National Theatre Connections 2025
Join us for Day One of this years National Theatre Connections Festival at Gulbenkian!
Performing will be Rainham Mark Grammar School with their production of Mia and the Fish, and also Chatham and Clarendon Grammar School with Brain Play!
Please note that this may not be the order the shows will performed in. Your ticket will cover the entire evening. The evening will begin at 6pm, and will finish by 9pm. There will be an interval between the two performances.
Mia and the Fish By Satinder Chohan – Performed by Rainham Mark Grammar School
A modern retelling of the ancient Indian myth Manu and the Fish. Mia is a young refugee girl who along with her sister is washed up onto the shores of the UK. Against the backdrop of a freak winter heatwave, as the climate emergency becomes critical, one day Mia happens upon and nurtures a talking fish, that she names, Samaki. As well as becoming Mia’s friend and confidante, Samaki quickly grows and becomes a giant fish, larger than any marine animal the world has ever known and the key to her and her friends’ survival in the face of the imminent extinction of humanity.
Suggested age suitability: 13+
Content warnings:
- Discussion of the climate emergency
- References to displacement and the refugee crisis
- Mild language.
Brain Play by Chloë Lawrence-Taylor and Paul Sirett – Performed by Chatham and Clarendon Grammar School
When Mia’s dad suffers a traumatic brain injury and struggles to leave the house, she makes it her mission to find the cure for his symptoms. Delving deeper and deeper into the world of neuroscience, Mia is desperate to make him better, but first she must contend with her own brain.
Suggested age suitability: 13+
Content warnings:
- Strong language
- Discussion of brain injury and the associate affects
- Discussion of anxiety, PTSD, obsessive compulsive disorder and mental health
- References to blood
- Discussion of hearing loss
- References to agoraphobia
- At one point a character says “take him out and shoot him”, in jest.