When a circus adaptation of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet plays out in Great Yarmouth next month it will be a particularly special moment for one of its cast.

Eastern Daily Press: Tia Marsh, training on the aerial hoop. She will be performing at this year's Out There FestivalTia Marsh, training on the aerial hoop. She will be performing at this year's Out There Festival (Image: Archant)

Tia Marsh, who is playing the leading lady in JR Circus' take of the classic love story, will be extra excited when the curtain goes up as she will be performing in front of a home crowd, having grown up in the town.

The teenager, who lived in Yarmouth for 10 years before moving to Fleggburgh, will be starring alongside fellow fledgling circus artistes in Rose and Thorn, an international production that is among the highlights of this year's Out There Festival.

Tia, 18, successfully secured her leading role after auditioning at the Drill Hall in Yarmouth - the home of Sea Change Arts, the organisers behind Out There - and will be performing in Italy and Romania before bringing the show to her home turf.

She said: 'It's weird to think I am performing in my home town because it's where I have grown up and know people, so I think that seeing people's faces that I recognise will be strange - even though they might not recognise me!'

Tia, who works at a dementia care home in Rollesby, discovered her passion for circus after attending workshops run by Lost In Translation, Yarmouth's resident circus company.

She admitted she first started going to the classes by 'accident' but was soon hooked.

'I was at college one day and someone mentioned they went to circus training one day a week and I should definitely go along, as I had been a dancer all my life. So I went and I loved it,' she added.

'I stopped for a while so I could have time to concentrate on my A-level exams. About six months after I stopped I really missed the training and decided I had to go back.

'I loved going two days a week but I knew I had to train more, so after speaking to the Lost In Translation guys I came up with an arrangement to do an intensive six week training programme privately with them.

'This gave me an insight into what it was like being part of a circus family and now it's all I want.'

Her Lost In Translation tutors encouraged her to audition for Rose and Thorn and she was delighted to secure the part of Juliet. Similar auditions were held in Bucharest and Verona, where the show will be performed before Out There kicks off on September 18.

Tia, a former East Norfolk Sixth Form student, said she had always had a fascination with the circus but never thought she would be able to break into the acrobatic art.

She said: 'In my head it was a very secretive industry that was very closed door but it really isn't at all. There is a massive network of fantastic people and places - you just have to look in the right places.

'And I consider myself very lucky to have had the support from Lost In Translation because without them I wouldn't have had the same opportunities opened up to me.'

Out There runs from September 18 - 20. Rose and Thorn will be performed on the Saturday and Sunday. For more visit www.seachangearts.org.uk/out-there