AN ANNUAL student drama festival returns next week.

The 40th Durham Drama Festival (DDF) runs from February 4 to 7 and will include 25 performances of ten different student-written shows.

Historic venues such as Durham Cathedral’s Prior’s Hall, Durham Castle’s Norman Chapel and St John’s College will all host performances.

Student playwrights, actors and directors will have their work judged by a panel of industry experts in the hope of picking up a D’Olivier award at the end of the week.

Judges this year include producer Hector Macpherson Brown and actor and writer Charlotte Covell.

Previously, shows premiered at DDF have gone on to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and London.

New for this year, students will work with school pupils to produce a play in a day.

A spokeswoman said: “This year is the 40th anniversary of DDF and it’s set to be bigger than ever with more contact time with the judges, more workshops and some special surprises.”

Tickets allowing access to all of one night’s shows are priced £5.50 for adults, £5 for students and £4.50 for Durham Student Theatre members. Full festival tickets are also available. For more information and to book, visit community.dur.ac.uk/dst