CHESTER Little Theatre's Youth Theatre is performing its version of George Crabbe's iconic 1810 poem Peter Grimes, which exposed the scandal of workhouse children who were exploited as slave labour during the Industrial Revolution.
Peter Grimes is being performed at Chester Little Theatre on Thursday at 7.30pm, at St Werburgh's Church on Friday at 7.30pm and at Theatr Clwyd, Mold on Saturday at 7.45pm.
Directors Jenny and Paul Shryane have interlaced the original poem with true contemporary stories of children from around the world whose childhood has been denied them through enforced and often dangerous labour.
These stories not only include children involved in the 'fast fashion' textile industry in Asia, but also tales from the UK.
For example, working in warehouses for online forms and even closer to home, those children coerced into working the 'County Lines', carrying drugs from cities such as Liverpool to rural areas such as Wrexham and Rhyl.
The International Labour Organization states: "Child labour is work that deprives children of their childhood, their potential and their dignity, and that is harmful to physical and mental development."
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