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Steven Berkoff’s adaptation of Franz Kafka’s classic novel has the central character, K, spending all his time and effort attempting to discover what his guilt is, only to find out that it is the ‘guilt of betraying his inner spirit to the safety of mediocrity’. There, we’ve given it away now! 

Our A2 Theatre Studies students gave two performances of The Trial and I can vouch for the first one - an excellent experience. The play was superbly choreographed to the point were it almost became a dance. The performers ebbed and flowed about the stage and the lighting and visual effects enriched the deliberately minimal set. Watch this space for a student review of the second performance.

The Trial

WOW! What a fantastic experience. The trial was so cleverly performed, it went from scene to scene so quickly, it was really slick! The reason it went from scene to scene so quickly was because of the really clever scenery. The scenery was basically about ten wooden door frames that were light and easy to move about the stage. The door frames turned into loads of things including a church, a bank, an office, a row of houses and even a train!

The thing that made the scenery come really come alive though was the actors and the amazing sounds which they produced that were cleverly choreographed into the scenes. Each actor had their own particular sound that made a very realistic atmosphere (and quite a funky tune!). It really brought the play to life.

The constant flow of smoke made a really spooky atmosphere, but it wasn’t all serious and scary; there was a very good balance of serious acting and humour. There were loads of funny moments like the screen that was illuminated when the lawyer went to the toilet (it was gruesomely realistic!).

The storyline was about a man who worked in a bank called Joseph K. He was on trial but not a usual trial. Basically it was a trial for being boring, doing the same thing over and over again! He rushed around the stage trying to find the right path to go down in his mind - the right thing to do. However, he suddenly realizes that the only path to choose is death! At the end, he gets hung in a big cloud of smoke, it was very dramatic and sad, but when it had finished I wanted to see it all over again! A truly amazing performance and I hope all of the actors get their A-Levels! WELL DONE TO EVERYONE INVOLVED!

Review by Zach Jones, Year 8

Tickets are on sale now, and can be purchased on the night - Wednesday 3rd at 7.30 p.m. and Thursday 4th at 7.30 p.m.

Prices are £5, £4 concessions.

Student, Saffron, is a bit of a star on the ice. The 14 year old has already represented her country in Italy and Switzerland at the Chiasso Tournament, and this year will travel to the Czech Republic and Latvia with the England Under 15s Ice Hockey Team.

Team England won the Chiasso tournament and secured the first gold for England for 5 years. This was a particularly memorable occasion for Saffron, who was presented with a special shirt as ‘English Player of the Tournament’ by the English League Officals, who accompanied the team.

Saffron is the only girl ever to play in the team and she told us a bit about how she reached this standard of excellence.

“When I was seven years old, I started skating at the Telford Ice Rink, and after two weeks, joined ‘Telford Venom’ - the Under 10s Ice Hockey Team. Then I joined the Nottingham Under 16s Girls Team (this is the nearest girls team to where I live) and continue to play for them, as well as the national team.”

We asked Saffron if it was different playing on the girls’ team: “It’s a different style of play - it’s slower and not nearly as forceful as the boy’s matches.”

And the future ? “I’ve been offered a scholarship in Canada, but have decided to stay at William Brookes, then, hopefully, go to University in Canada. It’s a great opportunity - the sport is really big over there and they’re very enthusiastic about it. I’d have the chance to play alongside some superb skaters.”

So, you’d play for a Canadian team, but you’d still be willing to play for England at international level, if you could ? “Well, I’ve been pencilled in for the 2014 Winter Olympics, in Russia, and will do my very best to be representing England there.”

Saffron was presented with a repeat award on Tuesday 23rd January at the John Beswick International Awards. She received her award from Liz Nicholson, Shropshire’s Director of Young People & Childrens Services.

We are very proud of Saffron’s achievement and look forward to following her progress into and beyond the olympics.

With both parents dead, after discovering that their children had been the result of an incestuous union, and both brothers dead, fighting each other for control of Thebes, all the surviving sisters have left is each other. Now, even that relationship is threatened as each weighs up whether it is better to obey the laws of the land or the laws of the gods.

Sophocles’ ‘Antigone’ is the third play in the Theban trilogy about Oedipus and his family. Although written nearly two and a half thousand years ago in a very different time and culture from our own, the play has a very real relevance for us here and now, asking us the question: how far would you go for your beliefs?

Antigone will run for two nights - Wednesday, 20th and Thursday 21st January at 7.30 pm. Admission is £5 and £4 concessions.

A famous political figure once played a character from Antigone whilst imprisoned in the 60s. Anyone know who that was and which character they played?

Watch this space for a Year 8 student’s review of the play.

Well here it is and today it’s read one read another free:

I thought that the actors and actresses were very talented because there was a lot of speech but they hardly ever forgot their lines and they kept in time with each other when they did a few sentences together. Also, the ones who had to swear were very brave because they didn’t laugh, get embarassed or look away.

I thought the play itself was very sad, due to everyone dying a terrible death, but I only thought this because all of the performers expressed their emotions very well.

I could really feel the love Antigone had for her dead brother and how Antigone’s fiancé feels when he finds out that his future wife has been sent to her death by his own father, and how that messenger person must have felt when he was told that if he didn’t find the betrayer then he would be killed.

I would like to tell all of the performers and directors that it was a brilliant show. Well done – I give it a 10/10

Tara M.

The play was fantastic! It had dance routines, clever acting and much more! The start was dramatic - with loud booming music and flickering lights, it made a very big impact.

The storyline was amazing but very sad. It was all about the law against the burial of one of Antigone’s two brothers. The noble one was allowed to be buried but the traitor had to be left to rot outside. Antigone went against this law, so she was sentenced to death. She was locked up in an old shack on the top of a moor. She couldn’t take it any longer, so she hung herself. This was done on a clever screen with a light behind it, so the actors appeared as shadows. This meant that the scene could be more detailed and the hanging could be even more detailed.

I’m sure everybody in the audience was on the edge to find out what would happen next, but we soon found out. There was a chain reaction of suicides. First Antigone’s fiancé, then the fiancés mother (the Emperor’s wife), then the Emperor himself. It really was the ultimate tragedy.

It was so amazingly put together and must have took ages to learn all the lines and perform them as well as they did.

Truly a fantastic performance! Well done to all the actors in it and everyone else who was involved!

Zach J.

We thought it best to let folks know of the event well in advance: some of you may be making a long journey and might appreciate the advance warning.

We’ll be digging deep into our archives for some photies for the day, and would ask you to send any pictures you have to wbs2010reunion@yahoo.co.uk

Nicola and Katie are demonstrating creative flair with a beautiful ‘Christmas Angel’.

The piece was made as an entry to the Shropshire Council/Novelis/Alupro aluminium recycling awareness competition. Primary and secondary schools throughout Shropshire have been challenged to produce Christmas decorations from used aluminium foil and trays, with the winning schools netting a healthy £400 first prize.

Judging will take place at Novelis, Bridgnorth on Wednesday 9^th December.

Good luck to our little angel.

Please bring in any used tin/aluminium foil items (washed!) from your chocolate wrappers, take-away containers, milk bottle tops, etc, for our Year 9 Recycling Group to make their Christmas decorations. All donations must be brought to Miss Taylor as soon as possible!

We are trying to win £400 for the school !