Theatre Royal Plymouth’s Young Company joins worldwide project to record teenagers during the coronavirus pandemic

With schools across the world on lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Young Company are working to battle the impact of isolation and anxiety on teenagers’ mental health – and providing a space to express what the lockdown is like for them.

The Coronavirus Time Capsule is a week-by-week project created by London-based youth theatre Company Three and made available to groups of young people across the world. Groups create new videos every week responding to different topics linked to the lockdown.

Groups involved include youth theatres in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland and in Ireland, Kenya, Brazil, Australia, Croatia, the Netherlands and the USA.

The Young Company are publishing new videos every week, exploring topics like home life, school, exercise and friendship. Each video is a window into the worlds of the participants in the project, showing them at home, with their families and in their rooms.

By the end of the lockdown, the group will have created a cumulative time capsule for anyone to watch – and for the participants to look back on and remember this extraordinary time.

The Coronavirus Time Capsule is available for free to youth theatres, educational institutions, student drama groups, amateur companies and community arts projects everywhere. It includes a 20 page blueprint, online working resources and other online materials. Groups can start now, or join later in the process.

Jane Pawson, Head of Learning at Theatre Royal Plymouth said: “We jumped at the opportunity to provide a positive challenge to our young people in this difficult time. For an hour a week we can give young people the chance to virtually meet, have fun, and be creative which can make a big difference to their wellbeing. Through their videos we’ll get a glimpse into their worlds and track their journeys through these highly unusual times”.  

Young Company member, Phoebe, 13 said: "The project has been really inspiring and has helped give me something to do in lockdown and a way to express how I feel about what’s happening in the world around me.”

The Coronavirus Time Capsule has been created by Company Three, published in association with Nick Hern Books and developed in partnership with the National Association of Youth Theatres, Scottish Youth Theatre, Youth Arts Network Cymru, the Unicorn Theatre and Central School of Speech and Drama.

The Artistic Director of Company Three, Ned Glasier said:“We are so excited that the Theatre Royal Plymouth’s Young Company have joined with this huge network of youth theatres, schools and other youth groups to create their own Coronavirus Time Capsule. We know that the shutdown is particularly difficult for teenagers, living with all that the pandemic has brought and missing out on key rites of passage in their education and emotional development. So we wanted to provide something to provide support, connection and a space to be heard – and a chance to connect with teenagers in similar situations all over the world.”