Sophie Baron with her winning performance as Othello thoroughly enjoyed her sojourn in Wellington. Sophie, as well as all the other winners and regional representatives across the country, got to travel up to Wellington for five days.

Within these five days, two of them were dedicated to workshops with the other three being days devoted to the Bard.

One of the workshops was about how to blend Shakespeare’s very complex language with your own, in a way that could successfully relate to people. The other workshop was about listening and its importance. Sophie described it as being “pretty much a life lesson workshop". The other three days were spent watching everyone’s Shakespeare performances, with Sophie saying she “picked up some incredible directing skills” after watching. Sophie really enjoyed the experience, saying, “my perspective of Shakespeare has really changed and I appreciate it so much more.” Overall the trip was absolutely incredible and Sophie has benefited greatly from it.