| Biography | The National Youth Theatre is a registered charity in London, England. It is committed to the creative, personal, and social development of young people through the medium of creative arts, and aims to use theatre to help in the personal and social development of young people. It was founded in 1956 as the world's first youth theatre, and has built a reputation as a breeding ground for renowned British actors such as Daniel Day-Lewis, Dame Helen Mirren, Daniel Craig, Ben Kingsley, Derek Jacobi, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Rosamund Pike, Colin Firth, and Orlando Bloom.
Each year, the National Youth Theatre holds acting auditions and technical theatre interviews around the UK; on average, it receives over 4,000 applicants. Currently, around 500 places are offered on summer intake acting and technical courses (in Costume, Lighting and Sound, Scenery and Prop Making, and Stage Management), which offer participants membership of the National Youth Theatre upon completion. National Youth Theatre members are eligible to audition for the company's productions, which are staged in London's West End, around the UK and internationally.
The National Youth Theatre's members staged the Olympic and Paralympic Team Welcome Ceremonies at the London 2012 Games in the Athletes' Village. In 2013, it raised their age limit to 25 and introduced a new six-week summer course called Epic Stage to cater for performance and production talent in their new upper age group of 1825. In summer 2014, National Youth Theatre will stage the Village Ceremonies at the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games. |