A UNIQUE piece of drama will be premiered on July 9 and 10 by The Courtyard's Senior Youth Theatre, when they present Stories on our Doorstep, the result of an intergenerational project, which has involved the group in visits to residents of care homes to uncover their wonderfully rich and diverse stories.

Joining Stories on our Doorstep in a double bill is The Projectionist from Vamos Young People'sTheatre company, which is the culimination of a parallel project run in Worcester.

"We have been working in three care homes," says David Durant, Senior Youth Theatre director. "It's been a year long project, and we have had help from Age UK and historian Justin Hughes from Worcester Council to learn how to record an oral history, how to put their interviewees at ease and conduct interviews.

That was the first term, and in the second term we brought in scriptwriter James Baldwin, who has been absolutely fantastic. He's worked with the Royal Court Young Wrtiters' Group and at the Roundhouse in London, but he also has lots of experience working with dementia and in care homes. He applied to an ad we placed and he's a bit of a find.

"He went along to the care homes with the young people and listened to the interviews, and he's done a marvellous job putting it all into a script.

"The idea behind the piece is that we are all made up of stories and they're bursting out of us - we should find our identity in that, not in our age."

One of the wonderful, fantastic things that has come out of the project has been the friendships that have been formed and the stereotypes that have been broken down - on both sides. Teenagers aren't all aggressive hoodie-wearers and old people aren't all miserable and ready to hit you with a walking stick.

"One of the students was worried about a job interview coming up and she was given advice by a 90-year-old and got the job."

Because the guiding idea of the piece is stories, the only props being used are books: "When a story has been told, the book is left on the floor. The idea is that you can't stop the stories." And, says David, the project proved a goldmine, from the story of Nancy who met her husband when she wrote a play for her church group - "I think she was about 14" - and he was in it. "Nancy spoke to 17-year-old Ben Harrison, who is a legend. We didn't even know he could play the piano, and we'd been told Nancy was a recluse and wouldn't speak to anyone. By the end of the first meeting he was playing jazz piano for her and she told him her story. It was a magical moment - that's the only way to describe it.

"There are stories about poaching and about a dress made for the queen. And a story told by a woman about the day during the war that she received a telegram, something that inevitably presaged the worst news. She told the delivery boy to open it and read it - everyone in the street had come out to offer support - and he did. It was a Monday and the telegram read 'Home Tuesday. Let's get married Wednesday.'

"We've taken all these stories and woven them together with a minimal set and a strong physical element to convey the fact that people are old and people are young all the time.

"It's been a really exciting concept to work with, a really really exciting project to work on,"

Stories on our Doorstep follows last year's vibrant Senior Youth Theatre production of Comedy of Errors. "The aim is to do a classic one year and a new writing piece the next, so that the young people experience the two things," says David.

It's going to be a hard act to follow, though. "None of us wanted it to end."

Also on the bill is Vamos Young People’s Theatre, which has spent the last six months creating an exhibition especially for Worcestershire residents. It tells the story of local cinema-going in the 1950s, and shows how the group makes theatre from the personal stories gathered whilst researching the project.

COmplementing the exhibition is a performance called The Projectionist, which tells the story of Norman Holly, who worked at the Regal in Evesham for many years, and who shared his stories with the group. The show, performed in full mask, is a funny and evocative tale of life in the 1950s, with some great period music and costumes. Taking place at The Courtyard Theatre in Hereford, The Projectionist will be staged as part of a double-bill alongside The Courtyard’s Senior Youth Theatre.