About Next Stage Youth:

Launched in the same year as the parent company, Next Stage Youth has been in existence since 1994. Next Stage tutors and actors have coached over 500 youngsters, preparing many for performances, auditions and competitions. Indeed, some of our talented young actors have gone on from Next Stage Youth to train for the professional theatre.

The emphasis is always on friendship, teamwork, support and a professional grounding in theatre arts. In any year members of Next Stage Youth have the chance to work on devised theatre, competition entries in the Mid-Somerset Drama Festival in March, and a full-scale production in The Mission Theatre. There are no auditions, anyone between 11 and 18 is welcome and Next Stage has a policy of using talented youngsters whenever possible in adult productions.

Next Stage Youth runs for ten-week terms (£100 per term), with each session on a Sunday from 4.30 – 6 pm at The Mission Theatre.

Term dates

The Summer term commences on Sunday 22 April 4.30-6pm.

To enquire about availability for the forthcoming term, please call Ann Garner on 01225 428600 or email (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

To download our child protection policy documentation please click here. (Adobe PDF 20kb).

What goes on at NSY?

As well as the regular weekly sessions with Next Stage tutors, students also have the chance of attending professionally led workshops. All aspects of stagecraft and dramatic presentation are explored.

Next Stage Youth regularly enters local competitions and presents public showings of its work. The older members competed in the 111th annual Mid-Somerset Drama Festival in the Under 21 Group Acting class. Click here for a brief report on the competition.

NSY produced two successful musical plays last term - the older members performed in Willy Russell’s classic Blood Brothers in October whilst the youngsters brought Kenneth Grahame’s The Wind in the Willows to life in Alan Bennett’s brilliant musical adaptation in December. The company are now starting work on both parts of Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials, being staged at The Mission in July 2012.

Youngsters are also invited to take roles alongside adults in Next Stage’s programme of challenging productions staged by the company’s ‘seniors’. Twelve of our Youth members performed in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie at The Mission Theatre in July 2011 and then toured the production to the fantastic open-air Minack Theatre on the cliffs at Porthcurno in August. Last month six members of the Youth company performed with the adults in Lillian Hellman’s The Children’s Hour.

Click here to read an article and view pictures of Next Stage Youth’s collaboration with Spanish teenagers. After seeing a production of Sparkleshark, pupils from Madrid on a Summer School in Bath met the Youth cast and then attended a theatre workshop led by Next Stage actors in which cast members and the Spanish teenagers explored some of the universal issues raised by the play.