Mia and the Fish

by Satinder Chohan

performed by Open Door Drama Youth

A modern retelling of the ancient Indian myth Manu and the Fish. Mia is a young refugee girl who along with her sister is washed up onto the shores of the UK. Against the backdrop of a freak winter heatwave, as the climate emergency becomes critical, one day Mia happens upon and nurtures a talking fish, that she names, Samaki. As well as becoming Mia’s friend and confidante, Samaki quickly grows and becomes a giant fish, larger than any marine animal the world has ever known and the key to her and her friends’ survival in the face of the imminent extinction of humanity.

Satinder Kaur Chohan is a writer from Southall, West London, whose stories largely focus on hidden global majority worlds and characters. A former recipient of the Adopt A Playwright Award, her plays include Zameen, Made in India and Lotus Beauty. Audio dramas include an adaptation of Pam Gems’ Camille (BBC Radio 3) and Southall Uprising (BBC Radio 4). Satinder has also worked with and written extensively for young people. Plays include an adaptation of Gulliver’s Travels (Bolton Octagon, with co- writer Mike Kenny), Crossing the Line (Hampstead Theatre’s Heat & Light), Half of Me (Lyric Hammersmith, various ‘Made in India’ venues), Potato Moon (Tamasha/Migration Museum) and an audio adaptation of The Girl of Ink and Stars (Spark Arts for Children). She is currently developing various theatre, film and fiction projects.

Brain Play

by Chloë Lawrence-Taylor and Paul Sirett

performed by Oldmachar Academy

When Mia’s dad suffers a traumatic brain injury and struggles to leave the house, she makes it her mission to find the cure for his symptoms. Delving deeper and deeper into the world of neuroscience, Mia is desperate to make him better, but first she must contend with her own brain.

Chloë Lawrence-Taylor is a playwright from Oxfordshire. She is on attachment at the National Theatre Studio and is a member of the Royal Court Theatre’s Long-Form Playwriting Group having previously taken part in their Intro Group (2022/2023). She has been commissioned by Women & Theatre (Birmingham) and has worked with Clean Break Theatre Company as a Lead Artist. She is an alumnus of the Royal Court Theatre, the North Wall’s Catalyst Residency, the Old Fire Station, Broken Silence Theatre, and Pentabus’ National Young Writer’s Programme. Chloe’s play When the Head Became a Cage, The Heart Took Flight was longlisted for the RSC’s 37Plays in 2023 while her play True Cry was longlisted for the Bruntwood Prize in 2022. Her plays have been performed at Camden People’s Theatre (If We Ended This, 2021) and the North Wall (Hereafter, 2018) and read at RADA (When the Head Became a Cage, The Heart Took Flight, 2023).

Paul Sirett is an award-winning, Olivier-nominated playwright, dramaturg, and musician.

Paul has written over 25 stage plays and musicals which have been produced in the UK and around the world. 1 of these were first produced at Theatre Royal Stratford East, most notably THE BIG LIFE (Stratford East & West End). Other notable productions include RAT PACK CONFIDENTIAL (Nottingham Playhouse & West End); and REASONS TO BE CHEERFUL (Graeae). Paul has also won awards for his radio plays and has worked extensively as a dramaturg for companies including: the Royal Shakespeare Company, Soho Theatre, the Royal Court, National Theatre, and West End & Broadway producers. Paul’s book, The Playwright’s Manifesto, was published by Bloomsbury/Methuen in 2022. Paul has also toured and recorded extensively as a guitarist.

No Regrets

by Gary McNair

performed by Pitlochry Festival Theatre Young Company

Over the course of five years, playwright Gary McNair spoke to people at all stages and in all walks of life on the subject of regret. This play marks the results of those conversations. A collection of scenes from the silly to the profound, that charts our relationship with the things we should have done but didn’t and the things we shouldn’t have done, but did.

Gary McNair is a writer performer based in Glasgow.

He aims to make work that will challenge and entertain audiences in equal measure. His work has been translated into several languages and been performed around the world from America to Australia, from Germany to Japan, and from Portugal to Possilpark. He is a mainstay of the Edinburgh Fringe where his last seven shows have sold out and he has won the coveted Scotsman Fringe First Award three times.

He is an Associate Artist at both the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh and the Tron in Glasgow. He loves telling stories and is delighted that people want to hear them.

Recent works include; Dear Billy (National Theatre of Scotland), Nae Expectations (The Tron) Jekyll and Hyde (Reading Rep/The Lyceum) Black Diamonds and the Blue Brazil (The Lyceum), The Alchemist (The Tron), Square Go [co-authored by Kieran Hurley] (Francesca Moody Productions/Paines Plough), McGonagall’s Chronicles(Oran Mor), Locker Room Talk/Letters to Morrissey/Donald Robertson Is Not a Standup Comedian (The Traverse) A Gambler’s Guide To Dying (Show and Tell/The Traverse).

About National Theatre: Connections

The National Theatre Connections festival is a celebration of young people, theatre-making and the importance of access to the arts. Each year we commission ten new plays for young people to perform, bringing together some of the most exciting writers with the theatre-makers of tomorrow.

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