DANNY lives with his mother, Linda, in a small flat, too frightened to open the front door in case his violent father is on the other side of it.

Next door, living in another sparsely-furnished flat is Zara and her mother, Marina, who have fled the brutal regime in their homeland in order to stay alive. Zara's father has vanished and her brother has been killed.

She is in a strange land and she is treated with contempt.

Danny wishes his father had disappeared, and although he has not fled to a different country, he is also treated as an outsider.

Against these parallel stories of hardship, four actors held Bolton pupils spellbound with an unrelenting portrayal of hatred, bigotry, desperation -- but ultimately friendship.

Zara and Marina are educated middle-class people but are treated like grasping liars of limited intelligence as they battle against bigotry and the authorities in their battle for survival.

In her desperation Marina cries: "I just want for someone to look me in the eye and smile at me -- to hear a friendly voice shout out my name."

In those words the refugees' plight becomes a personal one -- thus making it easier for the watching pupils at Thornleigh Salesian College to empathise.

And that is the beauty of this work by M6 Theatre Company -- a group whose origins lie in Bolton.

The play, performed by Stuart Callaghan (Danny), Carole Copeland (Linda), Vashti Maclachan (Marina) and Jo Mousley (Zara), is called Breathing Space.

It draws on the parallels of the two families and investigates the heartache they suffer. The four actors also portray the hateful gang members who lurk in the background, chanting their evil threats.

The play is directed by former Coronation Street actress Romy Baskerville who lived in Bolton for 20 years.

M6 artistic producer Dorothy Wood said: "M6 will be 25 this July. The company originally comes from Bolton Octagon but moved when Bolton Council could no longer fund it. Years ago, Romy and actors like Sue Johnston were among the first to appear with M6.

"This will be the third time that Romy will have directed for the company.

"All our work is done with a view to using the arts to make young people think about the world which surrounds them.

"These are issues which affect all of us and the aim is to make teenagers think about the people they read about in the newspapers as being real -- to encourage empathy.

"We do find that young people are gripped by it. There is a mixture of naturalism of dialogue with movement and the sound of a chorus. The soundtrack was commissioned and is really powerful.

"This is a new play and is one of three which the Nationwide Foundation has funded. Each one will look at parent-children relationships. The next one being written will deal with a young couple coping with parenthood at a young age."