Tai Tōkerau Sheilah Winn Shakespeare Festival award recipient vying for international stage

Ella Petersen plays Stephano (left) and Keira Brassett plays Caliban during a practice at Kaitāia College.

Kaitāia College student Keira Brassett won the Most Outstanding Performer award at the Tai Tōkerau Sheilah Winn Shakespeare Festival last Thursday at Whangārei Boys’ High School.

Her award includes entry to the National Shakespeare Schools Production in Dunedin in September, and the Far North performer is hoping the win will be her golden ticket to Shakespeare’s Globe in London.

Of the students who attend the Dunedin production, 24 will be selected to travel to the famed stage.

“I really want this opportunity, and I want to show that I can earn it,” Brassett said.

Her portrayal of half-human, half-monster Caliban and her interaction with fellow cast members earned praise from the judges.

Brassett hoped her character’s beaten-down but cunning personality shone through in body language such as twitchy movements and avoidance of eye contact.

The Kaitāia College student only recently started drama classes, having been encouraged by her teacher after her skill was evident during a workshop open to the whole school.

Within two weeks, Brassett was taking on a main role in time for the festival and had just a few days to prepare and remember her lines.

Kaitāia College was one of nine Northland groups that converged on Whangārei Boys’ High School last week in a bid to hone their performance art skills and put their names on the highly contested competition map.

Twenty-five-minute and 15-minute excerpts from the bard’s plays featured at the festival.

Brassett said she was impressed by Whangārei Boys’ High School’s state-of-the-art auditorium and felt lucky to perform there, whether or not she won an award.

“It was amazing to look at such a huge stage, from the Far North we only have a drama classroom.”

Brassett said she was not expecting the award and when her name was called, it took a moment to process her achievement.

“All of it just culminated to a great night,” she said.

After graduating from secondary school, she is hoping to pursue tertiary study at the University of Otago and said the competition was a step in that direction.

While Brassett’s performance earned her direct entry to the National Shakespeare Schools Production in Dunedin, other students will be heading to Wellington to compete at a national level.

Whangarei Girls’ High School’s interpretation of Julius Caesar won them the Most Tragic Scene award, and the Most Humorous award went to Huanui College’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Those two groups will travel to Wellington to perform at the SGCNZ University of Otago Sheilah Winn National Shakespeare Festival in May.

Brodie Stone is an education and general news reporter at the Advocate. Brodie has spent most of her life in Whangārei and is passionate about delving into issues that matter to Northlanders and beyond.