The past week has seen a significant contribution by young people to activities on the local stage, as is clear from the reviews by me and David Bellan elsewhere today. Youngsters are also showing us their mettle in a three-day programme, NationalTheatre Connections, which continues until tonight at Oxford Playhouse.

The Playhouse itself joined forces with Magdalen College School to create a company that performed Rory Mullarkey’s The Grandfathers on the first two evenings. A different group will be offering the same short play tonight.

The meaning of the title is not clear, except perhaps that it was grandfathers — the performers’, not mine! — who were last subjected to military conscription as depicted in the piece. Not that there is anything historic in the action shown, which could be taking place anywhere that British men fight today —Afghanistan say. The focus is on an eight-strong force who are seen under attack, one of their number seemingly mortally injured, and then in flashback during their training.

The barked instructions of their platoon commander (Robin Kendall) and the recruits’ responses to them built up through their repetition a rhythm that was also reflected in the choreographed movement introduced under the direction of Ellen Havard. Meanwhile, distinctions between the soldiers were nicely drawn in the performances of Maia-Louise Bellman, Christabel Kane, Katy Donnelly, Olivia Frazer-Smith, Shakur Gabbidon-Williams, Tom Page, Jessica Paige and Harry Pudwell.

In the second play on Tuesday’s bill, a group of 13-year-olds — some way out of their emotional depth — offered Craig Higginson’s Little Foot. This took us on a Famous Five-style adventure into caves near Johannesburg where the earliest human remains have been found. Difficulties between the adventurous quintet, however, spill over into some very nasty, distinctly un-Enid-Blyton-like activities.