National Theatre Connections - ACT Youth Theatre in SYCAMORE GAP by Al Smith

About

Someones cut down the Sycamore and they think its one of us. Twelve suspects - students - are forced to face the question of guilt.

Between the stump that remains and the pin of a jackdaw bird, one among them is responsible. But........is it truly about the tree? Or is there something more?

Truth & Justice. Masks & Scandals. A story of accountability and loss. But more importantly........Who cut down our beloved Sycamore?

A whodunnit about the felling of the Robin Hood Tree at Sycamore Gap. Set on the day after the felling, the local police are in school conducting an investigation. The twelve members of the schools eco-club are held in a classroom, being taken out and interviewed one by one, until the culprit cracks and confesses. While they wait for their turn, the pupils interrogate each other. Who could have done something so monstrous? What possible motivation could they have had? What impact will it have on their club and their community, now that the tree is gone? And will it be possible for any of them to move on?

Al Smiths plays include Harrogate (HighTide/Royal Court Theatre), Rare Earth Mettle (Royal Court), Diary of a Madman (Traverse Theatre/Gate Theatre), and Radio (Arcola/Audible). For television he has written for EastEnders, Casualty, Holby City, Doctors, Father Brown and The Coroner. He writes regularly for radio and his BBC Radio 4 series Life Lines has won an ARIA and several BBC Audio Drama Awards. He has won the BFI Wellcome Trust Screenwriting Prize, and for his play Harrogate he was nominated for the Evening Standard Theatre Award for Most Promising Playwright. He lives in Oxford.

This play is performed by ACT Youth Theatre as part of NT Connections, a celebration of Youth Theatre across the UK and Ireland.