I’ve just finished an intense and inspiring week with the cast of the National Youth Music Theatre‘s summer show THE BATTLE OF BOAT. We survived a week of the usual NYMT madness – 7am firedrills, more sponge puddings than you can possibly imagine, daily reprints of the script and everyone on different page numbers, three course breakfasts that send you into a haze before you’ve reached morning tea break.. And 27 of the most brilliant young people chosen from all over the country to bring this new show to the stage.

Written by Ethan Lewis Maltby and Jenna Donnelly, The Battle of Boat is a brand new piece set in 1916 following the fortune of a gang of kids called The Defenders who are forced to cope without their leader when he goes to France to fight in the War. Wanting to do their bit to help, the kids build themselves a boat and try to join him.. No more spoilers. Come down to the Kingston Rose in August and see what all this is about!