The Shakespeare success
The annual regional Shakespeare festival left adjudicators with hard decisions to make after acts of ’’exceedingly high calibre’’.
Taranaki’s University of Otago Sheilah Winn Shakespeare Festival took place at Stratford High School and saw entries from all around the mountain.
Melanie Visser, the regional representative, said although this was not a competition pieces were recommended to go to a national workshop in Wellington.
‘‘There’s no winners or losers or anything,’’ Visser said.
‘‘But every year you have two groups selected to go down, and we also have what I like to call the ‘best actor on the night’.’’
The festival involves entries from secondary schools in the region who can enter a 15-minute or five-minute Shakespeare performance.
Visser said it was quite a broad brief and led to many variations of performances, and this year, performances of exceedingly high calibre.
The recommended students would soon go to Wellington during Queen’s Birthday Weekend and observe and participate in workshops before heading to the National Secondary School Shakespeare Production in September. From there they are given a chance to perform and be selected to be a part of the Youth Shakespeare Company and go to England.