8:20am Saturday 20th March 2010
By Barbara Jordan
GRUESOME murders which gripped Victorian London were re-enacted in a compelling drama by Widnes teenagers.
Bankfield pupils staged 1888, an adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s Jekyll and Hyde, at The Brindley studio on Friday.
It was set at a lunatic asylum in London in 1888.
Paul Kennedy, head of drama and director, said: “Not only were the pupils having to deal with a complex script, they also had to understand how it had been interpreted to reflect the Ripper crimes.
“On top of all that, the play was staged in a highly stylised ‘Theatre of Cruelty’.
“They were a credit to the school and themselves.”
The epic production involved a cast of 34 children, aged 12 to 15.
Mr Kennedy said: “Research on the subject was very gruesome. It really stretched them.
“For the children to act it as well as they did is an amazing achievement.“
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