Daisy Lewis and Matt Smith back on National Youth Theatre stage to celebrate 60th birthday

They join stars including Jessica Hynes and Hugh Bonneville for the gala performance 
Stellar cast: former Downton Abbey actress Daisy Lewis
Robert Dex @RobDexES5 September 2016
The Weekender

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Stars who began their acting careers at the National Youth Theatre will share a stage with the next generation of talent to celebrate its 60th birthday.

Alumni including Matt Smith, Gina McKee, Daisy Lewis, Jessica Hynes and Hugh Bonneville have signed up for the gala performance in the West End.

The show, called The Story Of Our Youth, looks back at 60 years of British youth culture with scenes taken from the NYT archives.

Lewis, who played teacher Sarah Bunting in Downton Abbey, said being at the theatre was “like being part of the Olympic team for actors”.

“We create Olympic storytellers in England and the National Youth Theatre is Team GB,” she said.

“If you look at the Oscars, how many Oscar winners are British writers, directors, actors? How important to our cultural identity and our national identity is our entertainment industry?

"Without the National Youth Theatre we would not be able to provide the next generation of storytellers.”

The theatre receives thousands of applicants every year for places on its courses. It helps those who are successful to raise money for fees and gives out more than £100,000 in bursaries.

Matt Smith on stage 

Lewis, who was at the National Youth Theatre from 2004 to 2007, described her time there as “the most formative of my life”.

She said: “I realised how lucky I was because I didn’t get in the first time around, they said I was too young and I had to wait.

Jessica Hynes

"That was the first and most important lesson, if at first you don’t succeed you work harder and don’t let it knock you down.

"Another of the important things about the NYT is it makes sure kids from disadvantaged or less advantaged backgrounds have the opportunities that people with cash who can afford drama school have, and that our industry doesn’t just become a hot-house for moneyed actors.”

More than 100,000 young people have walked through the doors of the NYT since it was founded in 1956. Former students include Dame Helen Mirren, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Sir Daniel Day Lewis.

The National Youth Theatre Anniversary Gala: The Story Of Our Youth is at the Shaftesbury Theatre on September 18.

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