Like There’s No Tomorrow

Coventry UK City of Culture 2021 is proud to have invested in the Belgrade programme. Supporting them to explore the vital role of a producing theatre in a modern and diverse city and how they can ensure that the theatre is informed by and represents all communities in the city, and explores new stories relevant to our communities that are locally sourced but globally relevant. Belgrade Youth Theatre will be presenting a unique version of Like There’s No Tomorrow - one of the first National Theatre Connections plays to be co-created by young people, originally devised by Belgrade’s Young Company in March 2020 – and created entirely online and in collaboration with digital artists. There are strange cracks appearing in the land on the other side of the world, turning habitats into wastelands and creating a new wave of climate refugees. But no one's worrying about that here - where a mayoral candidate is promising more, more, more. It's what the people want. Apart from Maru that is, who can’t breathe. As we enter Coventry’s year of culture in the shadow of a pandemic, the Belgrade Youth Theatre present an entirely digital rendering of Like There’s No Tomorrow - one of the first National Theatre Connections plays to be co-created by young people, originally devised by Belgrade’s Young Company in March 2020. Rehearsed on Zoom with additional film footage, and working in collaboration with a digital team of artists, this is a version that belongs in the now, informed and shaped by the turbulent direction our lives have taken since the play was written, and asks should we still care about the earth we live on? Bringing together young talent from across Belgrade’s youth theatre, working with some of the most exciting digital artists and joining groups all over the country to stage the play as part of the NT Connections programme, Like There’s No Tomorrow gives voice to young people’s concerns about the climate at a time when the future has never looked more uncertain. The Belgrade Theatre are excited to also announce they we will be hosting the region’s NT Connections Festival this summer, showcasing work by local schools and youth theatres across the West Midlands in a digital programme of shows, workshops and panels aimed at connecting young local talent with professional theatres. Comments about the show "If you're going to see any show this week, please, please make sure you go and see this one. You might just learn a few things that you didn't know were happening in the world today." Fashionista Chic  From Directors of 2021 version, Leon Phillips and Katherine Allen: "Working towards a new digital version of the show rehearsing and performing over Zoom, provides us with a unique challenge. We can reimagine it in a way we’d never considered in a pre-COVID world, and invite multidisciplinary artists to collaborate with our young people to create something really different. The play asks young people and adults alike to rethink the way we preserve our planet, and utilise our natural resources, but this time around, we have the added question of how much we care, now that we're living through a health crisis as well as an environmental one." Katherine Allen “The interesting thing about doing this show now is that we’ve actually SEEN what would happen if we changed the way we live. We have been forced to stop driving and cease flying, and the quality of the air has vastly improved. Unfortunately with an ease to lockdown, it doesn’t take long for us to return to some of our old ways. Our next show needs to investigate WHY we won't change a little more.” For more information on Coventry City of Culture 2021 please visit their websitehttps://coventry2021.co.uk/coming-soon/