Youth Productions at DEMBE Theatre

A youth production is a show performed by young people, and it is one of the most worthwhile things that happens in this building. Schools, youth theatre groups, dance schools and stage schools from Tring and the surrounding area bring their annual productions here, and for most of the cast it is the first time they have stood on a professional stage, under professional lighting, in front of several hundred people who are not their parents.

What is a youth production like to watch?

Better than you might expect, and different in kind from adult theatre. The polish varies. The commitment never does. Young casts throw themselves at a show in a way that experienced performers sometimes forget how to, and a room full of people willing them on is a particular sort of atmosphere that is hard to find anywhere else.

The repertoire is broad: junior and youth editions of the big musicals, plays written for young casts, devised pieces made by the group themselves, dance and drama showcases, and full-scale productions where a sixteen-year-old is carrying a lead role. Cast sizes are often large, because the point is to include everybody who wants to be included.

Who are these productions for?

Anyone, and that is not a platitude. Families and friends of the cast make up a good share of any audience, naturally. But a youth production is also a genuinely good and inexpensive evening for somebody with no connection to the cast at all, and it is the easiest way to show a child their own age group doing something ambitious on a stage. More than one Academy participant has started by watching someone slightly older and deciding they wanted a turn.

Running times are usually shorter than adult productions, with an interval, which makes them very manageable for younger audience members. Each production page gives the running time and any age guidance.

Why we make room for this

Being educational is one of the four endeavours in the DEMBE Theatre vision: imparting essential life skills in confidence, communication and collaboration through participation in theatre and the creative arts. A youth production is that endeavour made concrete. The skills a young person takes away from one are not mainly theatrical. They are the ability to stand in front of a room and be heard, to rely on other people and be relied on, to take a correction without falling apart, and to keep going when something goes wrong in front of an audience. Those travel a long way beyond a stage.

Being economical is the other endeavour at work here. Subsidised rates for community and youth groups are what make it possible for a school or a volunteer-run youth theatre to afford a proper venue rather than a hall with a curtain. That subsidy is funded in part by the professional programme that runs alongside it, which is how the whole arrangement holds together.

Youth productions and the Academy

Alongside the groups who hire the theatre, we run our own Academy for children and young people, which has its own production strand. If you are looking for something your child could take part in rather than watch, that is the place to start: the Academy covers performance and also costume making, script writing, lighting and sound, stage management, set design, directing and film making, so there is a route in for a young person who would rather be behind the scenes than on stage.

Productions staged by Academy participants are listed under Academy Productions. Everything on this page is a youth production in the broader sense: young casts from across the area, performing here.

Booking, access and getting here

Each production has its own page on this site with dates, prices and a seating plan. Youth productions often sell strongly and in blocks, because families book together, so early booking is wise if you want a particular group of seats. Concessions are generally available for children aged fifteen and under, full-time students, over sixties, and registered disabled patrons with their carers, subject to proof and one concession per person per transaction; the production page confirms the terms. Every ticket includes a DEMBE Theatre Restoration Fee, reinvested in the building.

We are at Penny Royal Court, Station Road, Tring, HP23 5QY. Parking in the main car park is free, a bus stops on Station Road outside, and Tring station is a short walk away on the line to London Euston. Wheelchair spaces are available in the auditorium; contact us before booking if you need one or have any other access requirement.

Coming up, and already performed

Below are the youth productions currently on sale, followed by those that have already taken place. We keep past productions listed on purpose. For a young person who performed here, having a permanent record of the show they were in is worth something, and for everybody else it shows what this theatre gives its young people the chance to do.