Student play heading to Edinburgh Fringe

A stage drama written and performed by students from the University of Sheffield will be performed at the Edinburgh Fringe arts festival.

The play, called Peace Circle, is based on a restorative justice procedure that sees a criminal come face-to-face with his victim's family following a murder.

All the cast and crew are current or recently graduated students of the university.

Writer and director Lucy Singer, 21, said: "It's very, very exciting - the festival is a cornerstone of the whole theatre industry, it's where everybody who does theatre wants to go."

The play explores the story of a murderer being confronted by his victim's family during a series of supervised talking sessions.

Ms Singer said the group had to pitch the play to organisers of the festival and they were chosen from three competing teams.

She added that performing was "not cheap", but the group was financially supported by the students' union's alumni fund and private sponsorships.

She hoped being part of the Fringe could help her achieve her dream of becoming scriptwriter.

"It's comforting to know we'll be surrounded by so many other amateur and student productions - there's other people dipping their toes in," she said.

Actress Emelia Lodge said she attended drama school before going to university, but now had new opportunities to "try loads of different aspects" of the industry.

However, she believed it had also improved her skills on stage.

"Drama school was amazing, but that consumes your life - sometimes you're there from eight in the morning to eight at night," she said.

"You had no time to pursue other things if you wanted to, and I think a lot of theatre is about life experience."

Fellow cast member Roberto Rowinski said they were feeling "confidence, nerves, and excitement" ahead of their performance at the Fringe.

"We've done so many rehearsals and gone over it so many times, so hopefully we'll be going into it relatively confident that we can perform it to the best of our ability."

The production will be hosted by Edinburgh's Space Triplex venue between 18 and 23 August.

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