News and events

Students at Weston College are preparing their end of year performances, and looking to borrow props for their performances.

Performing and Production Arts students from the College are putting on two productions as their end of year performances, sourcing all props for the shows themselves. They are therefore looking to borrow props from the local community throughout May in order to bring their performances to life.

Both productions will be performed by students, however their sets are also being designed by Production Arts Technical students who are working hard to bring their vision into reality and make the sets as authentic as possible.

One group of 13 Level 3 students will be performing the play Two by Jim Cartwright, which is set in a pub in North England in the 1980s. In the play, 13 colourful and real characters are brought to life and let you into their lives, highlighting the ups and downs of relationships and the complex range of human emotion. As the night unfolds, the audience is lead into the Landlady and Landlords tragic secret.

The students are looking to source the following props:

• 5 - 10 bar stools (short)
• 2 bar stools (tall)
• 5 wooden round tables (pub style)
• Darts board
• Juke box
• 3 beer taps – need to be able to fix to a bar top and pull down, but will not be ‘working’
• Empty spirit bottles (clear & brown)
• 1 big old red carpet/rug (pub style)
• 5-7 period ashtrays.
•  

The students’ performance of Two will take place on 15 and 16 May at 1:30pm and 7pm at the Berkoff Theatre, based at the College’s Knightstone Campus.

Tickets are just £5 on the door.

The second show is Fiddler on the Roof, which 20 Level 3 students have been working on. The show is set in 1905 imperial Russia and tells the story of a poor milkman trying to protect his five daughters and instil them with traditional values in the face of a changing world. The students are looking to embody an old and rustic set design, and are sourcing the following props:

• 3-4 milk churns
• 1 old fashioned sewing machine
• 2 small wooden bar tables
• 1 sturdy hand farm cart.

Their performance of Fiddler on the Roof will take place on 16 May at 7pm, and 17 May at 1:30pm and 7pm at The Blakehay Theatre. Tickets are £10 and available to purchase from the box office.

Jonathan Swindall, Subject Area Manager for Visual Arts in Practice, said: “The students have all worked really hard to put their end of year shows together and we are extremely proud of the progress they have made.

“As our Production Arts Technical students are also doing the set design, we are appealing to the community to lend us a few props to help make every part of their productions spectacular and reflect all the work they have been putting into these shows.”

All props need to be available for the students to collect by Friday 11 May, and will be returned safely to their owners week commencing Monday 21 May.

Could anyone who is happy to lend props to the students please contact jonathan.swindall@weston.ac.uk or peter.tyler@weston.ac.uk

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Weston College held a successful fundraising week in March, raising £3600 for local charity Weston Hospicecare.

Over the week students and staff from across the College took part in various activities, with the aim of raising money for the local charity.

The main event of the week was dress up day, in which staff and students all over the College got in the spirit, dressing up as superheroes, unicorns, octopuses and air hostesses for the day.

There were also a number of awards given out for those who contributed to the week’s success. The College’s Inclusive Practice Faculty won the overall award for fundraising, after students came up with inventive ways of raising money, including writing the first sentences of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone in coins.

Weston Hospicecare was thrilled with the money donated to them.

Rachel Mansfield, community fundraiser at Weston Hospicecare, said: “We are once again enormously grateful to the students of Weston College for the fabulous support offered during their RAG week celebrations.

“We’ve loved following the students’ exploits, and we’re thrilled by the incredible amount of money raised for Weston Hospicecare – it really will play a big part in enabling us to support people with life-limiting illnesses and their families across Weston-Super-Mare and beyond.

“We’d also like to say a special thank you to the students from Weston College’s Inclusive Practice Faculty, who won an award for an outstanding contribution to the charity week for a video they created on behalf of Weston Hospicecare – we enjoyed welcoming the students to the hospice when they were filming, and were really impressed by the super piece of work they put together.”