Burn baby burn its a Disco Inferno, as the lyrics to the song said…
The National Youth Theatre brings to stage a new play Disco Inferno by playwright Martha Watson Allpress. Directed by Emily Aboud, the play explores young pop fandom following the death of an idol; when a fire takes the life of music superstar Gemini Knight, those left behind try and grapple with what it means to mourn; an artist, a person, and the money they made.
Disco Inferno explores this grief through fandom, family and friendship, with movement, song and humour. Starring new talent for the NYT Playing Up Company, whose graduates include: Seraphina Beh (Crongton), Gavin Singh Chera (The Rings of Power), Shalisha James-Davis (Punch) and Ria Zmitrowicz (Sherword.) Previous Playing Up shows have been written by Zawe Ashton (Skunk), Miriam Battye (Succession), Sophie Ellerby (Lit) and Tife Kusoro (G).
NYT also have launched Storytellers Start Here: a new National Lottery Heritage Fund supported project empowering a new national cohort of young heritage-led storytellers inspired by the innovation central to the 70-year history of the world’s first youth theatre.
The project will place young people in the lead to bring to life content from NYT’s archive as it celebrates its 70th anniversary in 2026. Storytellers Start Here is made possible with The National Lottery Heritage Fund. Thanks to National Lottery players, the company are uncovering and sharing NYT’s stories to celebrate their 70th anniversary.
Everyone is welcome at all performances at the National Youth Theatre, where a relaxed approach is taken to movement and noise in the audience. Latecomers are admitted and audiences are free to leave the performance and come back in at any time. Ear defenders and ear plugs will be available for audiences to use during the performance and captioned performances are listed below. A Chill Out space will be available for audiences to use before and during performances.
Disco Inferno runs between 3 and 5 July and Pay What You Decide Tickets are on sale now at nyt.org.uk/discoinferno
The Workshop Theatre, 443-445
Holloway Road, London N7 6LW
