Young people in Dereham are missing out on one of the great learning experiences in life.

Dereham Times: The Memorial Hall in Dereham. Picture: Matthew Usher.The Memorial Hall in Dereham. Picture: Matthew Usher. (Image: © Archant Norfolk 2015)

That is the view of a group of volunteers in charge of organising events at Dereham's Memorial Hall.

A recent survey carried out by the Friends of the hall showed that they are not catering for younger people or classical theatre followers as professional theatre producers have simply not discovered the mid-Norfolk venue.

But all that could change after the committee secured a prestigious company, The Pantaloons, to perform its adaptation of Shakespeare's Macbeth next month and hopefully put Dereham on the theatrical map.

And in a bid to ensure that the audience will be complemented by as many high school and sixth form students as possible it has introduced a scheme aimed at local people and businesses asking them to buy tickets to donate to schools.

Friends chairman Tim Cara has written to dozens of firms, organisations and individuals to get involved in the scheme and buy up to 10 'teen' tickets each and either nominate a particular school to receive them or add them into a general pot for the Friends to distribute.

'It is an idea we came up with which seemed like a way to encourage youngsters to go to live theatre,' he said.

'People told us how they were inspired by being taken to the theatre when they were young so we felt it should be accessible to all.

'It has been difficult to get theatre promoters to come to Dereham because good touring companies are contacted by the venues and there is not the mechanism to publicise the venues to them so it requires a lot of effort to get them into Dereham. Now contact has been made it should be so much easier in the future.'

The Pantaloons come to Dereham on Friday, November 13 as part of a 30-date tour all over the country.

Tickets, costing £12 for adults and £10 for teens, are on sale at the box office at Bead This, Craft That in Nunns Way on 01362 696943.

Anyone who buys tickets for schools will be acknowledged in the show programme and newsletters for the rest of the season.

For more information on teen tickets contact Tim Cara on 01362 654654 (daytime), 01362 696900 (evenings) or mobile 07432 091944 or email timcara@hotmail.co.uk.

* Are you running a scheme which supports young people in Dereham? Email kathryn.cross@archant.co.uk.