A YOUTH theatre company will be performing a play by Derry Girls writer Lisa McGee which has been commissioned as part of a campaign to provide new plays for young people.

InterACT Youth Theatre are a specialist performance group offered by charity, Little Actors Theatre Company, based in Neston. Their latest show will see a performance of The Heights by at Neston Town Hall on Sunday, March 26, at 2.30pm and 5pm.

It is one of ten plays commissioned by the National Theatre Connections initiative.

The Heights synopsis reads: "This is a play about stories. Lillie is a teenager who lives on the Heights Estate. A place where nothing ever happens, except in Lillie’s head. Lillie’s not like most people, definitely not. For starters, she never goes out, but sits in her bedroom window on the sixth floor of her tower block, watching the world and the people in it go by – though sometimes some of those same people enter her world. As she sits, she makes up stories. Some of these stories are sad, some are happy, some are funny and some are just wonderful. However, whatever they are, they are just stories. Aren’t they? Surely these are all just stories, dark, curious, beguiling figments of Lillie’s fertile imagination aren’t they?"

National Theatre Connections is one of the UK’s largest celebrations of youth theatre. Plays are commissioned for and about young people, from some of the best contemporary playwrights, and performed by schools and youth theatres all over the UK and Ireland. Young people have the opportunity to get involved in all aspects of creating and staging the play both on and offstage, from set design to costume, lighting and stage management.

In 2023, National Theatre Connections is working with up to 300 youth theatres and schools to stage ten commissioned plays and all the companies will transfer their production to one of Connections Partner Theatres across the UK.

Rufus Norris, Director of the National Theatre has said: "Connections is at the heart of the National Theatre’s work for young people, built on the belief that young people in every corner of the UK should have the opportunity to experience and take part in theatre. We’re so excited to welcome new and returning youth theatre companies and schools to take part in Connections this year. All participants are invited to get involved with every aspect of theatre-making and have the chance to premiere a brand new play in a leading regional theatre."

Artistic Director of InterACT Youth Theatre, Samantha Giblin, says that to be part of NT Connections is to be part of a bigger creative picture. The play will transfer to The Lowry on April 30, giving the young people the chance to work in a professional venue, network with their peers and stretch their horizons. InterACT will also present the play at the Gladstone Theatre, Port Sunlight, as part of the Leverhulme Drama Festival on April 22.

More information about the Little Actors Theatre can be found on the website. Tickets for The Heights can be found at www.ticketsource.co.uk/little-actors-theatre-company or contact the box office: 07385849864 or mail@littleactorstheatre.com.