PUPILS at Oxford Spires Academy will get an insight into the world of theatre with a visit from an award-winning playwright.

Simon Stephens, who won Olivier and Tony awards for his adaptation of Mark Haddon’s novel The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time, will be at the school next Friday.

Mr Stephens is touring a number of schools talking to young people about working in theatre.

He said: “want to go to schools throughout the country to meet young people and to talk to them about the possibility of working as a writer or an actor or a director. I want young people to know that a career in the theatre or in the performing arts is not something that happens to other people.

I am proud that the warm way in which The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time has been received throughout the country might allow me to reach young people who had never met a playwright, or anybody who made their living out of the arts.”

Mr Stephens said he wanted to inspire young people in state schools as he had never had the opportunity to meet writers when he was growing up in Stockport.

His adaptation of the book was added to the AQA GCSE in English literature set texts for English schools in 2014, making it the only modern play currently being performed in the West End to be part of the AQA post-1914 drama and prose section.

The play will return to the New Theatre in Oxford for one week from Monday, May 22.