Actors from Stratford High School's A Midsummer Night's Dream piece, directed by student Jessica Potroz. Photo / Ilona Hanne
Actors from Stratford High School's A Midsummer Night's Dream piece, directed by student Jessica Potroz. Photo / Ilona Hanne
"All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players; They have their exits and their entrances ... "
Shakespeare's words, as spoken by Jaques to Duke Senior in As You Like It rang true for more than 150 students when they participated in the annual SGCNZ University ofOtago Sheilah Winn Shakespeare Festival last Wednesday night.
More than 150 students from eight schools across Taranaki took part, performing to a packed audience in the Stratford High School hall.
Regional co-ordinator for the event, Melanie Visser, says the energy levels on the night were high, and all performances were "fantastic". The event was adjudicated by Bryan Vickery and Jenny Bennett, who said all the performers were "rock stars".
"What they saw on stage was simply 24 carat gold magic."
A student directed piece by students from Stratford High School received the judge's recommendation to progress to the national festival. Phot / Supplied
Melanie says the festival is about keeping Shakespeare alive and current, with students able to choose to either perform in a 15-minute extract (student or teacher directed) or a five-minute student-directed piece.
Pieces that the adjudicators consider to be the stand-out pieces of the night are then recommended to go to the national festival in Wellington, in June every year.
This year the selected 15-minute piece was a version of King Lear by students from New Plymouth Girls High School.
In their piece Lear found himself caught up in a storm on the heath.
As the storm raged around him, and Lear grew increasingly mad, he saw flashbacks of his downfall at the hands of his daughters.
The winning five-minute piece was an excerpt from A Midsummer Night's Dream, performed by students from Stratford High School, and directed by student Jessica Potroz. While every piece on the night was well done, it would be remiss to fail to give a special mention to the performers from the High Dependency Unit at Stratford High School.
These talented youngsters wowed the audience on the night with their version of the witches scene from Macbeth.
By pre-recording their voices reading the script, these young actors were able to concentrate on their actions as they took to the stage, and they kept the audience's attention throughout their piece.
