A GROUP of 15 youngsters from a North-East school made their debuts at the Edinburgh Festival yesterday.

The pupils, from the Hermitage School, Chester-le-Street, County Durham, joined up with professional group Theatre Cap-a-Pie to take their docu-drama theatre to Edinburgh's Fringe festival.

Funded by the Elements New Commissions Fund, the project has been running for 12 weeks, with a two-week intensive summer school.

This culminated in the group's first performance at the school, on Friday, which was followed by yesterday's show at the Gilded Balloon, in Edinburgh.

The group has been exploring the youngsters' experiences of living in Chester-le-Street through their personal and family histories.

Hermitage deputy headteacher Claire Mullane said yesterday: "The process hopes to expand the participants' experience of how theatre is created, and also provide a model for their own future writing and drama work."

The project is one of four to secure a total of £15,000 from the fund.

Theatre and drama groups were asked to submit applications outlining how they wished to bring new theatre into their regular production work.

Art group Blaize, with Utass - Upper Teesdale Agricultural Support Services - and local writer Maureen Lawrence are working on a piece to tour small venues. Ms Lawrence was also given money to explore the impact of foot-and-mouth disease on the area.

The third project involves Lower Deerness Valley Youth Group, writers Paul Summers and Ian Dowson, drama worker Magriet Struik and film-maker Steven Zuidam. They will share real and imagined stories to create a piece of multi-media theatre mixing drama and film.

In the final project, Turrets Youth Theatre Group is commissioning David Naphine to write a series of short plays for four youth theatre groups - The Turrets, Teesdale Youth Theatre, Parkside Drama Club and Wash, the Woodhouse Acting Silly Harries.