‘The Heartstone Odyssey’ will take shape at Mansfield Palace Theatre on Thursday, 23 February, with its main characters coming to life through storytelling and dance-drama involving Nottinghamshire school children.

The event will provide the opportunity for children from Nottinghamshire schools to showcase their understanding of the impact of prejudice, discrimination and hate crime gained from the Heartstone project.

The children have been reading ‘The Heartstone Odyssey’, a fantasy novel and using it to raise discussion and debate that has led to the production of a range of creative work including artwork, some of which will be on display before the show.

The project is targeted at pupils Years 5-7 and has involved:

• Kingsway Primary School, Kirkby-in-Ashfield
• Forest View Junior School, New Ollerton
• Walesby C of E Primary School, Walesby

Heartstone is a non-profit organisation which aims to raise awareness of social and environmental issues, challenge prejudice and intolerance and create understanding of different nationalities, cultures, races, faiths and backgrounds.

The theatre show will involve selected pupils from four of the schools and includes art work and will be attended by parents and teachers and special guests from around the UK.

The children will perform alongside Sitakumari and dancers from Heartstone’s Moving Lives Dance Theatre based in Liverpool and the show will open with a film trailer created by pupils at All Saints Primary School, Elston.

Art and sculptures for the stage backdrop which will set the scene at the start of the show have been created by 60 south Nottinghamshire young people with disabilities.

Nottinghamshire County Council, the county’s Police and Crime Commissioner, Inspire and Experian have provided funding for the local schools project, which has been awarded a Commended certificate in the National Crimebeat Awards 2016/17 for helping to reduce crime and create safer communities.

The Council also provided teachers with training so they could lead on classroom sessions.

Councillor Glynn Gilfoyle, Chair of Nottinghamshire County Council’s Community Safety Committee, said: “This project has offered a platform for Nottinghamshire pupils to explore complex issues to tackle prejudice and hate crime at a key age of transition in their lives.

“These schools have been on a really exciting journey which has seen some pupils visit the House of Parliament to showcase their learning to MPs, and this theatre show is a culmination of all their efforts.”

The schools are now working with Heartstone to create a new digital learning resource incorporating their ideas and creative work, which will be used for interactive sessions involving other schools in the county and further afield.

Barrie Osborne, Oscar winning producer on ‘The Lord of the Rings’ films, sci-fi ‘The Matrix’ and ‘The Great Gatsby’ , is currently working with Heartstone and plans to bring the story to the movie screen. He has sent a personal commendation to the children in Nottinghamshire describing their project film trailer which was sent to him as ‘exceptional work’.

Director and principal dancer, Sitakumari says: “The Heartstone Odyssey is a gripping epic adventure but also a moral tale for today and couldn’t be more timely.

“The books have been written to entertain, a story for children, that adults too, can enjoy and, as with all great stories, will leave you seeing the world in a different way forever.”