acting, imaginative and bold. It was both humbling and remarkable to see what our local young people are capable of writing and performing in a non-educational context.'
It was so successful that we have been able to build on that success by repeating the programme in 2016, 2017 and 2018. We were supported by Square Chapel Education and Outreach programme, Hebden Bridge Arts Festival, Hebden Royd Town Council, The Bearder Charity and Calderdale Community Foundation. We reprised a number of the short plays in a fundraising evening in Causey Hall in 2019.
National Theatre Connections is a national festival of new writing and young theatre making. Exciting new one act plays, commissioned by the National Theatre, are performed by youth theatre groups and schools across the UK, with professional support from the NT and its partner theatres. NT Connections aims to inspire 13 to 19 year olds with high-quality new playwriting.
We first took part in National Theatre Connections in 2012 and our young cast performed Michael Lesslie’s 'Prince of Denmark' at Square Chapel, Halifax, West Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds and at the National Theatre on the South Bank in London – more about this on the productions pages.
In 2014 we performed Sam Holcroft’s play 'The Wardrobe' and in 2015 'The Boy Preference' by Elinor Cook both in the Orange Box studio theatre and the West Yorkshire Playhouse.
In 2016 we took part in National Theatre Connections 500, the 21st anniversary of NT Connections and performed 'The Musicians' by Patrick Marber at Orange Box and at the West Yorkshire Playhouse. In 2018 we performed 'The Blue Electric Wind' by Brad Birch in the new Copper auditorium at Square Chapel and in the Courtyard Theatre at West Yorkshire Playhouse. In 2019 we performed 'Salt' by Dawn King at Square Chapel, Halifax and at the Theatre Royal, York.
