Students take to the stage in Derby Theatre productions this month

Throughout the month of May, Derby Theatre is presenting a collection of plays produced by and starring students from the University of Derby.

Derby Theatre identifies itself as a learning theatre, often partnering closely with the university and other educational organisations, and so has given these opportunities to a wide range of arts students.

The first of the three shows, having played from May 5 to May 6, was Alan Ayckbourn’s FlatSpin.

Following down-on-her-luck actress Rosie Seymour, who is standing in for her uncle at his flatminding job while he’s in hospital, the play takes a number of shocking turns.

After Rosie is mistaken for the owner of a flat – the mysterious Joanna Rupelford, who is never at home and still has labels on all of her cookware – she falls into a web of lies that will prove to be rather difficult to crawl out of.

The play was extremely well-received with a lively audience.

The amount of time and effort put into the production was clear, with university students getting involved in costume and set design, technological and acting roles.

All members of the cast were perfect at adding the vital comedic spin to Ayckbourn’s play.

The next student production was Lore, Love, Loss, showing on May 12 and May 13.

The play is reportedly based on the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, in which Orpheus has to travel to the underworld to rescue the love of his life – and trust that she will follow him out again.

This show was quite a different piece to FlatSpin, integrating projections, captioning and elements of physical theatre.

Finally, on May 26 and May 27, the theatre will be showing Remote - a story about a girl named Antler who climbs a tree in the park and watches her friends, stuck on the ground, as they try to deal with the harshness of life down below.

Described as a play about power and protest, Remote is written by Stef Smith for young people.

There will be a post-show discussion after the 1.30pm Friday performance.

Tickets for all productions are available on the Derby Theatre website, with discounts often available for those under-16.

University of Derby students subscribed to Derby Theatre have received emails about how to claim student discounts using their unimail email address.