Whangarei Girls' High School is opening its new Hall Theatre in dramatic fettle with a production of William Shakespeare's comedy, A Midsummer Night's Dream.
The school's old hall has been transformed into a state of the art, flexible 163-seat theatre venue with a stage big enough to handle large cast productions, which is increasingly necessary with the popularity of drama at the school.
"The space is a director's dream," director and department head William Walker said.
Late in 2011, when Shakespeare had been removed from the compulsory schools' curriculum, the heads of the drama departments at Whangarei Girls' and Whangarei Boys' High Schools conferred and decided they would both produce Shakespeare as their major graduation productions in 2012.
Girls' High is staging A Midsummer Night's Dream with a cast of 30, including students from Boys' High and Boys' High will follow a fortnight later with a production of The Tempest.