National Youth Theatre announces spring 2018 season

A new season has been announced by National Youth Theatre, with three plays running in London in spring 2018, and auditions for young people to be held nationwide.

Between 1^st and 3^rd February, Nessah Muthy's play The Host will run at St James's Church Piccadilly in central London. The play follows the life of a refugee from Syria and their life in the UK. The Host was commissioned by NYT in response to Brexit and the European refugee crisis, and first ran at the Yard Theatre. Directed by Zoe Lafferty,  the play will run alongside an art installation by artist Arabella Dorman (14^th December - 8^th February), which features salvaged refugees' clothing suspended above the nave of the church, and a 360-degree video installation which includes real accounts from refugees in the UK.  

At Southwark Playhouse in May, the company will present the plays The Fall and DNA in rep. James Fritz's looks at young people's relationships with older generations, and examines the ongoing crisis of care in the country. It will run from 28^th April to 19^th May. DNA by Dennis Kelly, writer of Matilda and John Tiffany's upcoming production of Pinocchio, will run at the theatre from 1^st to 18^th May.

Auditions will be held nationwide for budding actors aged 14-25, and will take place in more locations than previous years. NYT alumni include as Helen Mirren, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Daniel Craig and Matt Smith.

Artistic director and CEO of National Youth Theatre Paul Roseby said: "Thanks to our best audience ever this year, it's a joy to be able to bring back these challenging pieces of new work in 2018."