Fantastic moments to remember and be proud of.

Over Queen's Birthday weekend, the Drama Shakespeare Group of ten students and two teachers flew up to Wellington to present our 15-minute excerpt from 'Hamlet' at the SGCNZ University of Otago Sheilah Winn National Shakespeare Festival. 

This was a five-day trip filled with adventure and intrigue!

Awesome moments included:

• seeing two amazing shows, 'Too Much Hair' at Bats Theatre and 'Rope' at Gryphon Theatre
• attending awesome Acting Workshops at Wellington East Girls' College on Friday morning
• getting to explore Wellington and go shopping
• making awesome new friends with students from other schools across Aotearoa
  
• rehearsing our adjusted scene at a park on the Wellington waterfront on Saturday afternoon
• the thrill of performing in the Michael Fowler Centre to a crowd of about 800, and the amazing response afterwards. There was even a rumour the cast let a teacher perform as the missing fourth chorus member!

Not-so-awesome moments included:

• turning up at the hostel, only to find there were no plates, cups, cutlery, or towels!
• walking 35 mins across the city to Toi Whakaari: NZ Drama School through the rain, only to be told there was no powhiri or guided tour, and having to walk back again another 35 mins in the rain
• having to send one poor cast member home early because of a Covid scare - we were so sorry to miss him!
• one cast member getting a nose bleed on stage, during his monologue... and then having to change into an all-white costume before coming on again!

This year, the judges didn't warm to our scene, although the audience and collegial response was overwhelmingly positive. The team performed incredibly, and no one would have guessed there was a missing cast member on the day, not to mention the other hiccups. 

Big props to Cullan Rolton for stepping up to fill the vacancy, and congratulations to the entire cast and Dr. Wyvill on a superb trip. 

We all arrived back in Dunedin on Monday (Queen's Birthday) feeling exhausted and elated, looking forward to taking on the challenge again next year.