Midsummer Night Triumph at Sheilah Winn
Such was the genius
of the 15-minute St Andrew’s College entry in the recent Canterbury finals of
the Otago University Sheilah Winn Shakespeare Festival, that its running time
extended to a full 23 minutes to accommodate audience laughter and applause!
Not surprisingly the entry – an extract from A Midsummer Night’s Dream – won the overall Canterbury competition, as well as a slew of awards for its cast, and then went on to even greater things at the national finals held in Wellington during Queen’s Birthday Weekend. Our five-minute entry – an extract from Macbeth – also won awards in the Canterbury competition for its director Mingji Liu and lead actor Nick Clitheroe.
Superstars of the St Andrew’s stage, Paddy Carroll and Jonathan Price, directed and starred in the triumphant extract from A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Paddy played Quince (Prologue) and Jonathan starred as Bottom (Pyramus). Supporting cast members were Harry Evans as Flute (Thisbe), James Hart as Snug (Lion), Richard Hitchings as Snout (Wall) and Will Robertson as Starveling (Moonshine).
In the Canterbury finals, Paddy and Jonathan both received Excellence in Acting awards, Richard received the Magic Moments award for his portrayal of Wall, and the troupe as a whole won the Comic Delivery award and the overall Canterbury title.
The accolades kept coming at the national finals in Wellington. The troupe won the Russell Armitage Award for Outstanding Presentation of a Comedy and the Wellington Shakespeare Society Cup for the Production Showing Best Understanding of the Play. Paddy Carroll scooped the Patrick Smyth Award for Best Connection with the Audience and the Sam Wanamaker Award for the Most Promising Actor. Jonathan Price walked away with the Peter Vere-Jones Award for Outstanding Performer.
“I’m just so proud of the entire troupe,” says St Andrew’s College HOD Drama Julie Drummond. “It was more than just the awards, which were fully deserved, it was the way the audience and judges responded to the performance, the way groups from other schools congratulated our players, and the sheer joy and energy they brought to the stage and during the entire trip away. They represented St Andrew’s wonderfully well.”