YORK'S Rowntree Players have raised more than £7,500 for two city charities after finally staging a play - almost two years after it was first due to be performed.

The play, 'The Missing Peace: One Play Fifteen Endings,' was adapted from a book by York musician Ian Donaghy about how people survive losing those they love the most.

All was in place - cast, script and rehearsals - for an opening in April 2020 until the pandemic meant the show couldn't go on.

Gemma McDonald said that, back in 2019, she read Ian's book “The Missing Peace: Creating a life after death” and convinced the Rowntree Players to take on the 'challenging' play.

“As I read each story, I could see them on a stage," she said.

"It was rescheduled for September, then shelved again until a tentative Jan 2022 date where even then the back end of Delta and Omicron looked to threaten the stage with darkness again.

"The interim 650 days had seen some original cast members leave the city or change circumstances so many of the monologues had to be changed and recast. They could have given up but didn’t.

"The plan was to get people talking about grief, dying …it had more relevance than ever.

"It was agreed that all profits would be shared between St Leonard’s Hospice and Bereaved Children’s Support in York.

“Filling a theatre during a pandemic wasn’t easy but we had so many people in our corner.

"We had batches of seats sponsored by supporters from all over the country to give to care staff and NHS workers who had been invaluable in the past two years. This was community coming together.”

Supporting partners included Springfield Healthcare, One Life Funeral Planning, Radis Community Care, Alpaca and North Yorkshire Orthopaedic Surgeons.

Emma added:"I am incredibly proud of The Missing Peace. From the original idea of adapting Ian's book into a play, through the rehearsal process (for then it to be cancelled due to COVID-19) and then getting back into the rehearsal room with some new cast members, once restrictions allowed. The final performance was exactly the way I imagined it, actually it was much better!

"Ian has been a long-term supporter and fundraiser for BCSY, for which we are immensely grateful. Money raised will help to continue funding ongoing one-to-one therapeutic support that we provide for bereaved children and young people living in York."

Ian said:"To see Gemma make the play leap from page in such a stunning venue at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre was breath-taking but to make this amount of money is an outstanding effort from all involved who performed and who came to support the performances.”