Five former pupils of an Oxford school have appealed for funds to take their play to this year's Edinburgh Fringe festival.

Fiona Radley, 20, Olivia Zhettastrom-Sharp, 20, Ellie Simpson, 20, Kate Stanley, 19, and Sophie Cullen, 20, all met while studying drama at The Cherwell School, in Marston Ferry Road.

After acting in Russian writer Nikolai Gogol's The Government Inspector and Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, they have written a drama of their own and plan to perform it at the festival in August.

Miss Radley, from Kirtlington, an English student at Sussex University, said: "The play is called The Passion of the Sorors - and it is something we devised ourselves.

"The play uses passages from the Bible and we play modern-day nuns - things take a darker turn towards the end of the play.

"Our drama teacher at The Cherwell School, Paul Slater, has advised us and there will be a preview performance at the school in the drama studio at the end of July.

"We will be staying in student accommodation in Edinburgh, but the venue itself costs about £1,500 to hire for two weeks, so we would like to appeal for any donations.

"We will be performing the play from August 3 to 15 at Venue 36, which is in one of the conference rooms of the Thistle Hotel in Leith Street.

"I have never been invol- ved in the Edinburgh Fringe before and I am really looking forward to it."

There is a fundraising night at the Cellar bar, in Frewin Court, off Cornmarket, Oxford, on Wednesday, July 9, for their theatre company Idle Motion.

Fellow pupil Hannah Dunnet, 20, is accompanying the cast to stage-manage the production.

Miss Simpson added: "Although we are a small theatre company, we're so excited and driven to get to Edinburgh this year.

"This has also worked out as a bit of a reunion, as we all worked together back at the Cherwell School a few years ago."

If you would like to help fund Idle Motion's trip to Edinburgh, email Fiona Radley at fb42@sussex.ac.uk