The Musicians
The orchestra of Ridley Road, a state school, is to give a concert in Moscow at the European Festival of Youth, playing Tchaikovsky's Fourth Symphony before an audience of cultural bigwigs. But their instruments have been impounded by Customs. Can Alex, the Russian boy who cleans the hall (and is a devout Pinball Wizard fan) come up with a plan to save the situation?
Written for the National Theatres's new writing programme, National Theatre Connections. Performances at Orange Box Studio Theatre in February 2016 and at the West Yorkshire Playhouse in May 2016.
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Connections is the National Theatre’s annual festival of new plays for youth
theatres and schools. The 2016 Connections cycle involved:
· 12 Writers and 500 Youth Theatre Companies
· 10,000 Young People and 1200 Performances
· 41 Partner Theatres and 40,000 Audience Members
Calderdale Theatre School was excited and proud to be part of Connections 500
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Twenty-one years ago the National launched Connections in response to a demand for good, new, relevant plays for young people to perform. Two decades later, it’s still one of the most exciting and important projects we do. It involves young people, schools and youth theatres right across the UK and beyond. And every year it fills our stages with young people for the NT’s Connections festival. So when I became Director of the National last year, I was determined that we should celebrate 21 remarkable years.
Rufus Norris – Director of the National Theatre
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Patrick Marber - with several prestigious British theatre awards to his name, Patrick Marber has earned comparisons to Tom Stoppard and Harold Pinter. His play 'Closer', a tangled romantic drama was adapted for Hollywood and cast with an all-star line-up that included Julia Roberts and Jude Law. He has written and adapted several plays for the National Theatre. In his early career he collaborated with Steve Coogan on the Alan Partridge series and more recently on the film based on the character.
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Performed: 26th - 27th February 2016
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Cast in order of appearance
Alex: Chris Rhodes
Roland: Max Bownas
2nd Flute: Rayen Gonzalez
Cello: Lily-Mae Emery
2nd Trumpet: Christian Kerouac
1st Violin: Elisha Cruthers
Viola: Olivia Huson
Double Bass: Nathan Baber
2nd Horn: Charlie Jeffreys
1st Horn: Chris Lang
Timpani: George Seabourne
Oboe: Alexandra Cullen
Clarinet: Eve Stollery
1st Trumpet: James Senneck
Bassoon: Sophie Holdsworth
1st Flute: Alisha Hunter
Director: Adam Garrett
1st Assistant Director and Stage Manager: Jenny Birch
2nd Assistant Directors: Joe Finegold and Josephine Tomlinson
Musical Director: Stephen Finegold
Lighting and Sound Design: Matt Blackmore and Joe Moorhead
Set: Tony Clark and Richard Olive
Marketing Director: Jujin Whippey
Producer: Gillie Kerrod