The screening of a play performed by the Dawlish Repertory Company's Youth Group is to be streamed online this weekend as part of a national youth theatre initiative.

Their production of 'The IT' will be shown on the Theatre Royal Plymouth's website on Sunday, June 13 at 6.30pm, and will be available for anyone to view.

It's part of the National Theatre's Connections programme, involving youth groups and regional theatres all over the country.

The play, by Vivienne Franzmann, is a darkly comic production exploring adolescent mental health, and the Dawlish group have been working on it since November 2020 – despite the Covid restrictions and lockdowns.

Rehearsals took place via Zoom, in small groups, and finally with a full cast and technical team. The final version was filmed in the last week of March this year.

It's about a teenage girl who has something growing inside her – and it's not a baby – but she doesn't know what it is. It expands in her body, taking over all of her insides. She can feel its claws and hear the strange hissing noise it makes. Because she has to keep its presence a secret, she withdraws from her friends and won't speak in case The It is heard. At school she becomes an isolated, weird figure. Then, The It starts trying to escape from her body….

Anyone who would like to see the screening, and the other regional plays streamed through the Theatre Royal website, needs to book online via the theatre's website. You'll need to create an account, but no payment details are required because it's a free digital performance. There's information on the site about all the screenings and the timetable – and all the plays are available for a week after the initial streaming.