My Journey: Jack Thorne
Jack Thorne’s National Youth Theatre story is one of persistence. He loved acting as a child, and his father brought him to London to audition for the NYT’s courses. It took three attempts: he failed to get in the first two times. Once inside, he says, he had the time of his life. The NYT also gave him his first break as a writer. His first play presented in a professional venue was A Bedroom, staged by the NYT at the Lyric Hammersmith in 2004 and directed by Vicky Jones. More than 20 years later the connection is still strong. In 2026 the NYT’s REP Company staged his adaptation of Let the Right One In at Underbelly Boulevard Soho. Reflecting on the company, Thorne has said that what the NYT does is make you feel like things are possible.
Jack Thorne was born on 6 December 1978 and writes across theatre, film, television and radio. His early stage plays included When You Cure Me at the Bush Theatre, Stacy at Trafalgar Studios and 2nd May 1997.
He wrote the stage plays Harry Potter and the Cursed Child and Stranger Things: The First Shadow. The Solid Life of Sugar Water, made with Graeae Theatre Company, premiered at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2015 and played the National Theatre in 2016. His Sunday premiered at New York’s Atlantic Theatre Company in 2019, and his adaptation of After Life opened at the National Theatre in 2021.
He also wrote the Old Vic’s A Christmas Carol, directed by fellow NYT alumnus Matthew Warchus and revived there every year since 2017. His other stage work includes Hope, directed by John Tiffany, Junkyard for Headlong, and Woyzeck at the Old Vic.
On screen his credits include This is England, His Dark Materials, Enola Holmes and Lord of the Flies, and he co-created the drama Adolescence. He is a multiple BAFTA winner. In September 2026 he was one of the readers at the NYT’s 70th anniversary gala at the Royal Festival Hall.