This summer Shakespeare is all over New Zealand.
And although you will see the occasional timeless classic like Romeo and Juliet or A Midsummer Night's Dream, we can also witness the rise of the plays less performed. Be it The Winter's Tale, The Merchant of Venice or The Comedy of Errors,
which seems ubiquitous this year, the Bard's lesser-known plays have certainly made a comeback.
Against this interesting backdrop Shakespeare Globe Centre New Zealand (SGCNZ) will be holding its 27th University of Otago Sheilah Winn Shakespeare Festival (UOSWSF) this year. The SGCNZ UOSWSF comprises 24 regional festivals held in all corners of the country from March 17 until April 12 and one national festival held over Queen's Birthday Weekend at the Michael Fowler Centre in Wellington. In these secondary school students all over the country will be performing 5 and 15-minute scenes from various Shakespeare plays.
Last year the trend to perform some of the more obscure plays was already noticeable during the SGCNZ Shakespeare Festivals, with scenes from Titus Andronicus, Timon of Athens, Pericles and The Comedy of Errors gracing the stage of the Michael Fowler Centre at SGCNZ's National UOSWSF. However, this year's professional and amateur productions of less-fashionable Shakespeare plays all around the country are certainly going to influence the imagination of students and teachers alike.
Diversity is another key point, which will potentially be influenced by Pop-Up Globe's A Midsummer Night's Dream production, which was partly performed in te reo Maori, or Auckland Shakespeare in the Park's Romeo and Juliet starring three Maori actors in the title roles. Although the SGCNZ UOSWSF has previously featured scenes which incorporate tikanga Maori and Pacific Island influences, the reach of particularly Auckland's Pop-Up Globe might well inspire more students to weave their cultural background into Shakespeare's play. The realisation that Shakespeare is relevant in any culture or age is one of the key features SGCNZ uses to help young people develop as a person as well as on stage.
"Interpersonal communication skills have never been more important, in an age where screens can be so isolating," says Dawn Sanders, chief executive of Shakespeare Globe Centre New Zealand. "It is essential for our young people to be articulate, entrepreneurial and able to express creativity in a variety of ways."
From the SGCNZ regional and national UOSWS festivals and SGCNZ's allied competitions, 48 students are then chosen to attend SGCNZ's National Shakespeare Schools Production 2018 in October, a week-long intensive with rehearsals and workshops culminating in two public performances. Half of these students who attend this programme have the opportunity to travel to Shakespeare's Globe London as members of the SGCNZ Young Shakespeare Company 2019 to attend rehearsals and workshops and perform on The Globe Stage in July next year.
