A hard-hitting play hoping to effect a reduction in the numbers of injuries and fatalities on Norfolk's roads will be performed in schools around the county.
Actors from City College Norwich will take their play, 'You Reap What You Sow', to around two thousand Year 7 pupils over the next fortnight.
The play, devised in collaboration with Norfolk County Council's Road Safety Team, is targeted at an age group considered particularly vulnerable. Following the transition from primary to high school, 11, 12 and 13 year-olds have a significantly increased risk of being involved in road accidents as they begin travelling independently to and from school.
The play dramatises the consequences that can result from not wearing a seatbelt, cycling without a helmet, skateboarding in the road, and crossing the road while distracted by using a mobile phone and listening to headphones.
For research, the actors talked to a police family liaison officer and a bereaved mother whose son was killed in a motorcycle crash. The students also worked closely with the county council's road safety team - a collaboration now in its eleventh year.
Twenty-three Level 3 Acting Diploma students will be supported in the production by fellow students on the college's Level 3 Production Arts Diploma. A busy schedule will see the troupe and crew take the production to 13 Norfolk high schools in the space of just eight days.
Leanne Fridd, acting lecturer, City College Norwich, said: 'The students have done a great job with the script, which interweaves moments that are more light-hearted with some very emotional and hard-hitting scenes. It's a very engaging way to bring these important road safety messages to the age group. If just one pupil thinks twice, and makes a different choice after watching the play, that could be a young life saved.
'This is also great experience for our acting and production arts students. They not only get to experience what it is like working on a live brief for a client, but also the realities of an intensive touring schedule. It's hard work, just as it is for professional actors with a touring theatre company, but it's also very rewarding.'
'You Reap What You Sow' will be performed at the following schools:
Monday 26th November – Acle Academy (am) Taverham High School (pm)
Tuesday 27th November – Marshland High School (am)
Thursday 29th November - Long Stratton High School (am)
Friday 30th November - North Walsham High School (am) Sprowston Community High School (pm)
Monday 3rd December – Litcham School (am) St Clement's High School (pm)
Tuesday 4th December – Wayland Academy Norfolk (am) Alderman Peel High School (pm)
Thursday 6th December – Reepham High School (am)
Friday 7th December - Sewell Park Academy (am) Open Academy (pm)
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