An 'action-packed showcase' highlighting 'brilliant young talent' will be performed on a popular theatre stage.

Pupils from schools across the Lowestoft area have been working with Marina Theatre's storytellers and playwrights since January to create their very own short plays as part of a new Playwriting Festival.

And next week the children's hard work will see 17 of the scripts being performed at the venue as part of a live stage show called Untold Tales.

This new project, for Year 4 students and above, has seen a series of scriptwriting workshops delivered in the schools, with the children learning about characters, settings, problems, resolutions and writing dialogue.

The children were then challenged to come up with their own unique play scripts to enter into a competition, with the winning scripts being performed live by professional actors on the Marina Theatre stage.

Will Isgrove, the theatre's head of young people and outreach, said: 'A huge thank you to all of the students who submitted scripts for Untold Tales. We had well over 150 scripts and it was a genuine pleasure to read them all. It's going to be an action-packed showcase of some brilliant young talent!'

The show features five professional actors – Rosalind Burt, Adrienne Grant, Andy Wisher, Samual Norris and Lizzie Stanley – playing 88 different roles across the 17 plays and will include a range of weird and wonderful characters. The show will be directed by Amy Wyllie, of Spinning Wheel Theatre Company.

The event will also be attended by two judges from INK Festival who will choose one of the scriptwriters to attend a free script development workshop.

Among the Lowestoft schools that took part in the Untold Tales project, along with Great Yarmouth schools, were Northfield St Nicholas Primary Academy, Gunton Primary Academy, The Ashley School, Carlton Colville Primary, Corton Primary and Phoenix St Peter Academy.

Untold Tales is part of Making Waves Together, a three-year project funded by Arts Council England and Heritage Lottery Fund, led jointly by Great Yarmouth District Council and Waveney District Council and supported by delivery partners.

The Untold Tales show takes place at 7pm next Tuesday, July 3. Tickets are £5 each and available from the box office on 01502 533200 or via www.marinatheatre.co.uk