The Trial Kirkbie Kendal School The last time I saw a work by Franz Kafta I came away scratching my head - this time I didn’t.

It was still fairly abstract, but Kirkbie Kendal School students managed to steer themselves and the audience adeptly through the maze of senior bank clerk Joseph K’s world, as he’s arrested and prosecuted by a remote, inaccessible authority, with the nature of his crime never actually revealed either to him or the audience.

Keelan Knight did a splendid job as K, whose unconscious mind puts him on trail because he’s failed to follow his dreams, settling instead for a mudane existence.

Jack Pound as court painter Titorelli was another who crackled with energy as he claimed the character as his own and Leah Coates was commanding as lawyer Huld.

It was a very strong and focused performance from all the cast. Okay, it was ocassionally loose around the edges, but at times the physical theatre was quite exhiliarating, particularly the metro scene.

Adapted for the stage by Stephen Berkoff, Kafta’s The Trial isn’t light and fluffy - its dark and dystopian, dramatic and chilling at times.

If this is the challenging theatrical line that director Lyndsay Taylor and assistant Louise Bell are following, then good. There were definite signs of something special in the production and in the way the young actors embraced what they were performing.

Head of drama Louise Gallagher told me that the students were “thrilled.”

And it showed.

Years 7 and 8 both contributed to the highly inventive evening with short mini monologues and poems that created a buzz before each half of the play.