They are a group of teenagers dressed in grey and numbered just like detainees.

Memories are their only escape to beautiful places, but these same recollections are a constant reminder of their current confinement to a small space with little fresh air.

The memories instil nostalgia and lead to frustration – but hope is last to die. This story will be narrated by a group of post-secondary students through poetry during the Ħolqa Theatre Festival – the first European student theatre festival at the Ġan Franġisk Abela Junior College.

Being held this week, the project is supported by the Malta Council for the Voluntary Sector through its Small Initiatives Scheme fund and it brings together five European post-secondary schools.

Apart from the local group from the Ġan Franġisk Abela, the students hail from the Liceo Scientifico Statale Evangelista Torricelli in Rome, the Mount Temple Comprehensive School in Dublin, the Fagerlia Videregående Skole in Ålesund, Norway and La Cadenelle in Marseille, France.

It will kick off tomorrow and draw to an end on Friday when actor Charles Sammut, author Immanuel Mifsud and TV presenter Clare Agius will judge the five performances and declare a winner.

Apart from taking part in theatre workshops, all five casts have an average of 10 people aged between 16 and 19, and have developed a performance around a common theme – that of education offering a solution to social issues or problems.

With migration and detention on the minds of many in Malta, the local theatre group is producing a 35-minute poetic piece with elements of physical theatre.

The performance, Ħuf Ħrafa Ħuf, is inspired by Norbert Bugeja’s poems published in Bliet and excerpts from Paolo Coehlo’s The Alchemist. Directed by Marilù Vella, with a musical score by former Junior College student Kris Abela, it is produced by Roderick Vassallo from Troupe 18:45.

More details on www.facebook.com/holqa2014.