Student thespians take on Shakespeare

SPECIAL DELIVERY: Lucy France, left, playing Celia and Eden Wallace who won the SCA Cup for Delivery of Text for her part as Rosalind in As You Like It. PHOTOS/SUPPLIED

Teams of student thespians from a half dozen Wairarapa colleges have again battled for stage supremacy at the annual University of Otago Wairarapa regional Sheilah Winn Shakespeare festival.

Former Wairarapa College head of drama Marilyn Bouzaid said the festival was held at the Rathkeale College Trust House Theatre on Tuesday evening, and each team had presented a 15-minute scene alongside three five-minute scenes also delivered.

"There was a large and enthusiastic crowd present and the colleges performed to a high standard," Ms Bouzaid said.

She said the assessor at the festival was Cherie Jacobson, co-director of BATS theatre in Wellington and a Globe alumni and old girl of Wairarapa College.

The Barbara Vinten Shield for Comedy was won on the night by Wairarapa College student Ned Stuitje, who played Nym in The Merry Wives of Windsor, and the SCA Cup for Delivery of Text was won by Rathkeale St Matthew's Senior College student Eden Wallace, who played Rosalind from As You Like it.

Other festival prize-winners included the Award for Use of Song - Solway College, A Midsummer Night's Dream; Award for Stage Combat - Rathkeale St Matthew's Senior College, As You Like It; Award for Costume - Wairarapa College, The Merry Wives of Windsor; Award for Use of Space - St Matthew's Collegiate School, Hamlet

Highly Commended Ensemble - Chanel College, The Merchant of Venice; Highly Commended Individual Performance - Harriet O'Hara, Wairarapa College, The Merry Wives of Windsor; NSSP Direct Entry Student - Cael Friday, Wairarapa College; Award for Best Student Directed 5 Minute Scene - Kuranui College, Richard III; Award for Best 15 Minute Scene - Rathkeale St Matthew's Senior College, As You Like It.