National Digital Programme 2020
January – October 2020
Scottish Youth Theatre launched a new national ‘digital’ artistic programme in direct response to the COVID-19 crisis, where young people all over the country stayed at home to protect themselves and their loved ones.
During the year we offered young people, families, professional creatives, stakeholders and wider audiences ways to continue to engage with us creatively through an unprecedented international crisis. This exciting new digital programme was fully accessible to D/deaf audiences.
National Ensemble 2020 – Once You See the Smoke
The postponed national tour for this year’s production ‘Once you See the Smoke’ was digitally reimagined to ensure the National Ensemble continued to have the opportunity to develop their creative practice investigating climate justice. Led by Melanie Jordan, this year’s group of twenty young theatre makers devised a new digital live theatre show that premiered on Zoom in July.
QUARANTEEN
Scottish Youth Theatre has always been a place where young people can nurture their skills and talents in a safe, welcoming environment. The Coronavirus pandemic forced the closure of many safe spaces for young people across the country. Quaranteen provided mentorship for 14-19 year olds through socially-engaged artistic practice, in addition to bespoke mental health support from project partners Pure Potential Scotland.
Visit the project site, containing the participants' image, video, audio and text work HERE.
2020 Stories: The View From Here
20 young writers. 20 professional actors. Responding to 2020.
Scottish Youth Theatre recruited a group of young writers to create spoken word pieces responding to a unique time of crisis. This took the forms of poems, monologues, and news reports. These twenty young writers created brand new short pieces that were performed and recorded in isolation by professional actors. Watch the full production of 2020 Stories HERE.
Communities
A space for togetherness across communities...
Throughout the first ten weeks of the COVID-19 lockdown, Scottish Youth Theatre shared creative tasks that could be done at home on your own or jointly with friends and family members digitally. These simple, weekly tasks were designed to keep participants creative, and flourish everyone's theatre-making skills.
Coronavirus Time Capsule
A UK wide project for 13-19 year olds, led by Company Three.
Scottish Youth Theatre worked with Company Three to share their Coronavirus Time Capsule with young people and the youth arts sector in Scotland, ensuring the voices of Scotland’s young creatives are heard during this time of international crisis. You can visit the full project HERE.
Thank you to all our partners, venues, funders, audiences and participants for their ongoing love and support.
