Everyman Youth Theatre

Everyman Youth Theatre is a well-established youth theatre based in South Wales and celebrates its 25th birthday this year!

We work collaboratively with young people 11 to 18, meeting regularly to participate in drama and performing arts activities. Everyman Youth Theatre is led and facilitated by experienced director, teacher and workshop leader Sarah Bawler. Our work is a local activity rooted within the community of South Wales where the empowerment of our members is at the core of its work. Above all Everyman Youth Theatre respects and values highly the contribution given by its younger members. Everyman Youth Theatre is a thriving company of young people which encourages its youth members to integrate in its main season of Everyman Theatre Cardiff projects as well as in specific youth productions.

Everyman Youth Theatre aims to engage and excite young people to participate and create meaningful theatre experiences in a safe environment where everyone is treated fairly and equally. The company meet regularly on Sundays but when in production additional opportunities are given to workshops and rehearsals. We understand that theatre and performance is continually evolving and work towards providing our members the opportunity to express themselves through a variety of drama/art forms, genres and approaches in a broad range of performance spaces. From Shakespeare to site specific, from Open Air to Cabaret style whilst empowering our members to take ownership to challenge and lead sessions and performances.

Youth theatre can be a transformative experience, enabling our young people to find their place and voice in society. Many of our members attend to build skills, make friends and build confidence but many have gone onto drama school including the RWCMD, RADA, RCSSD, East 15, Rose Bruford and Arts Ed with many continuing their creative journey into their careers as actors, writers, directors and producers at the BBC.

During March ’21 Lockdown we adapted to the digital platform creating Time Capsules with Company3, created work on the Cymbeline project @Shakespearelink, performed The Tempest live online and at The Willow Globe, attended workshops with the National, linked up with other youth theatres across the UK and with Cue Theatre based in Sri Lanka, created a comedy night live and online, and started rehearsals for the National Theatre Connections Marxist in Heaven.

During that time Everyman Youth Theatre members worked towards their LAMDA examinations in Acting from Grade 6 to the highest qualification PCERTLam in Performance – all achieved Distinctions!

Past productions have included:

Success (2011), Gargantuan (2012), Hearts (2014), Eclipse (2016), Blue Electric Wind (2018), Series of Public Apologies (2020) and this year Marxist in Heaven as part of the National Theatre Connections which will performed and recorded in front of a live audience.

Open-Air Shakespeare Productions at Sophia Gardens, The Willow Globe and the RSC The Dell: Henry V (2021), The Tempest (2020), Midsummer Nights Dream (2019), King Lear (2018), Twelfth Night (2017), Richard II (2016) and Hamlet (2015).

Other Shakespeare productions: 10 Minute Macbeth Marathon (2019), Hamlet at St David’s Hall (2015), Macbeth (2012), and Comedy of Errors at Llanover Hall (2010).

A Night of Improvisation Comedy has been created and performed by the company every year at Llanover Hall Arts Centre and Chapter Arts Centre.

Theatre for One Ghostly Tales as a promenade, theatre for one experience every year at Llanover Hall and also in 2017 at Insole Court.

The Youth Theatre also works collaboratively to create work including Who Kidnapped the Christmas Fairy, Elf on the Shelf and Sherlock Holmes and the Mysterious Disappearance of the Christmas Carbuncle; all performed as part of the Christmas Events Programme at the RSC.

Some other productions include: Secret Diary of Adrian Mole (1997), Treasure Island (2008 and 2018), Robin Hood (2009 and 2015), The Adventures of King Arthur (2012) and some members performed in Going West at Museum of Royal Army Flying Corp, Hampshire and St David’s Hall (2018) and The Loneliness of a Long Distance Runner (2011) at the USW, Atrium.

Since its creation, Everyman Youth Theatre has welcomed and created work with hundreds of young people from all over South Wales producing in-house pieces, musicals, sketch shows, attending workshops with a variety of creative practitioners, in a variety of spaces including The Sherman, Chapter, Tredegar House, Victoria Park, St David’s Hall, Llanover Hall, and the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Most recently, the Everyman Youth Theatre performed Superglue at the National Theatre as part of the National Theatre Connections project. They’ve also performed Shakespeare’s Comedy of Errors both as part of the Cardiff Open Air Theatre Festival: Everyman 2022 in Sophia Gardens, and also at The Willow Globe.