A GLASGOW theatre director has turned an extraordinary episode in her childhood into a play for young people.

Victoria Beesley, who runs Terra Incognita, moved in with 52 refugees fleeing the war in Bosnia when she was eight years old.

“It was my dad’s idea – he had seen a film about the holocaust in the Second World War, and afterwards had said to my mum – if anything like that happened again, I couldn’t stand by and watch,” explains Victoria.

“So when the war broke out in Bosnia, and people started to flee, he stuck to his word.”

Victoria’s dad, with the support of the local council and lots of volunteers, turned a ramshackle old boarding school into a place for families to stay – and he and his wife, daughter and son moved in with them.

Victoria smiled: “It didn’t seem strange to me at all – you trust your parents when you are eight, don’t you? So when they tell you that you are going to live somewhere else for a while, you just do it.

“And it wasn’t hard for me – I wasn’t trying to escape from something horrible in my life, I was just moving in with my friends for a while. It was an adventure.”

Victoria has written a 45-minute theatre performance, My Friend Selma, about the experience, centred around the story of one of the young refugees, who became her best friend.

“Selma was on the first coach that arrived in Leeds, and we instantly got on,” recalls Victoria.

“She was braver and cheekier and generally cooler than me.

“My mum remembers watching us out of the window as we played in the garden, unable to speak each other’s language but just laughing and laughing so much we almost fell over.”

Victoria moved to Glasgow to attend university, loved the city and stayed, while Selma remained in Yorkshire, where she now works in human resources but the two women have stayed friends.

“We still see each other when we can – Selma has visited me up here and I see her when I go back down – and she has a really thick Yorkshire accent,” grins Victoria.

Deciding to write about Selma’s story brought back a lot of memories for both women, as Victoria explains.

“When I spoke to Selma again about that time in her life I realised there were many things even I didn’t know about her journey to Britain, and how courageous and resilient her family was,” she says.

“Her sister was sick when the war broke out and the family only just escaped an attack on the local hospital before they left.

“And the journey was dangerous – at one point, the whole family had to swim across a river.”

Victoria adds: “There are obvious parallels with the current situation in Syria and I think what the play does is to increase understanding about what these people are fleeing from. They are incredible people, who contribute so much to our society and often they have had to be so brave and resourceful just to get here.”

Victoria says Selma is flattered and excited that her story will help young people understand what it’s like for refugees.

“The show has already toured primary schools as a rehearsed reading and the feedback has been amazing – everyone wants to meet Selma,” she smiles. “She is flattered, but she was also full of trepidation about reliving some of those memories.

“It was hard at times when she was young, in a new country, far from home. I understood some days she was troubled about those she had left behind – it’s what they were all worried about. “

Victoria adds: “Sometimes we would go to the climbing frame in the playground and just hang upside down for a while, not chatting much, just being there together, and I understood it was her way of recalibrating. Then we’d be fine and run off and play.

“Looking back, it doesn’t feel surreal – your own childhood is always normal, isn’t it? It was great fun – there was a playground was my front garden, we had lots of visitors, people were always feeding me and I learnt to ride a bike. But the best thing about it was definitely meeting my friend Selma.”

My Friend Selma, a 45-minute theatre performance for audiences aged over eight is touring venues across Scotland until October 25. It’s at Cumbernauld Theatre on October 13, The Beacon in Greenock on October 14, Eastwood Park on October 21 and the Tron Theatre on October 23 and 24. For more information visit www.myfriendselma.com