A GROUP of barristers will reenact a Eureka Stockade trial at the Bendigo Supreme Court as part of Law Week.
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The show is produced by BottleSnail Productions – a company that is made up of people in legal professions.
The group also has the Melbourne Lawyers Orchestra and a choir named Habeas Chorus.
Eureka: Democracy on Trial follows the 1855 trial of Timothy Hayes, an Irish rebel who was a ringleader of the Eureka Stockade in 1854.
"We have 13 in our cast, 11 barristers, a law student and a judge's associate," barrister and show director Kylie Weston-Scheuber said.
"The script is taken from the transcript of the trial, which was written in shorthand.
"We have stayed as true as possible to it but had to fit two days of trial into a one-hour performance."
Ms Weston-Scheuber said the show had all the drama of a real-life trial with audience members making up part of the jury. "They will have the perceptive of sitting there deciding a person's fate," she said.
"(Hayes) was on trial for treason which was punishable by the death penalty. That is something that is fairly topical at the moment.
"The Bendigo Supreme Court is a beautiful old building that is a historically accurate setting."
Eureka: Democracy on Trial is on at the Bendigo Supreme Court on Saturday, May 16, at 11am and 2.30pm.
