A THEATRE company hopes to receive a national honour at an awards ceremony this month.

Cleveland Theatre Company (CTC), based in Darlington, is one of three nominees for the Best Play for Children award in the Barclays' Theatre Awards.

Under The Apple Tree, a new play for three to five-year-olds, is up for the award at the ceremony at the Royal Court Theatre, London, on Sunday, October 22.

CTC's artistic director, Paul Harman, said yesterday: "It is a great honour to have been selected from a national field of over 200 plays for children this year.

"Our work for the young is very important to us. Over the years, we have built up a lot of experience in creating new plays for them. They deserve the best we can offer."

In June, CTC's Millennium Festival play, Eye Threes, was seen by nearly 2,000 children aged three and four in a specially-created area at Darlington Arts Centre.

Big Eyes, which is touring nationally, is a mobile version of the play.