A REDDITCH teenager stars in The Young REP production After Juliet at Birmingham Repertory Theatre until Saturday.

John Partridge, 16, from Winyates West, has been acting since he was seven and last year played a pirate in Peter Pan in the Birmingham REP production starring Matthew Kelly.

The Young REP is for people aged eight to 18 and the workshops explore drama through script and improvisation.

Each year they perform on stage at The Door and the youngsters have been rehearsing the play at weekly sessions for the last few months.

After Juliet is described as 'an intriguing and shrewd interpretation of the scene in Verona after the deaths of Romeo and Juliet.'

The play, written by Sharman Macdonald, was specially commissioned by the Royal National Theatre.

Her first play, When I Was A Girl I Used to Scream and Shout, won the Evening Standard Award for Most Promising Playwright of 1984 and ran in London for a year.

Her other plays include When We Were Women, The Winter Guest (which was also made into a film) and Borders of Paradise and she has also written two novels.

John has just completed his GCSEs at St Benedict's High School, Alcester, and plans to complete a Drama BTEC course at Stratford College before going on to drama school.

Tickets for the performances, which begin at 7.45pm and include a matinee on Saturday, cost £4.50 (£3 concessions) on 0121 236 4455.