A drama group from Gedling took to the stage at Derby Theatre this weekend as part of a national festival of performances.
Flying High Expressive Arts CIC performed The Ceasefire Babies on Saturday 14 April alongside other young actors from across the region.
This was part of the National Theatre Connections festival, a nationwide exhibition of new writing and talented performers in association with London’s National Theatre.
Flying High’s Young Company had been working on the play since October and the show in Derby was its second public performance by the group after it was revealed to a warm reception at the Bonington Theatre in Arnold last month.
Carrie Bird, director of Flying High Expressive Arts, said: “It’s been a long journey, taking this play from script to stage and watching our young members grow as performers and in their characters.
“It’s a very proud moment every time we get to be in a place like this and this year’s Young Company really gave it their all as they went out to do their thing with this play for perhaps the final time.”
The Ceasefire Babies, written by Fiona Doyle, looks at a group of young people in Northern Ireland living in the wake of the troubles.
The Connections festival sees the National Theatre commission new plays and musicals from both well-established and up and coming writers, which are then produced by drama groups and schools across the country.
One version of each script is then selected to go and perform at the National Theatre on London’s Southbank.
Flying High had that opportunity in 2012 when its version of Alice by Heart, a musical written by the makers of the hit Broadway show Spring Awakening, was selected to go down to London.
The performers took to the stage in front of nearly 1,000 people, including the writers themselves and Will Young.
That show is set to open as a professional production in New York next year.
