CULTURE SGCNZ University of Otago Sheilah Winn Shakespeare Festival
supportive audience of parents, students, staff, and friends. After months of sacrificing lunchtimes and after- school time for rehearsals, it was showtime. First up, we had two comedic scenes from As You Like It . One was updated for a ’80s vibe, while the other was a traditional version, and highlighted the growing talents of many of our junior actors,
SGCNZ Composition Competition for his impressive instrumental piece based on Macbeth . Speaking of the Scottish Play, Charlie Wood’s cast performed the ghastly murder and ghostly banquet scene from Macbeth and the performance was selected for the National Festival in Wellington. Congratulations to Charlie and his company – Daniel Wilson and Oscar Stove as Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, Nisal Pathirana, Conor Ruane, Gus Elworthy, Louis Sharr, Luca Maxwell, Justin Wang, Michael Rankin, Charlie de Costobadie, and Bill Cross for his make-up prowess. All these students spent King’s Birthday sword-fighting, honing their vocal techniques, and watching scenes from Shakespeare’s plays, along with exploring Te Papa, visiting the Beehive, and, of course, performing in the beautiful St James Theatre, representing College for the first time in more than a decade at the National Festival. I would like to acknowledge the incredible dedication of our thespians, especially the student- directors. What an extraordinary opportunity and we hope this encourages even more students to take up the challenge of getting involved next year. A huge thank you to Hannah Clarkson for her support on the trip and we look forward to tackling the competition again very soon.
including Sean Zhang, Hugo Miller, Edward Pottinger, Hugo Bush, James Anderson, Jack Gorrie, Felipe Felitti-Duter, Harry MacKenzie-Rickards, Thomas Clayson, Arlo McCrystal, Oliver Trollip, Kever Thorley, and Ryan Tian. Alex Johnston chose to direct a short, political-yet-comedic scene from Henry VI , with many melodramatic moments created by James Burt, Charlie Doutch, Edward Elworthy, David Wayne, Toby Sharr, Aaron Kwak, and Daniel Robertson. James Burt’s modernised Much Ado showcased the comedic creativity of Robert Kidd and Alex Johnstone as the bumbling officers, alongside the more dramatic roles embodied with credibility by James Melhuish, Cole Moffatt, Alex Johnston, Angus Vincent, Charlie Wood, Sam Bennett, Tinura Gajamange, and Bill Cross. James was also awarded Highly Commended in the National
The Sheilah Winn Shakespeare Festival encourages students across the motu to keep the Bard’s literary works thriving through performance. Students perform excerpts in the hopes of selection for the National Festival in Wellington, and, this year, one of our teams was awarded that honour. College entered three student- directed scenes from Much Ado About Nothing (directed by Year 13 James Burt), Macbeth (directed by Year 11 Charlie Wood), and Henry IV (directed by Year 12 Alex Johnston), and two teacher-led scenes from As You Like It (directed by Nikki Bleyendaal). This resulted in more than 40 students representing our school at the Canterbury ki te Raki Festival at the Middleton Grange Theatre on Saturday 6 April, performing to an eager and
Nikki Bleyendaal Teacher-in-Charge
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Christ’s College Canterbury
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