Young people across Wolverhampton will have the opportunity to watch a new theatre production in their school hall as the National Theatre brings a nationwide school touring production of The Leftbehinds directly into local schools from 27 January - 7 February.

The tour will visit schools across the Wolverhampton area including Dudley College of Technology, Ormiston Shelfield Community Academy, Khalsa Academy, Ormiston NEW Academy and others.

Co-created by Bristol playwright Ross Willis and director Ned Bennett, The Leftbehinds is a new production set in a post-apocalyptic future. The Leftbehinds must race across a desolate wasteland in a high-octane quest to rebuild an android, unlock its power and save the planet. This new production gives students in Wolverhampton access to a genre-pushing theatrical experience in their school hall. In addition to seeing the show in their school hall, pupils will take part in an interactive workshop exploring the theatre making elements to produce the show and teachers will receive accompanying education resources.

Part of the Theatre Nation Partnerships programme, the tour will be seen by 10,000 young people, visiting secondary school halls in 11 areas from 13 January - 28 March 2025. In partnership with local theatres, the production will also tour to schools across Outer East London and South Essex, Sunderland, North Devon, Wakefield, Doncaster, Greater Manchester, Leicester and Peterborough.

Vicky Price, Associate Director of Audiences & Communication at Wolverhampton Grand Theatre said; “touring to schools is a crucial part of our outreach programme. Last autumn, we successfully toured our own adaptation of My Gnome On The Roam with fully integrated British Sign Language to students in schools who are deaf and hard of hearing. By touring to their school halls, we broke down barriers that prevented them from accessing theatre. Excitingly, by teaming up with the National Theatre we can further increase our cultural offering by introducing young people to quality drama from a London-based theatrical organisation – an opportunity they are very unlikely to have. This is the kind of work that makes the National Theatre truly national, and we’re very proud to be one of a brilliant network of theatres nationwide to be offering these opportunities for our local schools.”

For more information about Theatre Nation Partnerships and the schools tour, visit nationaltheatre.org.uk.