Taupō student John Brunning-Tate nails Shakespeare at Sheilah Winn festival

The cast of Taupō-nui-a-Tia College'sThe Comedy of Errors. John Brunning-Tate is in the front row at right, with his 'twin' Chad Simeon on the left. Photo / Supplied

Ask John Brunning-Tate if he's related to the late, great New Zealand actor Nancy Brunning, and he offers a smile.

"She's my aunty."

With acting lineage like this, it's no wonder John's no slouch in the acting department either. The year 13 Taupō-nui-a-Tia College student is so good, in fact, that he was selected for direct entry to the National Shakespeare Schools Production, a yearly week-long intensive Shakespeare learning and acting experience for 48 young secondary school thespians.

The students with enough talent at the National Shakespeare Schools Production then have the chance to be picked to go to London the following year to visit - and perform in - the Globe Theatre, learn more about Shakespeare, building on their performing skills and work with other actors.

John was selected for the National Shakespeare Schools Production after his performance as Dromio in Shakespeare's The Comedy of Errors, which was part of the Shakespeare Globe Centre of New Zealand University of Otago Sheilah Winn Shakespeare Festival.

The Comedy of Errors centres around two sets of twins, separated by a shipwreck. One set goes to find the other set and chaos ensues, with mistaken identities all around before everything is finally resolved.

John played Dromio and his fellow twin, also Dromio, was played by Chad Simeon, who looks similar enough to John to make the idea plausible.

Directed by Year 13 students Joseph Sutherland and Boaz Mellor, the students put a twist on their presentation of the play by setting it at the Taupō Market and playing up the puns in the script.

Director Joseph, who most recently trod the boards himself as barman Pepper in the Centre Stage musical Mamma Mia!, says he and Boaz cast John as Dromio because they already knew him and thought he would make a great cast member.

But the play was under the pump from the get-go, with only four weeks to prepare for the Sheilah Winn regional festival. John had to work overtime in the limited time available to learn all his lines, try to understand them and get to grips with his character.

The hard work paid off. Only one actor per regional Sheilah Winn festival is chosen to go straight into the National Shakespeare Schools Production.

Judges look for someone who, as well as being able to act, portrays their knowledge of the play and who they think has potential.

John says that although, during the performance, the prospect of being chosen was "definitely on my mind", he was still "shell-shocked" but excited to hear he would be going.

The National Shakespeare Schools Production is usually held in Dunedin but this year will be in Wellington in October. The 48 students are split into three groups who each work on a performance of about 40 minutes in length as well as learning their lines and their characters.

John says while he hasn't done many Shakespeare plays, he'd like to do acting long term and he's definitely hoping to be one of the 24 selected for the three-week trip to Britain next year.