TODAY the local college drama department hall, tomorrow The National Theatre.

That is the exciting prospect for drama students from Prior Pursglove College, Guisborough, who are taking part in a national theatre project called Shell Connections.

As their part of the project, the students performed An Island Far From Here, a play by Laura Ruohonen, at the college drama studio last Saturday night. The play will transfer to the Theatre Royal, in Newcastle, next Friday, March 28.

Judges will watch the production as one of a series of 13 plays performed by youth drama groups at regional theatres across the country. If they select the Guisborough students' play as the best, it will transfer to the National Theatre in London.

Graham Hamlyn, drama teacher at the college, said: "This is a unique opportunity for students to explore first-hand the experience of working in a professional environment with directors, producers and stage managers, all of which is done under the roof of a professional theatre."