About Us

Borders Youth Theatre (BYT) runs weekly drama workshops during 'term time'
​in Duns, Selkirk, Galashiels, Kelso and online.
We also run performance projects across the Scottish Borders
​during many of the school holidays. 

What we do

Borders Youth Theatre's drama leaders deliver a wide-ranging workshop and performance project programme across the Scottish Borders throughout the year.  The drama workshops, which are after-school and/or at weekends during term-time, provide a fun, friendly, welcoming, inclusive environment and high-quality skills development through the medium of drama.
Borders Youth Theatre's inclusive ethos has effectively encouraged young people who are often overlooked by mainstream arts groups to acquire life-skills, grow emotionally, raise their ambitions, and to work effectively as a team - all through fun and creativity.
Many of Borders Youth Theatre's young participants go on to use the transferable skills they have learned to develop their career paths; several have successfully embarked on professional careers in drama and some return to assist the next generation of 'BYTers'.

          "BYT is just amazing"

"BYT has been brilliant and really.              
​helped develop my confidence".              

see our youtube channel

"BYT is where I can be myself".                   
​.                                 

Borders Youth Theatre
inspiring young people from across the Scottish Borders 

Borders Youth Theatre
Our 'term time'  weekly workshops are informal, fun,
90-minute sessions that help children and young people to develop transferable skills and build confidence through the creative medium of drama. Currently there are workshops in: Duns, Selkirk, Galashiels & Kelso.
The groups are friendly and inclusive.
The age range for Juniors is 8 years to 'S1',
Seniors: S1 to 25 years.
All are welcome, no auditions needed.
​For more information about how to enrol and fees email: info@bordersyouththeatre.scot

Borders Youth Theatre (BYT) has been inspiring young people from across the Scottish Borders since 1989. Its amazing track record in engaging and empowering children and young adults from all backgrounds, has been applauded far beyond the region.
Borders Youth Theatre has worked in partnership with many organisations including: Scottish Youth Theatre, Live Borders, Youth Scotland, Youth Theatre Arts Scotland & Alchemy Film Festival.

Pinocchio 7pm Friday 7th April & 3pm and 7pm Sunday 9th April. Tickets on eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/byt-presents-our-easter-2023-pinocchio-by-carlo-collodi-tickets-556866260977?aff=ebdsoporgprofile

What has Borders Youth Theatre been doing? 

2019 was a very busy year which included: 'The Witches' Easter Juniors Project; 'Chaos' a National Theatre Connections show which was performed at Tower Mill Theatre Hawick and Traverse Edinburgh; 'Alice Through the Looking Glass' which saw a cast of 50+ young people from all over the Scottish Borders perform outdoors at Bowhill, Mellerstain and Traquair;  and Mr A's Amazing Maze Plays performed at MacArts Galashiels.

In March 2020 in response to Covid/lockdown restrictions, Borders Youth Theatre began running online drama activities and workshops to enable the children and young people to stay connected and combat isolation.
In summer 2020 Borders Youth Theatre launched a new YouTube channel to showcase work created by the young people during lockdown. Borders Youth Theatre YouTube channel also showcases recordings of over 30 years of BYT performances. New content created in 2020 includes: ‘Musings in Lockdown’ short monologues and four plays written in 2020 for Zoom performance. In December 2020; 30+ Borders Youth Theatre participants, from across the Scottish Borders, created entirely online: ‘A Borders Christmas Carol' - available to hear on Borders Youth Theatre YouTube channel. This festive and funny audio drama was directed by Jordanna O’Neill with an original script, by John Kielty. The YouTube channel also showcases several 'Radio Plays' recorded online during lockdown and decades of archive material.

​In April 2021 an online-filmed, pay-to-watch performance of the laugh-out-loud comedy 'Help Desk', directed and edited by Karen Anderson, was streamed for one weekend. In summer 2021 BYT produced its first live show since 2019. The Midnight Gang, adapted from the book by David Walliams, played to sell out audiences at Kelso Racecourse. In October 2021 Borders Youth Theatre participated in 'Voicemail to the World' a Scottish Youth Theatre project  - this was broadcast at COP26. 'In-the-room' workshops were resumed in the latter half of 2021, including the free-to-participate 'Bringing Creativity Back in the Room' led by Sofia Nakou at MacArts. The creative writing group remained online in response to the participants' appreciation of the convenience of meeting online.

At the start of 2022 a10-week project 'Making a Drama out of a Crisis' ran at Tower Mill in The Heart of Hawick. This free-to-participate project was funded by Youth Scotland and supported by Live Borders. In April 2022 'A Series of Public Apologies' - a humorous and thought-provoking look at the power of social media - was performed by seniors at Tower Mill Theatre, Hawick. Also in April 2022 the Juniors devised and performed 'Mars Attacks' in Duns. In Summer 2022 recent alumni of Borders Youth Theatre ran a series of 'make-a-play-in-3-days' workshops for juniors, at venues across the Scottish Borders. Seniors participated in a 3-day creative writing & devising project based at Harestanes, led by Oli Bisset, to create inventive performance pieces based on folk-tales from the Borders and beyond. This work went on to become the October seniors' show 'The Linton Dragon' which toured over 2 weekends to sell-out audiences in Kelso, Coldstream, Morebattle & Walkerburn.

Borders Youth Theatre Drama workshops and performance projects

"Bringing Theatre to Young People & Communities
​Bringing Young People & Communities to Drama"

Borders Youth Theatre is a Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation SC022282

Borders Youth Theatre (BYT) is a registered Scottish Charity
​run by volunteers.
BYT contracts experienced qualified professionals to deliver a
wide-ranging workshop and performance project programme to provide high-quality skills development through the medium of drama. ​
​Chairperson:  Susan Stewart
Treasurer: Tim Wilcock - acting treasurer
Trustees:  Rachel Hunter, Esme Babineaux, Catrina Rose,
Struan Henderson & Kyra Tweddle
Child Protection  Advisor: Kyra Tweddle
Patron: Grant O'Rourke
Advisor to the Trustees: David Bisset
Volunteer helper: Frances Teckkam

Our Current Workshop Leaders:
​Karen Anderson (Kelso & Duns) and Lindsay Spears (Selkirk & Galashiels)