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tep off a crowded summer street and into the theatre to catch one of Alan Ayckbourne’s Plays for Young People and you can applaud yourself for a superb choice of evening plans, especially if you’ve brought a young person along.

Settle down into your plush red seats as the lights begin to fade and the expectant chatter starts to hush. Theatre is as much about atmosphere as it is about drama after all, and it’s an experience that young people have the chance to enjoy in abundance this summer; the London 2012 Festival sees a new collection of plays written for children and young people hit the stage.

Penned by lauded playwright Alan Ayckbourn, plays for Young People is a mix of different styles and lengths, but with each one designed to at pique the interest of the younger generation and inspire a generous dose of childlike wonder. Many of the plays have child or teenage protagonists and exciting themes like time travel and androids.

There will be ten shorter plays for very young children, and four full-length plays, including The Boy Who Fell Into A Book – a title few children we know could resist!  The musical among you will love Orvin – Champion of Champions, a large-scale musical adventure.

The plays will be shown between 21 June and 9 September at theatres across England.