Drama teacher wins Globe scholarship
A childhood fascination with Shakespeare has led to Rebecca Reed winning a prestigious scholarship to London’s Globe Theatre.
Reed who teaches at St Orans and Sacred Heart colleges in Lower Hutt says having the chance to visit the Globe Theatre is a dream come true.
Although, the value of teaching Shakespeare to New Zealand students has been questioned in recent years, Reed holds no such concerns.
“I studied Macbeth and I was always fascinated by how Lady Macbeth lost the plot over time and went completely mad,” she said.
Shakespeare addressed all the big issues: death, tragedy, romance and prejudice.
Students also learnt a lot about the English language and how words and phrases had developed over time.
“It is absolutely still relevant, with the language we use,” she said.
Reed, who as well as teaching runs a public relations business, had never thought of going to the Globe until she received an email from Speech New Zealand, inviting her to apply for the Deirdre Snedden Scholarship .
The teacher of speech and drama died in 2006, leaving the majority of her estate to the Speech Communication Association.
Snedden wanted the funds from her estate to be used by like minded educators, with the main stipulation that all study had to be completed overseas.
In the 1940s and 1950s, the only examinations in speech and drama were conducted annually by a visiting Trinity College of London examiner.
Snedden decided to extend her studies overseas and in 1951 travelled to London. She visited the Rose Bruford Speech and Drama College at Sidcup in Kent, where she was accepted to study acting, mime, speech development, the history of theatre, costume and drama.
It was a life-changing experience for her and one she wanted other teachers to experience.
Reed said the teaching of Shakespeare had changed greatly since the 1950s but the key issue was still how to get students engaged.
Having taught Shakespeare for three years, Reed said that finding ways to build enthusiasm and for her students to understand just how relevant Shakespeare is today was the key to teaching it successfully.
“As a teacher I am always wanting to keep learning and I just thought this would be a great opportunity to go to the coal face.”
These days teachers had a range of tools at their disposal. There were digital sites that translated plays such as Romeo and Juliet, King Lear and Othello into language that her students could more easily understand.
There were also movies like 10 Things I Hate About You (1999) starring the late Heath Ledger and Julia Stiles, loosely based on Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew.
Students tended to be more enthusiastic about learning Shakespeare when they could relate it to something like a film, she said.
Reed will be heading to London for the July school holidays and, as well as a range of workshops and seminars at the Globe, she will spend time at the Royal Shakespeare Company.