Nine young actors will be heading to the UK next month to take part in the world’s largest theatre festival.

The team from the Youth Arts Centre theatre group will travel to Keswick on March 17 to perform the play ’Dungeness’ at the Theatre on the Lake, along with other youth theatre groups from around the UK.

The Youth Arts Centre’s team production of ’Dungeness’ has been put together by director David Dawson and assistant director Gracel Delos Santos, who also acts in the play.

It is set in a fictional safe haven home for LGBT+ children, who are escaping difficult family lives.

The play features characters with different social stigmas and labels and is centred around a meeting where the teenagers discuss how best to publicly commemorate a homophobic attack on the LBGT+ community while at the same time trying to stay anonymous.

’Essentially it is a play about the struggles of being an LBGT+ kid,’ said Gracel. ’It is also about the everyday lives of teenagers and people who just want to live their lives and not be judged or labelled.

’None of the characters are just token characters. For example, my character, Birdie, is a trans lesbian, but she is ambitious and wants to try her best at everything she does. She is trying to be a leader of the group.

’It is heavy subject matter, but as a young cast we have had to think about it a lot.

’One character is also a Muslim and has to deal with hate crime, directed to her as a Muslim woman.

’The issues that this play raises are things that LGBT+ teenagers have to deal with all the time and tackling that as a young person is very empowering.’

’Dungeness’, written by playwright Chris Thompson, is one of 10 plays that is being performed as part of the Connections festival, which takes place at venues up and down the UK.

Participating theatre groups can perform one of the plays in their own style, with some plays being selected to go onto a final performance night in London later in the year.

’We have taken part in the festival for many years now,’ said Gracel. ’Unfortunately, we haven’t been picked to go to London yet, although we were very close last year. Hopefully this year, though.’

There will be a chance to see ’Dungeness’ at the Youth Arts Centre, from Thursday to Saturday, February 6 to 8. Thursday and Friday’s performances start at 6pm and Saturday’s is at 5pm.

Tickets (£5) are available on the door.

by MIke Wade

Twitter:@iomnewspapers