Porirua College students take on the Bard
Three student directors are putting a new twist on Shakespeare and basing it in Porirua.
It is the first year Porirua College performing arts students have had a chance to direct their production and their teacher, Gary Miller, has chosen Shakespeare’s Othello, Hamlet and Romeo and Juliet.
Miller said the students were rising to the challenge.
‘‘They’ve taken ownership,’’ he said. ‘‘ Not all of them will be actors, but they can all be in positions of leadership.
‘‘Year 13 should be about getting prepared for the outside.’’
He said he chose Shakespeare because it was something that every high school student should be introduced to.
‘‘ Setting it in Porirua might make it so they can relate.’’
Year 13 student and deputy head girl Tiana Ranfurly is directing classic love story Romeo and Juliet. Though it was her first time working with Shakespeare, she said she was not finding the directing too hard.
‘‘It’s just something new to help me with my confidence,’’ she said. ‘‘It’s awesome speaking the poetic language they speak.
‘‘ It’s just trying to get your tongue around the words.
‘‘The challenge for me would be trying to do something that I would love to show and try to make it more modern.’’
She said she thought teenagers would relate to the play because it was about families not agreeing on teenage love.
Othello is directed by Shalani Wichman-Forbes and Hamlet by Dameen Christian.