A THEATRE group is enjoying the culmination of a year’s efforts as it performs to an international audience, rubbing shoulders with stars of the future at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

Young people aged 15-19 from Burnley Youth Theatre have spent 12 months developing and fundraising for The Secret Collector, an original show they will be performing at the festival until Thursday, August 7.

In September 2013, a group of young people auditioned to become a part of Burnley Youth Theatre’s Rep Co, an acting company which would perform in Edinburgh.

Almost a year later, the cast of The Secret Collector travelled up to Scotland at the weekend.

They devised the piece themselves and have spent several months raising money for the trip, taking part in everything from bag packs and bake sales to 10k runs and sponsored walks. Molly McPherson, a cast member , said: “It’s been important and thrilling for me to be in the rep company. We are a group of completely different individuals yet everybody feels welcome and can express themselves whilst gaining skills in what we love.”

The Secret Collector traces the intertwining lives of the inhabitants of a small island and the truths they hide. t was inspired by this quote from Frank Warren, the founder of PostSecret: “There are two kinds of secrets. The ones we keep from others and the ones we keep from ourselves.”

The Secret Collector is being performed at Greenside in Nicolson Square, Edinburgh, each day at 10.30am. A preview performance at Burnley Arts Centre last Wednesday went ‘fantastically well’, according to the company.