YOUNGSTERS are performing a classic play with a supernatural flavour to coincide with its 50th anniversary this year.

Pupils at Durham School will stage The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, in the school's Luce Theatre, from today until Saturday. Based on the Salem witch trials, it was first performed in 1953. Neil Kern, the play's director and headmaster of Durham School, said: "Girls in the village of Salem in Massachusetts in 1692 are playing at 'witchy' things and are caught.

"To avoid punishment, they 'confess' to witchcraft and implicate others. Arrests, trials and hysterical outbursts follow, leading to executions. The demands on the young cast are enormous, but they have risen to the challenge admirably."

The play, which reflects the anti-Communist witch hunts in the US in the early 1950s, is staged in a circle, representing a chemistry crucible. For tickets, call 0191-386 4783.