Another outstanding showing at the recent SGCNZ National Shakespeare Festival has seen Kuranui College take out four major awards for their 15-minute scene from ‘King John’.

This was the sixth consecutive year that the college has represented Wairarapa, qualifying for the national finals after winning the regional competition.

The first of the major awards were for ‘Most Extraordinary Performance’. Kuranui’s Jasmine Loveday used her extraordinary skills in special effects make-up to create a massive, convincing scar across the King of England’s torso, which is dramatically revealed during the performance.

Senior student Florence Cater also picked up the ‘Speak the Speech’ Award for her role as Constance in the scene, as well as being one of five actors to receive an award for outstanding acting, which has landed her an acting contract with KAM Talent.

“When Ms McLellan told me the scene had won four awards, and two were for my performance, I was a mess of confusion and excitement. It’s really hard to digest and understand, but it felt really amazing to know that all of that hard work had gotten somewhere,” Cater said.

Cater is planning to study a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre and English Literature at Victoria University next year. “The ultimate goal is to make it big in the performing arts. I don’t really mind what aspect of the Arts I end up in, as long as I can keep doing it and keep succeeding”

Cater, along with fellow Year 13 student, Ashley Taylor, has been selected for the National Schools Shakespeare production in October. The pair will get to travel together and put on a 45-minute Shakespeare performance with a professional director at Otago University. “To have two students selected from one scene is almost unheard of,” said Kuranui’s Head of Performing Arts, Juanita McLellan. 

Cater and Taylor will have a further opportunity to be selected to perform with the Young Shakespeare Company at London’s Globe Theatre. If they get selected, the students will learn about movement, voice, history and Shakespeare’s plays, along with a three-day visit with the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-Upon-Avon. The whole trip culminates with a free night performance on the Globe stage.

They aim to join a growing list of Kuranui students, who have been selected for the experience over the last five years, including AJ Southey, Tommy Laybourn and Civic Cruz.

Photo credit: Year 13 student Anita Lark

The fourth award went to Year 13 student, Anita Lark, for Outstanding Student Photography. Her images of ‘King John’ will be used for the posters and programmes currently being designed by Otago University for the festival performances taking place in October.

McLellan spent all of the summer holidays preparing the script for the performance, but credited the students and wider Kuranui community for their resilience after what was a stressful lockdown period, with the additional challenge of having to video the performance, instead of acting in front of a live audience.

“We started rehearsing ‘King John’ at the beginning of the year. We thought we were on track and then Covid happened, which was a bit of a setback, but once we came back to school, we were right on to it,” explained Florence.

For the second year running, Kuranui College also presented the largest cast of the competition, originally about 50, but reduced to 40 because of restrictions, which presented a few challenges given the switch to a virtual presentation.

“Keeping everyone in frame was a challenge with the cinematography, because on a big stage you can move pretty freely. We had to squeeze in the whole cast, which changed the whole direction on the morning of the filming,” said Cater.

“We had ten parents in the audience, which was quite a treat because it was the first day of alert Level 1, and that was the first day the cast were actually allowed to touch someone else on stage.

“We thought we were going to be performing on the Wairarapa College stage which is massive, and then the Michael Fowler Centre if we got through to the nationals, but we had to reduce the size for the video.”

The pressures of lockdown and changes enforced by being unable to perform live gave students the opportunity to learn more about the filming process and how it can change the structure and effect of a performance.

“Most schools have just seniors, and no more than 4-5 actors. It was a massive group effort to even complete the scene. It’s the toughest play Shakespeare wrote, and we nailed it in the performance,” added McLellan.

“I’m so very proud of this year’s cast, who have been champions since day one, having to deal with the toughest play in the toughest year.”

The main cast included Florence Cater, Jackson Harbers, Ashley Taylor, EJ Buckham, Jayden Grey, James Morland, Khalid Greaves, Jasmine Loveday, Charlie O'Connell, Isabella Walker, Jorja Holden and Joseph Laybourn.

Credit also goes to Mary Phillips and Mr Greaves who helped prepare the costumes, makeup, special effects and props for the performance that were instrumental in the success of the performance.

Photo credit: Year 13 student Anita Lark

Written by Year 13 student Amelia O'Connell. Added: Friday 07 August 2020