Riverbank Arts Centre and Crooked House are delighted to host youth theatres from Kildare and beyond who will present original work over the course of KILDARE CONNECTIONS FESTIVAL WEEKEND, 27th – 29th March 2020.

Audiences will see a range of new plays, some commissioned by Britain’s National Theatre as part of its NT Connections programme. We can expect to see a variety of performance styles, dynamic characters, and unforgettable stories in this annual celebration of the best youth theatre has to offer from Kildare Youth Theatre (Newbridge), PlayActing Youth Theatre (Celbridge), Ardclough Youth Theatre, Prosperous Youth Theatre and Explore Youth Theatre (Leixlip).

Friday 27th March

7:00pm Double Bill – Kildare YT & Ardclough YT – BOOK TICKETS. Tickets €10 adults/€5 Concession

7.00pm Kildare Youth Theatre, Newbridge  – Dungeness by Chris Thompson
Set in the barren landscape of Dungeness, the UK’s only desert, the members of Spectrum, an LGBTQI+ support group and halfway house, come together to debate how best to commemorate an attack against people like them on the other side of the world! Chris Thompson’s Dungeness is a quick-fire comedy about community, representation, and the necessity of championing love in a world full of hate.
Directed by Shane Hickey-Ó Mara, assisted by Jenny Oleinik.

8.30pm Ardclough Youth Theatre  – Crusaders by Frances Poet
A group of teens gather to take their French exam but none of them will step into the exam hall. Because Kyle has had a vision and he’ll use anything, even miracles, to ensure his classmates accompany him. Together they have just seven days to save themselves, save the world and be the future. And Kyle is not the only one who has had the dream. All across the globe, from Azerbaijan to Zambia, children are dreaming and urging their peers to follow them to the promised land. Who will follow? Who will lead? Who will make it?
Directed by Phoebe O’ Leary

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Saturday 28th March 

12.00pm Explore Youth Theatre, Leixlip  – This is a Play by Daniel McIvor  BOOK TICKETS Tickets €8 adults/€5 Concessions
A hilarious metaplay, This Is A Play follows three actors who, while performing, reveal their own thoughts and motivations as they struggle through crazy stage directions and an unoriginal musical score.

7:00pm Double Bill – Playacting YT & Prosperous YT BOOK TICKETS Tickets €10 adults/€5 Concession

7.00pm Playacting Youth Theatre, Celbridge  – Witches Can’t Be Burned by Silvia Semerciyan
If you keep on doing the same thing, over and over again, you’ll keep on getting the same results, time and time again. St. Paul’s have won the schools Playfest competition, three years in a row, by selecting recognised classics from the canon and producing them at an exceptionally high level, it’s a tried and trusted formula. With straight A’s student and drama freak, Anuka cast as Abigail Williams in The Crucible by Arthur Miller, the school seem to be well on course for another triumph, which would be a record. What could possibly go wrong? However, as rehearsals gain momentum, Anuka has an epiphany. An experience resulting in her asking searching questions surrounding the text, the depiction and perception of female characters, the meaning of loyalty, and the values and traditions underpinning the very foundations of the school. Thus, the scene is set for a confrontation of epic proportions as Anuka seeks to break with tradition, before tradition breaks her and all young women like her and reality begins to take on the ominous hue of Miller’s fictionalised Salem.
Directed by Geraldine O’Brien

8.30pm Prosperous Youth Theatre   – Romeo and Juliet: A tale of two Balconies by Kate Cossette and Will’s Women by Louise Wade
Romeo and Juliet: A tale of two Balconies
In this play modern Romeo and Juliet and Shakespearean Romeo and Juliet share with us the agony of love in a one act comedy that boldly puts the “crossed” in “star crossed” as the two couples intertwine in this quirky retelling of this dramatic classic.
Will’s Women
Hard at work on his new tragedy about a certain Scotsman, Will Shakespeare is visited by four women from the play and they are not happy with him, they have something to say about the violence and negative portrayal of women. 

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Sunday 29th March
See descriptions above – tickets for each performance €5

5.00pm Playacting Youth Theatre –  Witches Can’t Be Burned by Silvia Semerciyan BOOK TICKETS

6.30pm Ardclough Youth Theatre Crusaders by Frances Poet BOOK TICKETS

8.00pm Kildare Youth Theatre Dungeness by Chris Thompson BOOK TICKETS