YOUNG actors performed a hard-hitting play about knife crime at two schools in Oxford.

Pupils from The Cherwell School and Cheney School watched as London-based Arc Theatre performed Boy X, which examines gang culture and the impact of crime on families.

On Thursday, Cherwell School pupils aged 12 and 13 watched the play, which was followed by a workshop and question-and-answer session.

The drama was part of the Tackling Knives Action Programme being run by the Home Office.

Members of Arc Theatre are performing the play for 18 schools across the Thames Valley, and visited Cheney School in Headington on Wednesday.

Mamoun Elagab, 13, a pupil at The Cherwell School, said: “I thought it was fantastic that the actors were from working-class areas of London — it made the play more realistic and I think it will have a big influence.”

Teacher Leanne Dorn, who organised the event, said: “There were 270 pupils who saw the play and it created a real buzz around the school.”

Pc Dave Cooper, schools liaison officer, watched the performance at The Cherwell School and said pupils sat quietly through the 50-minute performance.

He added: “The play is very hard-hitting and the pupils remained very focused throughout. It is quite unusual to find a young person in school with a knife — it might happen two or three times a year in Oxford.

“But that does not mean they have used the knives — I have never known anyone stabbed at a school in Oxford.”

Robin Gardner, the co-ordinator for tackling knife crime for Thames Valley Police, said: “Knife crime and serious youth violence is not a major problem in Thames Valley and we are determined to keep it that way.

“None of the schools we are working with have a problem with knives or violence.

“Anyone who sees this play cannot fail to be moved by it or understand its message — that carrying a knife or becoming involved in violent gangs simply doesn’t pay.”

Across the force area in 2008-2009, knife crime rose from 1,063 to 1,229 incidents.