Friday 4 December | Director Liam Campbell | Assistant Director Miguel Ricardo | with Firefly Arts
You know Toy Story? The toys come alive when we are not looking. They have their own friendships, adventures, and lives. That’s nice, isn’t it?
Teddy Bear Tea Party is not your fondly remembered toy story.
We all must grow up eventually, and growing up sometimes means leaving things behind. But what if those things had other plans?
It is what happens on the other side of the toy box, where childhood memories do not stay where you left them, and the things we do as children can follow us long after we have grown up.
When a strange distortion in time pulls a group of young people into the past, they become trapped inside memories that are not their own. Through the eyes of the toys, they see childhood play as something far more terrifying than they remember.
Teddy Bear Tea Party is a playful, surreal, and physical journey through childhood, memory, and the things we carry with us. What happens when the past refuses to stay in the past? Because sometimes, growing up does not mean leaving childhood behind.
What is the Young Directors’ Programme?
So often youth theatre projects are designed around a performance outcome but with limited time and resource to realise ambitions. There is rarely time for artists to explore or take risks with our creative ideas. Our Next Generation Young Directors’ Programme started in June 2026, building on the success of the Next Generation project, and was designed in consultation with some of our graduates who were keen to step into the role of director.
Funded by the Amazon Regional Creatives Fund and D’Oyly Carte Charitable Trust, this pilot programme provides bursaries for three new youth theatre projects to design, explore, and scratch a new piece of work with a group of young people.
Each director has taken part in training days, had the opportunity to see 12 youth theatre shows at Lyra’s Bright and Wild, at The Citz’ Assemble Festival, and at YTAS’ National Festival of Youth Theatre, as well as professional productions at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and Edinburgh International Festival. They each had the opportunity to run R&D workshops with young people at the National Festival of Youth Theatre at Eden Court this summer, and with the teen groups at Lyra in Edinburgh last month.
What is the Young Directors’ Programme?
If you want to learn more about the Young Directors’ programme, the scratch performances, or want to connect with YTAS for the 2027 project, please get in touch with emma@ytas.org.uk.
