All the world’s a Shakespeare stage for Otago schools

Queen's High School pupils (from left) Georgia Clark, Shy Smith, Kacey Farquhar, Krystal O'Gorman, Paige Counsell, Arabella Thomlinson and Cayla-Rose Hosking, mock Sir John Falstaff (Thirza Brizzell centre) in the Merry Wives of Windsor at the Otago Regional University of Otago Sheilah Winn Shakespeare Festival yesterday.

The group won the best 15-minute production and will have the chance to go to the national festival in Wellington.

The best five-minute production was won by another group from Queen's which staged a scene from Romeo and Juliet, and they will also have the chance to compete in the national festival.

Judges picked Columba College pupil Sophie Baron, who played the lead role in Othello, to go directly to the National Shakespeare Schools Production Week phase, bypassing the national festival.

From the Shakespeare week, a cohort will be chosen to form the Young Shakespeare Company and travel to the Globe Theatre in London.

The Otago regional award for best ensemble and a special award for best musical composition went to a group from Logan Park, for a 15-minute Romeo and Juliet excerpt.