YORK College musical theatre students are ready for a ruckus after undertaking police riot training for their final-year performance of Les Misérables: School Edition.

In the lead-up to the May 25 to 27 run in the Alan Ayckbourn Theatre, the student cast visited the West Yorkshire Police Training Centre in Wakefield to participate in mock riots in a controlled environment. This included a double-decker bus being destroyed in the process, and overall the students found the experience "real and super-scary".

Musical theatre tutor Carla Starkey, the show's director, says: “The riot training gave the students a taste of the atmosphere of a modern-day barricade. They can directly apply the feelings and emotions of having real police running towards them to the Les Misérables scenes.

"We also took some backstage arts students with us, who have taken inspiration from the backing track of real riots played in the training to create effects on stage at college. It has really intensified their performance to an exceptional standard.”

York Press:

Ready to rumble: York College musical theatre students on their mock riot exercise

Based on Victor Hugo's novel Les Misérables, Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schonberg’s musical unusually will be set in a fictitious northern English town, rather than in France, in Carla's modern production. The themes resonate with social issues happening in Britain, she reasons.

"The same revolutionary themes are there with a modern slant on the story. We wanted to update the issues to highlight political issues the students were passionate about, such as student loan cuts and zero hour job contracts,” she says.

Former Malton School pupil Josh Eldridge-Smith, now 20, will play Jean Valjean, the infamous prisoner who breaks parole and is hunted down by Javert, played by 19-year-old Owen Williams. “I'm enjoying playing this challenging role and it’s been a lovely way to round off my studies at York College," says Josh.

"All of the tutors are amazing at nurturing passion and talent within students and the musical theatre course has helped me to prepare for drama school auditions. I'm delighted to have secured a place at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland to study a BA (Hons) in musical theatre from September.”

Performances will start at 1.30pm and 7pm, May 25 to 27, and tickets are available from York College on 01904 770495.