Interview: CEO of National Youth Theatre PAUL ROSEBY on upcoming productions

Photo credit: Craig Fuller

National Youth Theatre (NYT) recently announced four productions in their Workshop Theatre for Autumn/Winter 2023. We spoke to CEO Paul Roseby about the upcoming shows.

You’ve been at the head of the National Youth Theatre for the last 15 years. For anyone who isn’t familiar with your work, can you tell us what your role involves?

Since I took over as CEO in 2012, my role covers the whole scope of the charity, from our creative direction and raising funds to enable us to support more young people, to staffing and big picture strategic plans. I also spend a lot of time lobbying politicians, major stakeholders and anyone who will listen about the value and importance of our work and young storytelling talent. I couldn’t do anything of this without our brilliant team, our volunteers including trustees who give their time and expertise so generously and our young talent who there wouldn’t be a National Youth Theatre without.

There’s been quite a few successful actors that started out within the company. Why do you think the National Youth Theatre is so successful and important in developing young talent?

We act on instinct. We welcome those with zero experience and nurture people on the right side of confidence, but at the same time not wishing to overly form a particular type of actor for a particular role. The raw bold qualities that our cohort display is very much the zeitgeist of what directors, producers and writers wish to engage with. We believe in learning by doing it and give young performers a chance to learn in front of an audience. We believe in empowering young people to be themselves and championing their voices.

You recently announced the new season for the NYT. How do you choose which productions you want to include in the season? What influences these choices?

It’s our third season in the calendar year, during which we’ll engage over 10,000 young people. After a 10th anniversary West End NYT REP season to kick off the year and an epic show as part of Leeds 2023 in the summer, it’s fitting we reach out to younger audiences for the first time to end it. Not least because the creative path to this industry is becoming more and more challenging. The younger we invite them, the younger we excite them, the greater the opportunity. We tell great stories about the things young people care about, which this season includes technology, race, gender, heritage and more. We’re influenced by our young company including our youth trustees and we’re proud of being a company of firsts, breaking new ground with brave new stories and reimagining classics for our time.

One of the new productions is a world premiere of a new play called Ada, about Ada Lovelace. Do you think it is important that the productions are both challenging for the performers and educational for the audience?

Set against the heighted debate around AI, we felt it would be good to celebrate a female leader of a different age who learnt to crack the code but wasn’t celebrated at the time. Bringing the story into today’s landscape will help audiences young and old relate to and appreciate what Ada did. With a clever twist that she would appreciate. Young people always relish a challenge and it’s vital not to patronise young talent or audiences! Ada asks big questions about the future of technology and who gets written out of history. Performing in the round, our cast travel through time, play famous figures from history and will have to keep a wide-range of audiences entertained, from school groups to industry professionals - sounds like a challenge to me!

Another production is Elvis Died of Burgers, which has a dance narrative as well as spoken word. What is it about these types of performances that make them popular with young audiences?

The young people we serve want our shows to be inclusive and also to be entertaining and Elvis Died of Burgers had both of those in abundance. As does Refilwe - our new modern twist on Rapunzel, which follows the story of a young Black girl from Tottenham and explores hair, heritage and connecting with your roots. It's proving a hit with school groups this winter.

What advice would you give to a young person who is thinking about auditioning for the National Youth Theatre or having a career in performance?

Do it! Be curious, be open-minded and most of all be yourself. From performers to behind the scenes roles, there's a wealth of opportunities on offer in theatre, TV and film. Without the next generation of young people there's no talent pipeline or thriving creative industries - so we need you!

For more information about the programme, please click here.