Youth Takeover 2026 Celebrates Creativity
Playmakers Youth Theatre Celebrate with Takeover
As our youth theatre’s eldest members prepare to perform in a national festival, we celebrate our recent showcase where the group first performed their festival show.
The Playmakers Youth Takeover at Theatre Royal Winchester saw our youth theatre celebrate seven months of creativity, presenting three brilliant shows they had created themselves about the modern world and relationships, to over 200 family and friends.
Year 10+ Perform Cloud Busting
Our Year 10+ group shared Cloud Busting by Helen Blakeman, about a boy whose class is told to write a poem about someone they care about. For Sam, that’s Davey, but whose friendship he denies as Davey sees the world differently.
With themes of bullying and acceptance, the play is part of the National Theatre Connections festival, which celebrates young people, theatre making and the importance of access to the arts.
The group will perform the play again this Saturday 25 April at MAST Mayflower Studios in Southampton, a Partner Theatre of National Theatre Connections, and we wish the group our best with their second performance of their show.
Primary Drama Clubs Present The Imagination Emergency
Our Olivers Battery and Wickham primary school drama clubs performed their own story, The Imagination Emergency, set in a land of talking rabbits and fairies, where a mysterious phone caused sparkle levels to drop to critical levels.
With humour and heart, the show’s message was simple: Choose magic. Stay present. No phones!
Older Youth Groups Present Belle and Chloe: Worlds Apart
Our School Years 3–6 and 7–9 groups had teamed up for Belle and Chloe: Worlds Apart, about two warring sisters who find themselves in extraordinary worlds, under seas and trees, and facing feuds, including their own.
Funny and thought-provoking, the cast conquered multiple roles and complex choreography.
Creative Development and Youth Theatre Ethos
“This show was the result of weeks of imagination, teamwork and dedication, and showed the incredible talent and energy of our young performers,” our Youth Theatre’s Young People’s Producer, Shian Hunter Brown, commented.
“Our ethos is to let young people take the lead, creating and performing theatre entirely their own. We give them space to explore ideas, take risks and discover their own voice.”
Join Playmakers Youth Theatre
Our Summer term sessions start w/c 20 April and run until 29 June, with a performance or rehearsed reading date TBC.
Photos by Gary Baxter / Frame the Moment
