We chatted to actor and NYT REP Company alumni Amy Young who’s looking to follow in the footsteps of her heroes like local favourite Julie Walters and Peaky Blinders Helen McCrory
The National Youth Theatre has been a valuable route into acting for decades. Patron Daniel Craig says he ‘literally owes his career to the NYT’ but it’s only fairly recently the organisation has stepped outside its London bubble launching regional hubs. Birmingham’s version, the NYT REP Company launched in 2012 and has racked up a sparkling list of alumni already. BAFTA nominee and Gangs of London star Ṣọpẹ́ Dìrísù, Scottish BAFTA winner and The Ridge star Lauren Lyle, and Ian Charleson Award-winner Francesca Amewudah-Rivers all honed their skills there.
Places are hard to come by, the audition process is rigorous and competition is tough. Every auditionee has to be a NYT member which involves completing a course called Epic Stages. Amy took the two-week course to become a member which allowed her to audition for the organisation’s REP Company. She was offered a place in her second year of auditioning which in hindsight she’s grateful for. She says: “There are four rounds of auditions, 2,000 members auditioning and I learned so much just from that process.” There are just 16 places on offer so it’s a huge achievement.
WORKING CLASS
Amy was 18 years-old when she joined in September 2025 and she graduated this June. The nine-month programme is fully funded which is crucial. Amy says: “Drama school isn’t accessible for everyone. I’m from a working class background and I wouldn’t have been able to do this if it wasn’t funded.” In the interest of finding the best and brightest talent it makes total sense to free people from any financial hurdles. Ten weeks of the nine-month programme were spent at the NYT building in London honing in on industry training, getting to know the right people and how to approach them ensuring alumni are focused and knowledgeable.
The NYT REP season of which Amy was part of, began with a world premiere adaptation of Dracula (pictured) written by Tatty Hennessy, directed by UK Theatre Award best director nominee Atri Banerjee followed by Jack Thorne’s adaptation of the hit vampire novel Let the Right One In. Amy says it was different to anything she’d done before and a brilliant experience.
Theatre is what Amy has done most of so far and she says: “It’s so exciting. It’s live, you’re telling a story and feeling an immediate reaction. I’ve also done a couple of film projects.” Nerves are something Amy accepts and deals with. She says: “I don’t think nerves ever go away, but you learn to put them into your performance. It’s why you train and warm up your body.”
CRESCENT THEATRE
Amy rates the arts offering in the West Midlands. She’s been a long time volunteer at the Crescent Theatre which she describes as amazing, plus she was part of the Belgrade Ensemble at the Belgrade Theatre. It’s a free year-long creative programme for early-career performers aged 18 to 25 from the local area. It’s not a training course more an investment in creative development and Amy found it to be a great confidence boost.
Finding drama a bit later than some, Amy arrived at college having never found her path academically and also having never done any acting. She says: “A drama teacher encouraged me to come to an audition and he saw something in me.” Amy’s heroes are Victoria Wood, Julia Walters and Helen McCrory among others but her dream gig would be Shakespeare. She says: “I’d love to do some Shakespeare particularly with Birmingham being so close to Stratford.”