Students experience a playful, Polynesian-inspired performance of Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing
Posted on February 26, 2020
On Thursday 20 February, Year 10 students from the Macleans College Extension Programme travelled to the Pop-Up Globe in Ellerslie for a day of Shakespearian theatre.
The play was part of the Pop-Up Globe's Summer Season of Love and it was a playful, exuberant, Polynesian-tinged romp that kept students enthralled and engaged throughout.
The matinee audience, consisting of students from all over Auckland, were treated to festive performances from the company’s cast. The script, filled with a range of comedic layers, wit and intellectual banter, was supported by high energy professional acting, music and dance. The director, Miriama McDowell, ingeniously adapted the play to reflect elements of Aotearoa and the South Pacific making this classic text and its archetypes a timeless narrative; relevant to modern audiences in Aotearoa.
The Pop-Up Globe has become an institution in New Zealand and Australia, with an authentic stage structure based on the original Globe theatre in London that enables modern audiences to viscerally engage with Elizabethan and Jacobean drama.
The Macleans College students felt privileged to have had this experience as Auckland City bids farewell to the Pop-Up Globe before it packs up and takes its theatre and shows on the road.
The students are grateful to the Extension Studies Team, in particular Mrs Errington, who organised the trip and the English Teachers, Mrs Hunt and Mrs Bowie, who accompanied the students on the day.
“Some Cupid kills with arrows, some with traps.”
Hero (act 3, scene 1) - Much Ado About Nothing
