DMU drama students take to the stage in professional Curve co-production

Drama and Theatre Arts students from De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) will test their skills when they perform in a professional co-production with the city's Curve Theatre.

This year's DMU x Curve collaboration sees students working alongside professional theatre-makers to stage Jemma Kennedy's Second Person Narrative – a funny, relatable and moving portrait of a life unfolding through the choices we make and the stories we tell ourselves.

The annual Curve and DMU co-production programme has been providing DMU students with professional performance opportunities since 2012, giving them the chance to rehearse and perform in a professional theatre environment while gaining valuable insight into the collaborative nature of the theatre industry.

Running at Curve's RR2 Theatre from 4^th to 6^th June, Second Person Narrative follows a character known simply as "You" through 30 episodes across an entire lifetime, exploring how choices, relationships and chance encounters shape who we become.

Directed by Kitty Benford, whose previous credits include Fantastic Foxes at Curve and Acceptable Rebellion for the National Theatre's Speak Up programme, the production is performed by a student ensemble from DMU.

Sorcha Drinkwater is a third year on DMU’s Drama and Theatre Arts BA (hons) course. Althought naturally inclined towards writing a dissertation for her final year project, Sorcha decided to challenge herself by opting to perform at the Curve instead and is now playing several parts as a member of the ensemble cast. She said: “It’s been brilliant working with the Curve - challenging at times for me, but I’ve learned so much about the industry doing this production."

Sorcha, who plans to pursue a career teaching drama rather than performing, added: “I must admit I was a bit nervous, but I thought I’ll never get another chance to perform with my friends from the course, and it’s been really good - really fun actually much more than I expected. I would say that if you think this is something that you don’t necessarily want to do, that’s probably exactly the reason why you should – it’s good to do something that scares you sometimes.”

Second Person Narrative runs at Curve from 4^th to 6^th June. Tickets are available from Curve's Box Office and at www.curveonline.co.uk.