Rawiri Paratene is a Kiwi on stage at the Globe. His success at one of the world’s most famous theatres is a direct result of his involvement in the programmes invested in by Shakespeare Globe Centre New Zealand (SGCNZ).
The Shakespeare Globe Centre New Zealand is a voluntary, not-for-profit organisation established in 1991. Probably the Centre’s most well-known programme is the University of Otago Sheilah Winn Shakespeare Festival (UOSWSF), which is run in 22 regions around the country.
Following the Regional Sheilah Winn Festivals two groups from each perform at the National UOSWSF, held every year over Queen’s Birthday Weekend in Wellington. Forty-six acting students are chosen from the Regional and National Festivals to participate in the National Shakespeare Schools Production week in September/October. They are joined by the winners of the SGCNZ/Bernina Shakespeare Costume Design Competition and SGCNZ/Morrison Music Trust Music Composition Competition. Twenty-four students from that week are then selected to form the SGCNZ Young Shakespeare Company, which represents NZ in London, training, rehearsing and performing at Shakespeare’s Globe and Stratford-upon-Avon.
It was the scale and success of this project, among others, that resulted in the Shakespeare Globe Centre New Zealand wining the 2004 Wellington Community Awards, run by the Wellington International Airport and the Community Trust of Wellington. The Centre then went on to represent the Wellington region at the TrustPower National Community Awards in March 2005.
Since the work of the Shakespeare Globe Centre was put in the spotlight at the TrustPower National Community Awards the Centre has continued to grow, and the success stories are mounting up.
In the last three years the Centre has expanded the University of Otago Sheilah Winn Festival to include more student directed pieces as well competitions in costume design, static design, composing and essay writing. In fact the winning static images and costume designs from this year’s festival have just gone to London to be exhibited at the Globe for two months in its Exhibition Hall. These new competitions are opening up the world of Shakespeare to a more diverse range of students.
The Sheilah Winn Festival now includes 267 schools – more than half of all secondary schools in New Zealand – and in the last 18 years more than 75,000 students have embraced the world of Shakespeare through this programme.
Shakespeare Globe Centre New Zealand CEO Dawn Sanders says many very special things happen as a result of the Sheilah Winn Festival.
In recent years the winners of the composition competitions have undertaken further study, with previous winners Isaac Stone and Celeste Oram having gone on to have their compositions performed by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. Past Festival participants have progressed to pursue careers in many areas of theatre including lighting, rigging, choreography, directing and arts management.
As well as the University of Otago Sheilah Winn Shakespeare Festival, Shakespeare Globe Centre is also involved in the Globe’s International Artistic Fellowship Programme. This is where 10 actors are chosen to spend one month training and performing at the Globe – and each year two spots are reserved for Kiwis.
Dawn is involved in the selection process and the fundraising – it costs $19,000 for each participant! Previous Artistic Fellows include Robyn Malcolm, Tandi Wright, Stephen Lovatt, Jonathon Hendry, Peter Hambleton, Jude Gibson, Simon Ferry, Kirsty Hamilton and Rawiri Paratene. Since completing his Fellowship in 2007 Rawiri was invited and successfully auditioned and was cast as Friar Lawrence in the Globe production of Romeo and Juliet, which is on stage between April and August this year. This is the first time that a New Zealander has landed a role in a full season production at the Globe as a direct result of the Shakespeare Globe Centre’s work.
This year’s Artistic Fellows are Sylvia Rands and Paolo Rotondo.
Dawn says it has been a constant fight to continue running the Centre and its programmes, which costs around $500,000 each year.
“There have been years where I have had serious concerns about funding. Every year I start with zero and I have to fill up my plate – but people just rally around. There have been times when I have been in tears at the generosity of people who gave their time and money to keep the festival running,” says Dawn.
Dawn says hundreds of volunteers keep the organisation ticking.
“Whether they are old, young, fit or disabled, we find a job to fit them. After each Sheilah Winn Festival it takes about a month to write all the thank you letters to all the volunteers in the Wellington region alone!” says Dawn.
While Dawn says she feels humbled by the support of her volunteers, she laments the lack of support from the Ministry of Education, which has provided funding for the Centre’s programmes only once in the last 18 years.
“The study of and involvement in Shakespeare has hugely positive outcomes for students. When the Ministry proposed to remove Shakespeare from the curriculum last year there was a huge outcry and an outpouring of support endorsing the work of Shakespeare and what we do,” says Dawn.
Dawn says in the UK every primary school receives a copy of Charles Lamb’s Shakespeare Tales and a DVD of the animated tales of Shakespeare. New Zealand primary schools are also interested in incorporating Shakespeare in their teaching.
Shakespeare Globe Centre is encouraging the use of Shakespeare in primary schools by providing a teaching course for secondary and primary teachers.
“Every few weeks we are getting calls from primary schools asking what Shakespeare resources we have for primary students. So this year we are hosting a teaching course for primary and secondary teachers involving Sarah Nunn from the Globe, who specialises in working with different ethnicities.
“The themes of Shakespeare are eternal and we can use new ways of communicating the story so it’s understood and enjoyed by today’s young people,” says Dawn.
To mark the 400th anniversary of the publication of the Bard’s 154 Sonnets, SGCNZ has created a year-long project, Compleate Workes 2009.
“Throughout this year we are not only having all the Sonnets read on Concert FM, surrounded by Shakespeare related music, but we are also umbrella-ing and promoting the performances of the full canon of Shakespeare’s plays throughout the country during 2009, “ said Dawn.
This has included the world premiere in Wellington of Cardenio - a reconstruction of Shakespeare’s 38th play; concerts in Waikato and Christchurch; Shakespeare related homilies in church services; school and community through to professional productions... Shakespeare truly “in his infinite variety” and “a man for all seasons”.
For more information about the Shakespeare Globe Centre New Zealand contact Dawn Sanders on 04 384 1300 or email Action-Sanders@xtra.co.nz . Or log onto www.Shakespeare.org.nz and www.compleateworkes.co.nz . |
