Young journalists from Mount Maunganui Primary school will share what they think we should be seeing more of in the news in the show ‘New News News.'

Held this Saturday, the show is part of Tauranga readers and writers arts festival, Escape, and has been created by UK theatre makers Andy Field and Beckie Darlington, in collaboration with New Zealand's Rosabel Tan.

The show gives children the chance to talk about community issues that matter to them, and tell the news through their eyes. 'Normally it's adults that get the chance to do that so we thought it'd be really interesting for young people to set the agenda for this big conversation,” says Andy.

During their school holiday time, the 12 Mount Maunganui Primary School students have been reporting in Tauranga and rehearsing to put the show together.

'Over the last week, the children have been making essentially three mini news stories.”

The three story topics that emerged and will be covered in the show is bullying, the beach and the future.

'The kids wanted to do stories that were more about ordinary people, stories about small things, some happy stories as well as the sad stories and some stories about the future.

'One of the interviews the children did was with commission chair Anne Tolley… who said soon Tauranga is potentially going to become the fourth biggest city in Aotearoa.”

The show will be an amalgamation of live theatre and the pre-recorded news interviews for a one of a kind show experience.

'The first part of the show is like a behind the scenes at the news agency,” says Andy, who adds that the stage will be turned into a child sized news studio.

'The audience watch as the children run around and get the last news stories that they need for their news program.”

'It's genuinely very funny giving the news over to these 10 year olds and their wild sense of humour.

'It's also a really interesting way of getting a different perspective on the city so hopefully it's the kind of show that has a little bit of something for everyone.

'The purpose of the show is to bring a place together… and in this case to think about the city of Tauranga… to listen to what these children have to tell them.”

Held on Saturday, October 15, at Baycourt Community and Arts Centre, the show starts at 6pm. To purchase tickets visit: www.taurangafestival.co.nz/event/escape-2022-401