An ambitious new piece of promenade theatre, The Streets, will transform the environment in and around Theatre Royal Stratford East into a live, evolving performance space this summer.

The mass participation event, directed by Karen Tomlin, will bring together and celebrate all strands of its work with young people in the community.

It is a contemporary love story that begins at Stratford Station, where Ellie and Sam sit just metres away from each other on the steps every day, never meeting or speaking, until one day Ellie leaves her notebook behind.

Sam embarks on a journey around Stratford to find Ellie and maybe pluck up the courage to speak to her for the first time and the performance will evolve into a promenade piece, taking in the sights and sounds of the area and passing through iconic sites near the theatre.

The audience will be met with a diverse range of performers from poets to musicians, actors to dancers and discover not all is quite as it seems and that the young couple know more about each other than they realise.

Performance groups that make up the 60 players in The Streets include Theatre Royal Stratford East’s Youth Theatre, Poets Platform, Stratford East Singers, Barking-based Young and Talented and dance collective Boy Blue.

Artistic director Kerry Michael says: “It’s a celebration of young people from all different groups coming together. The show will give audiences the chance to feel as if they’re an inclusive part of the production, travelling with the performers as they tell the story.”

ArcelorMittal has been a major supporter of the theatre’s young people’s work for the past two years and is the lead sponsor for The Streets. English Cities Fund is also a sponsor and to coincide with the event will be holding the inaugural Rathbone Market Festival in Barking Road, Canning Town on August 8 and 9. It will include performances from the theatre’s spoken word group, Rhythm of Men and Stratford East Singers.

Russenï Fisher from Newham has been a participant of Theatre Royal Stratford East’s Youth Theatre for several years and it has helped him develop into a spoken word artist. He now works professionally within the industry and will be performing in at the Rathbone Market Festival.

The 21-year-old says: “Theatre Royal Stratford East has helped me to understand how a theatre works from the inside and what the team do behind the scenes on a daily basis. This world is now open to me, something I’d thought would never happen to me. I now work here and I perform here, I’ve also been able to perform in other venues, like the Royal Festival Hall.

“I see young people around me who haven’t had the same opportunities as me and I recognise how difficult it can be if you don’t have something like this to focus on.”

The Streets will run on Thursday, August 6 from 4pm and Saturday, August 8 from 3pm and 5.30pm. Admission is free but advance booking is compulsory.

Details: 020 8534 0310, stratfordeast.com, rathbonemarket.com