A CHARITY has acted its way into the record books by performing the most shows in different venues in 50 days.

Potters Bar-based charity Act 4 performed 51 times between June 1 and July 19 last year, often having to act in two or even three shows a day to hit its target.

The troupe travelled the breadth of the country, from Wrexham in Wales to Westgate-on-Sea in Kent, and as far north as Loughborough. The group also performed at a number of local venues, including Frith Manor Primary School in Barnet, Finchley Catholic High School and St Mary the Virgin and All Saints Church in Potters Bar.

The team was made up of just three performers from the Christian charity - director Sam Frankel and gap year volunteers Annika Greisser, 19, and Disa Skaff, 22. Not only did they perform in each show but they were also responsible for lighting, setting up scenery and driving between venues.

Mr Frankel said: "We wanted to raise awareness about what the charity is doing because we have been working in the Potters Bar area since 2003 and we thought the work was good enough to travel around the country.

"I have been involved in working with children for quite a long time and one of the things that really got to me was the fact that children are so negatively portrayed, so we wanted to get out there with a positive message for children. We wanted to give children the confidence to make a difference in their communities.

"The feedback that we got from teachers and children was that it motivated and inspired them so that was really exciting."

The show was aimed at primary school children and focused on raising awareness of the widely differing issues that children face all over the world. The interactive performance included videos, music and poetry, and invited children in the audience to come up on stage.

According to Guinness World Records requirements, each show had to be at least an hour long and performed in a venue with a capacity of 300 people or more.

Mr Frankel added: "The most fun was in the theatres. It was just really exciting to be able to perform on a professional stage and the response was great.

"There was one performance when half the scenery fell down and we had to stop the show in the middle. We just reminded the audience that these things happen in the West End as well.

"But in the last week we did 13 shows in seven days to make sure that we got to 51 to get the record."

The company will be holding another smaller tour around primary schools this summer.