Memories of Occupation brought to life in play

Barbed Wire and Teddy Bears aims to tell the story of Occuption

Students have been rehearsing a play about what children experienced during Occupation.

Youngsters from Jersey College for Girls will perform Barbed Wire and Teddy Bears in December.

Written by a former English teacher at the school, Karen Ewing, it is based on documented experiences of people who were children while Jersey was under the control of German forces during World War Two.

Florence, 13, who has a role as Roy in the play, said: "To be doing this play on the 80th year of Liberation is really cool because of what it means to Jersey."

Florence and Esther play a leading character in the production

Esther, 13, who is also playing the character Roy, said he was "very interesting to bring to life".

"Roy is innocent but he's starting to understand things," she said.

Cerys, 16, and Hannah, 17, both play the character of Gwen who explains how someone in her dad's parish smuggled a turkey past German forces.

"It's so interesting to get into these characters and understand what was happening at the time," said Karis.

Hannah added: "I'm new to Jersey so this has been amazing.

"It's a really important part of verbatim theatre and part of Jersey culture."

The school's head of drama Caroline Stone has been leading the rehearsals

A total of 32 students from Year 8 to 13 will be involved in the production.

Head of drama Caroline Stone, who is directing the play, said she had been finding new ways for students to engage with the island's history.

"It's been a real pleasure to try to revive the play," she said.

"It's a really good thing for these particular kids, who probably at the beginning didn't know that much about the Occupation.

"It is a first for me to see this happening because it's very much like we are bringing the history alive and we decided that the students really have to go and visit some Occupation historic sites."