Sexual violence during war is a hard subject for anyone to talk about, read about or write about, and you would perhaps expect only a seasoned professional to tackle the challenges of bringing it to the stage.

But Diana Nneka Atuona threw out the old adage of ‘write what you know’ to pen her very first play, Liberian Girl, about a 14-year-old girl, Martha, who has to flee her village disguised as a boy in a bid to escape the Civil War, which saw more than 200,000 people killed between 1989 and 2003.

“I have never been in a civil war, or been a child soldier, but I do know what it is like to have friendship and survive and have a mother who loves her children, and all those things are transferable,” she says.

“But I think you can’t underestimate the power of imagination, I rely on that the most.”

Diana was given the push to write the play by a six-week writers’ workshop held by the Royal Court in her home town of Peckham and Liberian Girl went on to win the Alfred Fagon Award. It was performed at the Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict.

The Royal Court is now bringing it to Tottenham to inspire people to get involved with a three-year residency that has just begun there called Royal Court Tottenham. It will see staff work with local groups and creatives to hold workshops, put on performances and create local festivals.

Associate director of the Royal Court Hamish Pirie says: “We met Diana through a similar project so it is a perfect example of what can happen and what we want to happen.

“Tottenham has so much diversity and we want to engage with people there in different ways.”

Diana was working as a court clerk and had been writing a screenplay with her brother when she got involved with the Royal Court project.

“I really do believe that was supposed to happen,” says Diana, “as it’s where I discovered I could write for theatre.”

Born and raised in Peckham she has no links to Liberia and has never been but says of her inspiration: “I read a statistic which said 75 per cent of Liberian women experience sexual violence, I have since found out it’s a flawed statistic as they only interviewed 400 women, but at the time I thought if I was a woman in that conflict, statistically speaking, the likelihood of me being a victim would be high.

“I thought it was insane, it blew my mind, and then I started looking at examples of where women had disguised themselves as men to join the army.”

The 31-year-old says she read many upsetting stories of rape and attack, and the play doesn’t shy away from telling audiences details of what happened. It is performed as an immersive, standing production with replica fire-arms, loud gun shots and scenes of strong sexual violence. The play sees the girl Martha escape the rebels dressed as a boy, but then be forcibly recruited into the army.

Diana, who now works at The Old Vic as an usher, says: “For me the war is just a backdrop and this story is about friendship and survival.”

She adds: “I know some people have been put off by the brutal nature, but I felt like it had enough heart in it to give it balance.”

Bernie Grant Arts Centre, Town Hall Approach Road, Tottenham Green, February 10 to 14. Details: berniegrantcentre.co.uk, royalcourttheatre.com

On February 12 from 6pm there will be a free discussion: How do we stop children being forced into violence? Details: royalcourttheatre.com

On February 14 there will be a free Playwriting Workshop from 10.30am to 12.30pm. Email: tottenham@royal courttheatre.com

There will be free 90-minute workshops for schools on the themes of the play. Contact maiaclarke@royal courttheatre.com