A LEADING refugee theatre company will be coming to South Street in July to tell a unique story.

Pizza Shop Heroes is Phosphoros Theatre's third play, and has just been awarded funding from the Arts Council of England for a 35 date tour.

The four actors starring are all former unaccompanied child asylum-seekers, who navigated challenging journeys to get to the UK alone, then faced the fresh difficulties of claiming asylum.

It tells the story of four young men working at your average pizza shop, who take the audience on a journey across time and continents to show how extraordinary they are.

From leaving their homelands of Eritrea, Albania and Afghanistan to seek asylum as children, they explore how they got where they are, where they're going and what they've learnt along the way.

The play tells an autobiographical story of male and cultural identity; of migration stories shaped by Europe's colonial past and of family and fatherhood.

Using the company's trademark warmth and wit, these lived-experience actors share the stage with a refugee caseworker to perform a lyrical collage of memories, hopes, dreams and imagined realities.

The play promises to be powerful, celebratory, affirming and authentic.

Phosphoros Theatre was started by former Reading Youth Theatre (RYT) members Kate Duffy and Juliet Styles, who began to take an interest in refugees while working on All the Queen's Children, an original play developed with Reading Refugee Support.

This led to Kate volunteering with a refugee charity while she was at drama school, then becoming manager of a Supported Housing project.

It was there that Phosphoros was born, when one of the young residents asked for Kate's help in telling his story.

Three years later - and more than 60 shows up and down the UK - Kate now runs the company with producer Juliet.

The play will be coming to South Street on July 10 and 11.

For tickets, call 0118 960 6060 or visit the website

here

.