Primary six and seven youngsters from Cochrane Castle Primary, St David’s Primary and Auchenlodment Primary thrilled audiences with their performance of Divided City.

The show is adapted from the award-winning novel by Theresa Breslin and is about the problems of sectarianism and racism in Glasgow.

Pupils took to the stage with an outstanding performance of the show which tells the story of two Glaswegian boys - Celtic fan Joe and Rangers fan Graham - who are both united and divided by football.

The pair are both in training for a new Youth Team Gold Cup with a chance to represent their city.

When Graham takes a different route home he witnesses a vicious racist attack as a young Muslim man is attacked in the street.

Kyoul is an ‘illegal’ refugee and needs to keep his identity a secret from the authorities, he is taken to hospital but is desperate to send a message to his girlfriend, Leanne.

The boys agree to take messages back and forward between the couple while Kyoul is in hospital.

Meanwhile, Graham is under pressure from his grandfather to attend an Orange march.

Primary six pupil Zara Black played the character of Leanne in act two of the show, she said: “It was about sectarianism and about a boy called Kyoul and he is a Muslim from another country and he is has come to this country for a better place to live because it’s not safe to live in his country any more.

“It was fun to start acting. In the morning I felt nervous but then we did it in front of schools and I felt much better about it.” The project involves pupils from both denominational and non-denominational schools working together and undertaking additional classroom sessions exploring sectarianism and its effects on their community.

Pupils had only eight weeks of rehearsal time with staff from the Citizens Theatre who came in for an hour and a half once a week to help them put on the show.

Campbell Lawrie, from the Citizens Theatre, said: “We didn’t have much time so they had to be prepared when we came in.

“They had to know their songs and their lines off by heart and we just came in to go over the songs with them and polish it off.

“They really enjoyed it. Usually they started off really quiet and its about trying to coax that side out of them but as time went on they volunteered to do more and more on stage.

“It’s about confidence building and social skills but also about the fact that they are learning about sectarianism and hopefully carrying the message through the performance across to their parents and family members.” Pupils and teachers from 25 Renfrewshire schools have been taking part in workshops, classroom lessons and performances based around the novel.

Stephanie Quigley, P6/7 teacher at St David’s, said: “We have been working in partnership with Cochrane Castle and Auchenlodment Primary School.

“We have been practising together and the children have made lots of new friends.

“The Citizens Theatre gave us the characters names and each school had so many characters each so there was a balance and we all had an equal amount of involvement.

“The children weren’t very confident at the start but as the show went on they became more confident and they saw that others could do it so they wanted to be involved in it.

“The children were taking the scripts and their reading books home every night to practice as well as doing their homework.

“They have done extremely well and they have worked really hard and really enjoyed it.

“I am really pleased with how it went. We’ve never done anything like this before. It has been a huge success.” Linda Berry, acting head teacher at St David’s Primary School, added: “I think sectarianism is something the children are aware of but many of them hadn’t experienced that type of thing or they didn’t feel it affected them in their daily lives which was great.

“Divided City is a book that we have read in the past. In primary seven we do it as part of our transition programme with high school and they always do a big project on it and lots of literacy work.

“This is they first time they have done the theatre and drama side of it.

“Some of the ones who had main parts are children who have never done this type of thing before but have really risen to the challenge and absolutely loved it.

“They have pushed themselves out their comfort zone and its been so successful. We are really pleased with the performance and really proud of them.”