HOME’s Young Company selected to perform at Connections Festival 2025
Thu 15 May 2025
We are thrilled to share the news that HOME’s Young Company has been selected to perform at Connections 2025, celebrating the 30th anniversary of the festival. Young Company are one of ten groups invited to take part in this major event that marks the reopening of the Dorfman Theatre.
HOME’s Young Company will perform their version of Ravers by the award-winning Rikki Beadle-Blair on the Dorfman stage at the National Theatre, London, on Tue 24 Jun.
Connections is the National Theatre’s annual nationwide youth theatre festival that champions the talent of young people across the UK. For the past three months, over 5,000 young people from more than 270 companies and schools have performed at home venues and on one of 33 professional stages across the country to celebrate this anniversary year.
The summer Connections Festival spotlights the power of youth theatre across the country by bringing groups together for a final celebratory moment of the anniversary year. Showcasing the incredible talent emerging this spring, HOME’s Young Company is one of ten youth theatre groups to have been invited to bring their unique interpretations of one of this year’s plays to the stage at the National Theatre from Tue 24 – Sat 28 Jun.
From developing new ideas to the final curtain call, young people are diving into every part of the theatre making process, gaining hands-on experience, building new creative skills, and exploring the exciting world of backstage and offstage roles.
Over 30 years, Connections has offered 125,000 young people across the UK firsthand experience in all aspects of staging and performing new plays. The programme has helped shape the early paths of many career routes from teachers to doctors, as well as standout performers, like Rose Ayling-Ellis, Keira Knightley, David Oyelowo, and Callum Scott Howells all having taken part in Connections.
HOME’s Creative Engagement Theatre Practitioner Sam Beagley said “Working to create HOME young company’s production of ravers with such a talented, enthusiastic and passionate cast of young performers has been incredible experience. It is an honor for us to be invited to perform at the national and for those in the cast who wish to pursue a career in the arts I believe this is just the start of a very bright future.”
Young Company member Safa Khokhar said “Bringing this play to life has been a beautiful experience that has pushed me as an actor and also led to me making my closest friends. I am forever grateful and proud of us.”
Young Company member Adam Wilson added “I feel that HOME has given me a great opportunity to progress as a performer and a person.”
Tickets for this year’s festival will go on sale on Tue 20 May. All performances will be captioned. To book tickets and learn more about Connections 2025, visit the National Theatre's website.