THE highlight of the summer for many youngsters living in and around Dorchester is the arrival of Combined Arts Week.

More than 40 young participants will be starring on stage or working behind the scenes and have just five days to devise and stage an all-singing, all-dancing piece of drama.

They are helped by the week’s artistic directors Julian Barnicoat and Pete Thorogood as well as by Kathy Webb, Carol Burgess, Jo Simons and Bianca Judd from Dorchester Youth Theatre.

This summer is the 22nd Combined Arts Week in the town and the show the young performers and backstage experts will be working on is set in the Happy Days era of 1950s America.

A sleazy and corrupt politician had arranged for someone who got too close to the truth to be put in jail on trumped up charges. Whenever she’s due for parole she always gets refused so Helena, the woman in question, decides to escape with the help of some jail friends and a rather naive prison chaplain.

She works her way back to her home town where the politician is making a celebrity guest appearance while he’s planning to run for president. Will Helena be brave enough to blow the crooked senator’s cover – or will she end the show back where she started, in jail?

Combined Arts Week co-ordinator Carol Burgess said: “The week is very much about giving young people the chance to try out different aspects of drama, comedy, dance and music – they certainly don’t need to be proficient in any of these areas.

“It’s about building confidence and social skills as much as the performing aspects, and we see some newcomers develop over the week.”

Julian Barnicoat said: “They are brilliant kids and it’s lovely to go back each year and see how they are developing.”

If you are interested, contact Dorchester Arts centre on 01305 266926 or email finance@ dorchesterarts.org.uk Combined Arts Week runs from August 20 to 25 and costs £100 plus half price for siblings.