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If you were out shopping in Coventry City Centre on Saturday, 20 July you may have come across a group of young actors from the Belgrade Theatre performing a short piece of street theatre in Shelton Square.

Despite the miserable weather and the odd noisy street cleaner going past, the actors managed to put together a 15-minute performance telling the story of four characters whose worlds inter-connect with life changing results.

As well as the production being an exhibition of acting talent, there were also costumes made by Anna Lewis, the winner of this year鈥檚 MAD UK design competition. Original music and sound effects were recorded by Coventry favourite Si Hayden to create an eerie atmosphere for the piece.

Tom Bailey the Belgrade Theatre鈥檚 Senior Drama Worker commented that the piece of drama was devised and created by the young people and he simply 鈥渄irected it and knitted it all together鈥�.

Street Theatre in Coventry

The production began with the actors having a virtual walk around the city centre in the rehearsal room. 鈥淭hey have had to learn to look beneath the surface of these seemingly normal characters and find that every one of us has a story to tell鈥� said Tom.

The actors aged between 15 and 16 are all part of a programme called Acting Out.

Dean enjoyed his performance

The Belgrade鈥檚 new work-related learning course provides young people with the opportunity to take part in drama activity and gain two BTEC certificates in Performing Arts at the same time.

Tom sees Acting Out as 鈥渁 fantastic opportunity鈥� for young people of today and he believes that 鈥減eople are starting to realise what drama is as far as communication and developing personal skills鈥�.

One of the young people involved was Dean from Holbrooks who got involved in Acting Out through the help of his school. He admitted that if it wasn鈥檛 for this programme he may never have got involved in drama but he is grateful for the opportunity and he hopes that this experience will lead on听 to bigger and better things.

Street Theatre in Coventry

I also spoke to a young girl who played one of the cleaners in the piece and she told us how horribly nervous she was before the performance, but its 鈥渢he buzz鈥� she gets out of it afterwards, that makes her want to do it all again.

Not only have the children expressed their delight about Acting Out, but the parents have too, saying the programme has made their children more confident and focused, and brought out the best in them.

Many people in the crowd who stopped to watch the performance thought the idea of street theatre to be very unusual and as confused as they were by the piece, they seemed to enjoy what they saw.