Young people stage triple bill reflecting military life



Issued by City of York Council

Young people from military and local families are staging three plays to open the curtain on the realities of life in the armed forces and as the culmination of a partnership between City of York Council and the armed forces.

The York Community Covenant Agreement was signed by representatives of local armed forces, forces families and City of York Council in November 2011. The covenant helps fund projects to help mutual understanding and cohesion between York’s military and civilian communities. The scheme most recently funded ‘Armed Forces Presents…’ a short film capturing the stories of York-based or linked armed forces personnel, their families and the local communities and screened as part of Illuminating York in October 2012.

Councillor Sonja Crisp, City of York Council cabinet member for Leisure, Culture and Tourism said: “For this triple bill, three local playwrights have each written a short work which will each be performed by troupes of young actors: one based at Strensall Barracks and two with Riding Lights Theatre company.

“One play by ex-serviceman and local writer Matthew Midgley is about a female soldier leaving her young family to go to war. Another by post-graduate writing student Morven Hamilton explores a soldier returning home with post traumatic stress disorder and the third, written by Riding Lights’ associate director Paul Birch and performed by the forces’ young people, looks at the challenges young people of forces families face: settling into new schools and communities, and coping with a parent being posted overseas.”

The plays will be performed as a triple bill, first at Riding Lights’ Friargate Theatre on Tuesday 19 March and then at Strensall Barracks on Wednesday 21 March.

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