A play written by a leading actress and first performed to crowds in Redbridge has made it to the National Theatre.

A group of teenage actors performed to thousands at South Bank's iconic world-famous National Theatre at the weekend after the youth theatre company RAW Academy was selected to premiere their work.  

The academy, founded in Highams Park, staged a play called Angels, written by Father Ted actress Pauline McLynn and performed by eleven young actors aged between 14 and 18.

Set in an old graveyard, the plot focuses on eight misfit teenagers who gather for a community clean-up project under the watchful eyes of three talking, singing and all too opinionated stone angels.

The production was part of The National Theatre Connections festival which youth theatre companies nationwide are invited to take part in but was first performed in March at the Lovegrove Theatre in Churchfields, South Woodford.

Run by a team of industry professionals for over a decade, the Academy trains children and young adults in all areas of the performing arts from its studio at the Peterhouse Centre in Forest Rise, Walthamstow.