A THEATRE group which aims to put the experience of the Burnley Riots on the stage is looking for young white and Asian actors to star in the production.

Burnley Youth Theatre in Queens Park Road wants at least 12 men aged from 15 to 25 to produce and star in a play.

Actors will also play a fundamental role in writing the production and will attend a residential course.

The youth theatre hopes the production will focus on the issues of difference and similarity and provide a response to feedback contained in the Task Force Report into the riots in June 2001.

During its probe into the riots, the Task Force asked young people across Burnley for their views and Burnley Youth Theatre held a series of workshops. Issues raised included concerns over people speaking different languages, asylum seekers and a pattern of young white people not wanting to listen or having fixed opinions and not wanting to listen to others.

The play will be staged at Burnley Youth Theatre in Queens Park Road before touring the region. Organisers hope to take it to Oldham and Bradford, towns which experienced similar riots, Manchester and to a national youth theatre festival in the Epping Forest.

"This is a major opportunity to try different art forms, to combine them in a performance piece and to tour the region," said Jacky Riddell, artistic director of the Burnley Youth theatre.

Speaking about the feedback she received in the aftermath of the riots, she continued: "There was a marked difference, depending on where you look, between the male and female attitudes. We did feel the young women were more prepared to reason and listen, the young men were less inclined to do that.

She added: "The play will also give them the opportunity of saying what it is like to be a young man in Burnley. It will be a chance for them to show that and it's their project and they will be have to make it work.

"The piece will explore some of the issues raised during the disturbances but also express their views through performance."

First auditions will be at the Burnley Youth Theatre on Wednesday, February 5. The date of auditions in the Stoneyholme area is still to be confirmed.