Last month we said goodbye to our 2024-25 cohort of Young Company, and what a year it’s been!
After a summer of recruiting and meeting over 200 young creatives, we selected 75 Makers, Writers and Performers.
Drama used to be my worst subject, now I love it Young Company Performer
The 4 Assistant Facilitators for Young Company were all graduates, each developing their facilitation skills, providing invaluable peer support, bringing their creativity and own experience into the session, which was hugely aspirational. Two of our lead facilitators were also Young Company graduates, bringing both their wealth of experience but also a knowledge and understanding of what it’s been like starting out in Young Company.
Young Company was fun and supportive, delivered with empathy and accommodations Young Company Performer
The first term focused on the craft – from writing dialogue, to developing character as an actor, to sustainable set design, and beyond! The second term, the company embarked on an ambitious collaborative project using the show Spend, Spend, Spend as a jumping off point. This culminated in Sellouts, five new short plays – written, designed, directed and performed by the Young Company, which took our sold-out audiences on a funny, bleak, and epic journey of what it means to live in the 21st century. The final term looked at next steps as a creative, looking at funding, R&Ds, pitches, auditions, and much more. For the final session, the Young Company organised an open mic night and exhibition, to celebrate their many talents and come together one last time to support each other and look back at all the achieved this year.
I hadn’t written before, and now I have started my first full length play! Young Company Writer
Every term we saw at least one production at RET including Techno Bullring Makeout Jamz, Spend Spend Spend, Escaped Alone and What If If Only, Abigail’s Party and Liberation. The Makers had opportunities during the making of Liberation including observing rehearsals, shadowing the sound and lighting teams, and a placement in the producing team.
I don’t know of anywhere else that offers opportunities of this scale – especially for young people – it feels very rare. I learnt so much thanks to this opportunity, and it’s definitely had a big impact on the way I approach creating theatre. I am now a lot more aware of the many different details of the process. It often feels difficult to ‘get in the room’ – this took that barrier away. Young Company Maker on Liberation opportunities
Throughout the year we also offered masterclass sessions with the costume and technical departments and the engagement team, as well as guest workshops from Andy Barry, Suzanne Bell, Zodwa Nyoni, LAMDA, Chris Thorpe, Nathan Queeley-Dennis and Josh Seymour.
