YOUNG drama enthusiasts are taking a hard-hitting new play to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe thanks to a legacy from a life-long theatre lover.

The Georgian Theatre Royal Youth Theatre are taking the play, This is Yorkshire, to the festival after a specific request from Brian Tennant, who died in September 2016, for some of his bequest to be used to take a youth theatre production to the Fringe.

Mr Tennant, from Yarm, died aged 72 and attended around 100 theatrical shows a year across the UK and was a great supporter of The Georgian Theatre Royal in Richmond.

The play is inspired by the 2007 film, This is England, set in 1983, which looks back at working class life in early 1980s Yorkshire.

“We are thrilled to be able to give our youth theatre members this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to perform at the world’s largest arts festival,” said Aimee Shields, youth theatre officer at The Georgian Theatre Royal, as well as writer and director of This is Yorkshire.

“Brian was passionate about theatre and the arts and we are sure that he would be delighted that his money is being used to engender a love of the stage amongst young people and maybe even inspire a few acting careers along the way.”

Using a cast of 11 talented young people, the play has already received great critical acclaim. Earlier this year, an abridged version of the work won two awards at a regional round of the prestigious All England Theatre Festival for One-act Plays – the only countrywide elimination contest for one-act plays in performance throughout England. This is Yorkshire picked up awards for Best Youth Group and the Adjudicator’s Cup, which was given for the production’s outstanding direction.

With performers aged between 13 and 17 years, This is Yorkshire explores friendship and humour as well as the bitter frustrations and violence of the age. Set against the political landscape of Thatcher’s Britain, with rising xenophobia and mass unemployment, its sobering and powerful commentary on the bitter reality of racism explores issues that are just as relevant today.

During term time, The Georgian Theatre Royal holds a range of after-school and weekend youth theatre classes in Acting and Musical Theatre. These are open to all young people from 6 to 18-years-old.

Anyone interested in joining should contact 01748 825252 or email: youth@georgiantheatreroyal.co.uk. Alternatively, an application form can be downloaded from www.georgiantheatreroyal.co.uk.