A PLAY dealing with the constraints and trials of growing up has opened in Birmingham.

Midlands Arts Centre (mac) resident youth theatre group Stage 2 presents The Mill on the Floss fresh from its recent successful productions of Tom and Viv, Alice in Wonderland and Les Liasons Dangereuses.

The haunting George Eliot novel, originally dramatised by Helen Edmundson for Shared Experience Theatre, tells the tale of the wild and dangerous Maggie Tulliver who struggles with Victorian society's stifling conventions.

Denied the opportunities offered to her adored brother Tom, she tries to reconcile the thirst for knowledge and her family's expectations.

But when Maggie meets a passionate man who loves her for her wit, intelligence and sensuality her true nature threatens to erupt.

The Mill on the Floss runs at The Hexagon until Saturday.

Performances are at 7.30pm with a Saturday matinee at 2pm.

Tickets cost £6.50 or £5 from the box office on 0121 440 3838.

Stage 2 also presents rock musical Godspell at The Theatre from Wednesday, July 24, until Saturday, July 27.

Performances are at 7.30pm and tickets cost £7.50 or £6.