YORK Theatre Royal has appealed for help in tracking down the family of a young woman whose photograph was found during its redevelopment.

Contractors involved in the £4.1 million project found the intriguing photograph, which has the name Maureen Linden written on the back and looks as if it has been cut to size to fit in a wallet.

It was discovered by David “Rambo” Kenyon, one of the site joiners who has been working in the dress circle and gallery.

Spokeswoman Abbigail Olive said: "We are all intrigued to find out more about Maureen and it would be amazing to be able to reunite her or someone who knows her with the photo."

She said David’s work in the dress circle and gallery had given a unique insight into the behaviour of theatre audiences from the turn of the 20th century to the present day.

"Not only were past visitors partial to a cigarette or two, milk would appear to have been the tipple of choice for during the performance," she said. "Dozens of cardboard milk bottle lids with holes punched out for straws have come to light.

"The contractors have made numerous finds as they remove layers of history from the building as work continues on the £4.1million redevelopment project.

"Bottles, cigarette packets, a Tiger loaf wrapper – ‘the swinging new bread’ – in its ground-breaking polythene bag and even tea bags in their packets have all been unearthed.

"York Theatre Royal sits at the heart of our community and we are as interested in its history as we are in its future."

Anyone with any information is asked to contact the communications team on marketing@yorktheatreroyal.co.uk or call 01904 658162.

Meanwhile, as reported earlier this month, the theatre is to re-open next spring with world premieres of new adaptations of Evelyn Waugh’s Brideshead Revisited and E M Forster’s The Machine Stops.