Dramatic chance for Globe-trotters

By REBECCA WALSH

The chance to perform at London's Globe Theatre at midnight will be the highlight of a Shakespeare drama-fest for three Auckland secondary school students.

Western Springs College seventh formers Madeleine Hyland and Rachael Dyson-McGregor, and Epsom Girls' Grammar sixth former Jaime Munro are among 16 students chosen to travel as New Zealand's Young Shakespeare Company to England in July next year.

Seventeen-year-old Jaime said it was an awesome privilege.

"I only want to be an actor in theatre. I don't want to compromise my passion."

Madeleine Hyland, also 17, said Shakespeare's work was accessible and the themes were universal and everlasting.

The students will work on excerpts from some of the Bard's plays, meet actors and directors from the Globe and finally get to stage their own performance - at midnight - to fit in with the theatre's schedule.

Dawn Sanders, founder and executive director of the Shakespeare Globe Centre New Zealand, said being selected for the trip was a "real door-opener" for some of the country's most promising actors.

The students had to prove themselves in the Sheilah Winn Festival of Shakespeare in Schools competition at a regional and then a national level.

Rachael Dyson-McGregor said it was only this year that she had begun to feel confident acting.

"I just like the buzz you get. It just tingles."

Each student has to raise $6250.