WEIRD and wonderful ideas from the minds of children are being harnessed as inspiration for the creation of a new theatre for youngsters.

Last July the North-East children and young people’s theatre company, Theatre Hullabaloo, was awarded £1.5million from Arts Council England to create a performance venue on a site adjacent to Darlington’s Civic Theatre on Borough Road.

The £2.65million project, made possible by a commitment of £660,000 by Darlington Borough Council, will include a 150 seat studio theatre, family café, play spaces plus rehearsal and office space for the organisation.

To ensure that the venue caters for its audience, pupils from Northwood Primary School and The Rydal Academy joined staff at Theatre Hullabaloo for two days of creative design workshops.

The children were asked to design their ideal bedrooms, cafes and places to play and the sessions were overlooked by the project’s architects, Space Architects, who will aim to work some of the children’s themes and ideas into their venue design.

Miranda Thain, creative producer of Theatre Hullabaloo, said: “Working with local children as creative collaborators is a core part of what we do, whether we are developing a new production or designing a new theatre.”

“As always, the imaginations of our young consultants did not disappoint and they were keen to make sure the design team realised that it wasn’t just enough to create a space for children, but that they wanted to be a part of changing it and developing it whenever they visited.

“So this is the start of an ongoing process of making sure that The Hullaballoon is a place for them.”