by Alex Claridge

aclaridge@thekmgroup.co.uk

A hard-hitting educational play about the dangers of drinking and driving will be brought to life by students from the Deborah Capon College in Whitstable tomorrow (Saturday).

Students at the drama school will be performing Too Much Punch For Judy alongside other drama and dance numbers at Queen Elizabeth’s Grammar School in Faversham at 7.30pm.

The production will help to raise money for Demelza House Children’s Hospital and Headway, a charity which support people with brain injuries.

Too Much Punch for Judy is set on May 20, 1983 and tells the true story of two sisters, Jo and Judy Poulton, played by Alexandra Barton and Esme Crouch, who are on their way home from an aerobics class followed by a trip to the local wine bar.

They have both been drinking when Judy decides to get behind the wheel of their car. The car comes off the road and hits a bridge. Judy escapes unhurt but her sister Joanna is killed outright.

This tragic incident was dramatised by Mark Wheeller in 1986 using only the words of those most closely involved and affected.

Charlotte Corby, plays the sisters’ mum Vi, Joel Taylor and Joshua Graves, play 'blokes in the wine bar Bob and Nob’ as well as the policemen, while Abbie Wiggans plays Sister Davis. Amy Fenlon and Lizzie Glass play two girls who find the wreckage of the car.

Teacher Julia Rogers said: “It’s a powerful play and very sensitivity performed by the students who’ve worked really hard.

“The first half of our show will be taken over by our younger students who will be performing an adaptation of Horrid Henry and the Secret Club by Francesca Simon as well as selection of humorous poems – some of which they will be competing with in the Kent Competitive Drama Festival the following week.

“We also have a number of dancers taking to the stage with tap and jazz numbers so it promises to be an entertaining night and we hope people will come along and enjoy – and raise money for two worthy charities at the same time.”

Tickets cost £6 for adults and £3 for children and are available on the door.

For more information ring 07711 760698.