ONE of the region's best known champions of youth theatre has teamed up with an award-winning playwright to put together a fast-paced production based on real life stories.

The Brewery Arts Centre's Youth Arts manager, Tricia Gordon, and writer Kevin Dyer are the creative forces behind Ruby, a new play about the pressures facing young people, which Kevin hopes will encourage them to share their experiences.

The play is touring schools across South Lakeland and Barrow with the final shows this week including a performance at the Kendal arts centre on Tuesday, May 1 (1.30pm), which will be streamed live to other schools across Cumbria.

"This play is about the world of young people and what is going on in their heads," explains Kevin, whose also directing the play. "This is a story of a 15 year-old navigating one ordinary and yet extraordinary day."

Kevin says he wrote the play after listening to a group of young people who live in south Cumbria telling him their stories. "After writing it I took it back to the group and tweaked it and changed it, depending on what they liked and what they found authentic."

Ruby is performed by three apprentice actors, one of whom is still a member of Tricia's Brewery Youth Theatre: Abbi Lawson; former BYT student and recent graduate from Edge Hill University, Rebecca Black, and Ellesia Hilton, currently at Cumbria University, complete the trio of performers.

The production has been funded through Community Safety Partnership and Curious Minds and is aimed at 12-14 year olds to help support their mental health.

It is also backed by South Lakeland District Council, which has commissioned the Brewery to deliver two theatre projects over two years to help educate young people about issues identified by the funders and via consultation with young people

"The performances will hopefully lead to a deeper conversation between young people, professionals and parents" adds Kevin. "We adults make the world that young people grow up in and some of the pressures come from mum, dad and the family."

The play is the first to be performed as part of a new initiative Applied Theatre in Cumbria (ATiC), a partnership investment initiative between the South Cumbria Community Safety Partnership and cultural education charity, Curious Minds, and Arts Council England's Bridge Organisation for the North West, which will take plays focussing on community safety and health and wellbeing issues into schools.

Richard Frank, who manages the project on behalf of the Brewery, said: "We are delighted the project includes young, emerging apprentice actors from across Cumbria and gives them the opportunity to experience the world of professional theatre first hand."

The theatre project is backed by the South Cumbria Community Safety Partnership, which is made up of a range of organisations, including South Lakeland District Council, Cumbria County Council, Barrow Borough Council, the police and voluntary organisations who are helping to tackle crime and disorder and promote community safety.