Local students heading to Shakespeare nationals

John Paul College drama students get ready for the Shakespeare Lives National Festival in Wellington over Queen's Birthday Weekend. Photo/File

John Paul College will represent Rotorua at the Shakespeare Lives National Festival in Wellington next week.

John Paul College's 15 minute excerpt from A Midsummer Night's Dream and a five minute student directed scene from Comedy of Errors were selected at the recent regional festival to represent the Rotorua region at the national festival.

The festival will see forty-six stimulating Shakespeare scenes by selected secondary students from throughout the country The performances are throughout the daytime on June 3 and 4 at the Michel Fowler Centre.

With the scenes being 5 and 15 minutes long the audience may slip in and out between scenes on the same day ticket. A new ticket is required for each of the three days.

Those able to watch them all will enjoy a feast of Shakespeare set in various countries with some incorporating Te Reo, Tongan, and other languages with dance and live music. These highly talented young people will delight, astound, inspire, and challenge audiences as they bring currency to Shakespeare's 425 year old plays and demonstrate the relevance to their lives.

"It is always great to hear the mounting palpable excitement from the groups who have never been to the national festival before as well as welcoming back those who have been selected in previous years," said Shakespeare Globe Centre New Zealand (SGCNZ) chief executive officer Dawn Sanders.

An increasing number of 'non-performers' from around the country are paying to attend the performances and workshops taken by high calibre tutors in sessions as diverse as voice, verse, dance, stage combat, Shakespeare's London, singing, mime, and clowning.

On June 5 at the St James Theatre members of SGCNZ Young Shakespeare Company (YSC) 2016 will perform followed by presentation of prizes of SGCNZ's allied competitions in music composition, essay writing, costume, poster, static image and DVD cover design.

Guest assessors from the United Kingdom are Diana Devlin, courtesy of Shakespeare's Globe, and Patricia Trueman, courtesy of Trinity College London.

Three more alumni will choose students to complement those selected from the 23 regional festivals to attend SGCNZ National Shakespeare Schools Production week long intensive from September 24 to October 2 in Dunedin.

From these 48 students, 24 will be chosen to go the Globe next year as SGCNZ YSC 2017.

Performances:
Friday June 3 10.00am-5.30pm - Michael Fowler Centre, Wellington
Saturday June 4 9.30am-5.30pm - Michael Fowler Centre , Wellington

SGCNZ YSC & Award Ceremony: Sunday 5 June 7.00-9.30pm - St James Theatre