BRISTOL Old Vic Theatre School students will be taking their audiences back to Suffolk in 1759, as they perform Lucy Kirkwood’s courtroom drama The Welkin in the Weston Studio of the Old Vic theatre from 9th to 16th November.

It is the explosively emotional story of Sally Poppy, whose fate will be decided as Halley’s Comet comes into view. Accused of murdering a local girl, at the eleventh hour she announces she is expecting a child. As the celestial spectacle approaches, a jury of twelve matrons will decide if Poppy is with child, or is lying to avoid the death penalty.

The play is suitable for audiences aged 14 and older.

The BOVTS students move to the Redgrave Theatre in Clifton for their Christmas show, Treasure Island, on from 23rd to 30th November.

Always popular in Bristol, where Robert Louis Stevenson is said to have written the original novel at the Llandogger Trow, this re-imagining by Bryony Lavery follows the adventures of the young Jim Hawkins as he faces off against the infamous Long John Silver in this epic tale of buried treasure and high-seas hijinks. It promises festive fun for all the family.