YOUNG actors are staging a wickedly funny play as part of a nationwide celebration of theatre.

Weymouth Drama Club Curtain Raisers will be performing A series of public apologies (in response to an unfortunate incident in the school

lavatories) by John Donnelly at The Warehouse Theatre, Hope Street, Weymouth on Friday February 28 and Saturday February 29.

It's being staged as part of National Theatre Connections.

A series of public apologies is one of 10 plays written especially for Connections by a selection of the best playwriting talent in the UK. This satirical play is heightened in its naturalism, in its seriousness, in its parody and piercing in its interrogation of how our attempts to define ourselves in public are shaped by the fear of saying the wrong thing.

Presented quite literally as a series of public apologies this play is spacious, flexible and welcoming of inventive and imaginative interpretation as each iteration spirals inevitably to its absurdist comedic core. This is a play on words, on convention, on manners, on institutions, on order, online and on point.

National Theatre Connections is one of the UK’s largest celebrations of youth theatre. Plays are commissioned for and about young people, from some of the best contemporary playwrights, and performed by schools and youth theatres all over the UK and Ireland. Young people have the opportunity to get involved in all aspects of creating and staging the play both on and offstage, from set design to costume, lighting and stage management.

In 2020, National Theatre Connections is working with up to 300 youth theatres and schools to stage ten commissioned plays, adding to the 150 + plays the National Theatre have commissioned for young people since 1995. All the companies will transfer their production to one of 31 Connections Partner Theatres across the UK.

Jacqui Trent, director for The Curtain Raisers, says she has been challenged by this form of theatre, but has thoroughly enjoyed the rehearsal period, both because of the material but also working with such a talented and enthusiastic group of young people.

*A series of public apologies (in response to an unfortunate incident in the school lavatories), Weymouth Drama Club Curtain Raisers, The Warehouse Theatre, Hope Street, Weymouth on Friday February28 and Saturday February 29. Contact the box office at weymouthdramaclub.com for tickets. The play is suitable for those aged 14 or above.