Acting a famous scene in which a jealous husband throttles his partner has earned two Tikipunga High School students a coveted prize for young Shakespearean thespians.
Te Piha Niha, 17, and Paige Minckley, 15, won the University of Otago Sheila Winn Shakespeare Festival trophy for a five-minute performance of
the scene in which Othello murders Desdemona in Othello.
Winners of the Northland Sheila Winn competition in April, their success in Wellington last weekend was against 22 other schools from around New Zealand.
In the Tikipunga students' modernised version directed by Te Piha, Othello comes home from nightclubbing and, in a drunken rage, kills his wife. Te Piha, a Year 13 student, chose the student-directed scene then asked Paige if she would play Desdemona.
Both students said the intensely powerful and demanding scene carried a modern message about drinking and violence, despite it being originally set in the 17th century. Drama teacher Maran Sutherlin said the pair worked hard to understand and nail the scene which, despite being modernised, stayed true to Shakespeare.
"Te Piha is an excellent Othello. He's a very good, very talented actor and he directed everything in that piece. It was a brilliant interpretation," Ms Sutherlin said.
"If there had a been a Best Supporting Actress category, that was Paige.
"They both worked hard at making the parts their own, of understanding and researching the roles.
"They made it modern in voice and physicality, they used appropriate movement and costumes."
Te Piha and Paige were confident after winning the regionals that their piece was strong.
"We knew ours was going to stand up," Paige said.
There is more hard work ahead following Te Piha's achievement.
He has been selected along with around 40 other young actors to take part in a national Shakespeare schools production workshop in August.
About half those participants will be chosen to travel to a workshop at the Globe Theatre in London.
To get as far as the National School, Te Piha needs to raise $750 for registration, plus fares and expenses.
"The Globe is the goal," Te Piha said.
For a video of these talented young actors in rehearsal, see www.northernadvocate.co.nz
