Announcing the National Youth Theatre Production of 'Like We Were Born To Move'

For the 2023 National Youth Theatre, director Niall Cleary and playwright Eimear Hussey have worked with an ensemble of sixteen young actors and four young designers from youth theatres across Ireland over the last eighteen months to create a new play about dance, care, and agency, Like We Were Born To Move!

Niall Cleary on the importance of having these voices on a national stage. "Young people’s voices belong on our National stage. It’s a real honour to direct the National Youth Theatre this year, and to continue a long and happy association with YTI. I’m so proud to be working with a brilliant young playwright like Eimear Hussy and a talented and dedicated young ensemble and creative team. It’s always exciting to breathe life into a new play. “Like We Were Born to Move” is going to be very special."

How long do you wait for your Mam to come home before you have to do something about it? Who gets to fall apart? Who just has to cope? Why does asking for help feel impossible when it’s something everyone needs? Like We Were Born To Move is about waiting to be old enough to make your own decisions, and how terrifying it is when you realise you finally have to. It’s about dancers and dancing, adultified youths, and systems of care.There are catty siblings, guilty daughters, and Mam friends, fragile bodies, half-lies and honest ones. It’s about the work we’re not paid for, the pain you shouldn’t ignore, and that boyfriend you really should break up with #LikeWeWereBornToMove as part of A Vision For National Youth Theatre Programme 2020 – 2023 by Veronica Coburn.

For more info and tickets visit the Abbey Theatre website here