RACHEL Redford from Penarth is to play the lead in a new play which has it's world premier in Wales.

Ex-Stanwell school pupil, Rachel, who recently graduated from RADA, will play Emma in the Sherman Cymru and the Clwyd Theatr Cymru’s production of Welsh playwright Sam Burns’ new play, Not The Worst Place, produced by Paines Plough.

The play is set in Swansea and is about 17-year-old Emma, who dreams of adventures beyond her Swansea home. Rhys, her idle boyfriend, has other plans for them.

Facing the consequences of their actions under the disapproving eye of Emma's mother, they struggle to find a happy medium.

Now, camped out on Swansea seafront, they must confront the difficult question of what it takes to leave the place that shaped everything they are.

A story about what happens when life gets in the way of your dreams, Sam Burns weaves together a touching, sensitive play that tackles our conflicting emotions about the place we call home.

In early 2009, Sam Burns was invited onto a five-week writing course at Sherman Cymru following the submission of an unsolicited play. This led to the creation of a full length piece, Not the Worst Place, which was shortlisted for the Susan Smith Blackburn award in 2011.

In 2010 Burns completed Sherman Cymru’s Advanced Writers’ Programme and in April 2012 she spent a week in Sherman Cymru’s writing room. Produced work includes a monologue in Paines Plough’s Come to Where I’m From (July 2010), Two Bears as part of Sixty-Six Books at the Bush Theatre (October 2011), and Amnesty for Agent 160 presents Agent 160 (February 2012).

The cast sees Rachel Redford (Sherman Cymru’s It’s A Family Affair… We’ll Settle it Ourselves and Dirty Protest’s Parallel Lines) play Emma with Scott Arthur, Kirsten Clark and Rhys Isaac-Jones.

Not The Worst Place will be performed from April 23 – May 3 at Clwyd Theatr Cymru in Mold before heading to Sherman Theatre in Cardiff from May 6 -10.

For further information and tickets, please visit www.clwyd-theatr-cymru.co.uk or www.shermancymru.co.uk