A PILOT project to teach adults how to act is being launched on Teesside.

Stagecoach Theatre Arts, which numbers Billy Elliot star Jamie Bell among its former pupils, has chosen the area for its first grown-ups' classes.

The pilot scheme takes the form of a weekend workshop, including sessions on Friday evening and throughout Saturday and Sunday, and culminating in a public performance on Sunday evening.

Teaching drama will be Trudy Hindmarsh, principal of Stagecoach Yarm, while specialists in singing and dancing will lead their own sections.

Ms Hindmarsh said: "This is the first place outside head office's own experiments that Stagecoach has been offered to adult students. I have persuaded them that people in the North-East are more game to try new things than those elsewhere."

For more details about the classes, from March 30 to April 1, at Teesside High School, ring (01642) 608696.