Watford Palace Theatre, in partnership with Hertfordshire County Council Children Standards and School Effectiveness, runs the Hertfordshire County Youth Theatre for people aged 13-18 who attend a Herts County Council school.

Working with young people and teachers from across the county, HCYT offers training and performance opportunities with professional practitioners, creating two full scale performances each year at the Palace.

We notify HCC schools when auditions for our productions are coming up, and audition in schools around the county and at Watford Palace Theatre.

Feedback from the participants:  

"Being part of the whole thing and feeling like a real actor was the most enjoyable thing because it doesn't happen every day! I felt like I’d won a competition. The most important thing I learnt from this project was that a theatre shapes our society just as much as school does." 

"I was impressed with the professionalism from both the technical and performance based aspects of the show. I think it demonstrates how well the Hertfordshire County Youth Theatre is run and is a good basis on learning how to cope and behave in theatre of the highest level."

The Guardian's Lyn Gardner on HCYT's production of A Vampire Story, which transferred to the National Theatre after a successful run at WPT: "A clever mix of guile and innocence... extremely entertaining."