A group of thespians at John McGlashan College have the answer after incorporating Barbie into their retelling of Shakespearean comedy The Taming of the Shrew.
They showed their creativity at the Shakespeare Globe Centre New Zealand Victoria University of Wellington Regional Shakespeare Festival for Otago yesterday.
Groups from 13 schools from across Otago performed their takes of classic Shakespeare scenes at the King’s and Queen’s Performing Arts Centre.
The group from John McGlashan had been working on their 15-minute scene since the start of the year.
Initially, they were going to adapt a scene from Romeo and Juliet, but later decided to do The Taming of the Shrew.
Year 12 student Timothy Stevens, 16, who played the role of Baptista, said their teacher Kimberley Fridd convinced them they needed to do something in the style of the recent Barbie movie.
They found a lot of similarities between the 1500s play and the narrative of the Barbie movie, which was released in 2023, he said.
"The whole relationship between Ken and Barbie in the movie is pretty similar to our performance."
Performing the scene with a modern backdrop also helped the group understand the literature better.
"Shakespeare’s too serious, so we just flipped it upside down.
"Because most Shakespeare comedies aren’t funny."
Year 13 student Glenn Ericcson, 17, who played Kate, said he did not mind cross-dressing for the role.
"Honestly, it’s really fun.
"It’s all theatre," he said.
His counterpart in the scene, Harper Milne, 17, who played Petruchio, developed his character by watching Ryan Gosling’s performance as Ken in Barbie.
"I just combined the two. [Petruchio] is a complete narcissist, but so is Ken."
