Head boy's big acting break will be at Globe

Wairarapa College head boy Ryan Cundy has won national selection to attend a workshop at Shakespeare's Globe in London next year.

The Year 13 pupil and head girl Cara Butcher earlier this year performed at the Sheilah Winn National Festival in Wellington a five-minute scene he had adapted from Romeo and Juliet.

Ryan was selected to attend the Shakespeare Globe Centre New Zealand 2012 National Shakespeare Schools Production in Auckland last month and was selected as one of 24 students for the Young Shakespeare Company.

Ryan yesterday said he was excited to have won selection for the three-week workshop, which will run throughout July next year and include a performance at The Globe and a tour of Shakespeare's home in Stratford.

"I'm into any sort of acting really and I do like more modern playwrights as well, but Shakespeare is one of the greats."

Ryan said he first trod the boards as a 6-year-old and had participated in numerous plays and musical productions at college. He plans to study law at Victoria University next year and for a BA, majoring in classical studies and philosophy, he said, as "theatre is a very exclusive field".

"But I will be joining theatre groups over there all the same and if the opportunity comes up, I will take it with both hands. It's something I just love doing."