This year, as part of the National Theatre Connections 2020 Programme, sixth form students from St Gregory’s have been working on a play called The IT by Vivienne Franzmann.

The IT is a play about a teenage girl who has something growing inside her. She doesn’t know what it is, but she knows it’s not a baby. It expands in her body. It starts in her stomach, but quickly outgrows that, until eventually it takes over the entirety of her insides. It has claws. She feels them. Does it have teeth, skin, and hair as well, or is that feathers, or spikes she can feel, butting up against her organs? What is it? It makes a noise, like a lizard or a snake. No one must know about it. She has to keep its presence, its possession of her, concealed. She pulls away from her friends. She refuses to speak in case The It is heard. Then the It tries to escape from her body. She can’t let that happen. She cuts an isolated weird figure at school, trying to live her life ‘normally; but battling to keep The It inside of her. But she can’t contain it forever, sooner or later something’s got to give…

Presented in the style of a direct to camera documentary, this is a darkly comic state of the nation play exploring adolescent mental health and the rage within, written very specifically for today.

Performances will be held on Wednesday 11 March at 6.30pm in the Drama Studio, St Gregory’s, Bath. Tickets are £4 and available on the door.

This will be followed by a performance at The Bristol Old Vic Thursday 2 April 2020, tickets on sale soon at https://bristololdvic.org.uk/

Keep an eye on our twitter feed @StGregorysPA for more information!