Short Sharp Shakes - A Toi Whakaari Production

Toi Whakaari: NZ Drama School Media Release

What: Short Sharp Shakes - A Toi Whakaari: NZ Drama School Production

When: 24 - 25 October at 7pm (matinee 25 October at 2pm)

Where: Drama Studio One, Te Whaea National Dance & Drama Centre, 11 Hutchison Rd, Newtown

Price: $15 / $10 (bookings ph: +4 389 9056)

Toi Whakaari: NZ Drama School's first year actors are appearing in their first public performance "Short Sharp Shakes" - scenes from Shakespeare - in three performances over Labour Weekend.

Directed by four professional directors - Peter Hambleton, Larry Rew, Tom McCrory and Rachel More, the snippets are hugely varied and look at everything from pre-wedding jitters to funereal seduction, gender confusion to political intrigue, not to mention jealous lovers sparring followed by innocent virgins falling in love.

These Shakespearean scenes are a core part of the first years' work in the school - the aim is to have the actors engage with the 'meat' of acting.

"No text asks as much technically and emotionally as Shakespeare and the compression of feeling and action into verse provides the actor with the greatest challenge. In these snippets Toi Whakaari's training actors are meeting the mountain they are beginning to climb," said Miranda Harcourt, Head of Acting at Toi Whakaari.

Eighteen first year actors will appear in the eight different scenes, including extracts from The Merry Wives of Windsor, Much Ado About Nothing, Richard III, Antony & Cleopatra, The Winter's Tale, Cymbeline, The Tempest and Twelfth Night.

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