National Youth Theatre 70th Anniversary Gala: On the red carpet with the attendees

As the National Youth Theatre enters its 70^th year of nurturing young storytellers and ambitious creatives, celebrations kicked off with a star-studded gala supported by Netflix. The event featured a vibrant showcase of performances bringing together NYT alumni, emerging young talent and established icons across stage and screen.

The theme for this year’s event held at the Royal Festival Hall was Letters to My Younger Future Self. An extraordinary line-up of British talent stepped into the spotlight to read their intensely personal reflections, sharing anecdotes, advice and some of their most treasured memories.

The Upcoming had the pleasure of speaking to several attendees at this milestone event. Rhea Norwood spoke about how much it meant to come along and support NYT for this special evening and how much she had grown since her formative days in youth theatre.

Rose Ayling-Ellis spoke to us about the inclusive nature of NYT and why that accessibility is so important for young people entering the industry. She also expressed how amazing it was to have such a vast network of community and industry support backing the organisation’s mission.

Longtime NYT patron Adeel Akhtar spoke about his time with the company, the amazing memories he had being part of such a creative community and noted how much he was looking forward to the readings and performances throughout the evening.

We spoke to Calam Lynch about his evolving journey within the acting industry and the invaluable lessons he has gathered along the way. He spoke about his family connections within the creative community and also about the joy of theatre and stage performance and what advice he would give to himself in the past.

Fay Ripley chatted about nurturing young talent, and how much the younger generation also empowered established artists by their raw enthusiasm and original ideas. She talked about her own choices with the industry and what she was looking forward to about the evening.

Reflecting on the advice he would give to his younger self, Rob Rinder fondly spoke about his time attending NYT himself, the joy he had performing during his time there and the life-long connections and friendships he made there.

TikTok star Megan Bolton chatted to us about the financial limitations she faced as a budding actor and how she found the social media platform allowed her an avenue for her creative streak. She talked about her time at NYT, the amazing people she met and how she felt connected to “her people” at the organisation.

We spoke to Jessica Henwick about how she was feeling about reading one of the letters out to the audience at the event and how much it meant to support an organisation that was entering its 70^th year.

British playwright and screenwriter James Graham chatted about the importance of NYT as a critical launchpad for underrepresented actors, the avenues he chose himself in terms of creativity and how excited he was to be celebrating seven decades of NYT at the gala.

Ezelle Alblas

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