Aspiring young actors will take to the stage to compete in the National Theatre’s Connections programme. This is an annual event during which ten new plays are commission to be performed by young theatre groups and schools’ drama companies across the country, each with their own interpretation.

This year artsdepot in North Finchley will host five nights of performances featuring five local youth theatres next week.

On opening night, artsdepot Young Company will be performing Pronoun by Evan Placey, a ‘love story featuring testosterone, transition and James Dean’.

Night two features a performance of Angels by Pauline McLynn, about a group of strangers who gather in an old graveyard for a community project, and who are watched over by three angels.

On the third night, the RAaw Young People’s Theatre Company will treat us to another performance of Pronoun, while Bodens Youth Theatre will put on Heritage by Dafydd James on night four. This black comedy tells the story of a group of misfit children chosen to close their village’s May Day festivities, and what happens when things start to go wrong.

Finally, on night five, the Oasis Academy Hadley Senior Drama Company will give the audience their take on Pronoun, and The Playing Space will perform The Wardrobe by Sam Holcroft, a Narnia-esque story centring on a wardrobe, which, over five centuries, has been used as a hiding space for numerous children.

  • NT Connections is at artsdepot, Tally Ho Corner, Nether Street, North Finchley, Monday, April 28 until Friday, May 2. Details: 020 8369 5454, artsdepot.co.uk