EACH year the National Theatre commissions ten new one-hour plays, specially written for young people by established playwrights. They then select 300 schools and Youth Theatre Groups throughout the country to produce these works with specialist help from their directors and experts.

Ilkley Players are delighted to have been selected to participate, and will be producing one of these plays, “Tuesday” by Alison Carr, to be presented in their Wildman Studio in early March 2021. Andrew Leggott and Lisa Debney, Greenroom Tutors, will direct.

The play will then be transferred to York Theatre Royal Studio, for one performance in mid-April 2021, as part of their festival of youth productions.

Ten plays out of the 300 produced nationwide will then be selected to go on to be presented in London, at the National Theatre itself, on the South Bank, in early summer.

This is how “Tuesday” is summarised by the National Theatre team: Tuesday is light, playful and nuanced in tone. And a little bit sci-fi. The play centres on an ordinary Tuesday that suddenly turns very weird indeed when a tear rips across the sky over the school yard. Not only that, but it starts sucking up pupils and staff while at the same time raining down a whole new set of people. But then, that’s what happens when parallel worlds collide! Confusion reigns as the ‘Us’ and ‘Them’ try to work out what is going on. How are Ash and Magpie identical? Can Billy cope with having his sister back? Who is Franky? Eventually, though, cracks appear between the two groups. As the air here starts to disagree with the ‘Them’, the race is on to try to get things back to how they were and safely return everyone to the Universe they came from. The play touches on themes of friendship, sibling love, family, identity, grief, bullying, loneliness and responsibility. And in the process we might just learn something about ourselves as well as some astronomical theories of the multiverse!

The flexible cast will consist of around 15 youngsters aged 13 to 19. It will be difficult for those in Years 11 and 13 with mock exams in the Spring to participate, however. Therefore there is scope to add to the regular Greenroom membership, with talented additional youngsters who do not attend the Saturday morning classes at present. They will be made very welcome to join the cast.

Owing to the pandemic, a casting audition will be held at 2pm on Saturday, December 12, 2020, online via ZOOM. Those within the 13 -19 age range by May next year are cordially invited to attend and read for a part along with regular Greenroom members.

The commitment is to attend rehearsals up to three times a week from January 2021, and then a few more before the York performance. Not all the cast will be required at every rehearsal. These will take place at Ilkley Playhouse in the early evenings on weeknights between 5.30 and 7.15pm. There will be a few Sunday afternoon rehearsals in addition. Depending on the regulations in force at the time, some of these rehearsals may also be online. If you would like to take part please email Andrew Leggott a.leggott1@btinternet.com (Telephone 01943 602014).