Until she left school 19-year-old Rhianna Crawford had never read, let alone seen a Shakespearean play: But the famous Bard's work could ultimately take her to Hollywood.
A Unitec graduate in costume design, Crawford has impressed some of the most important people in local theatrical circles after a stint at Auckland's Pop Up Globe - all the while still studying.
The world's first full-scale temporary working replica of the theatre Shakespeare built and opened in 1614, the Pop Up Globe has thrilled audiences of well over 200,000 people in its three Auckland seasons - and Crawford has played a part in this success.
Offered a role during the theatre's second season, she has gone on to be a regular and is hoping it can be a stepping stone to bigger things - not dismissing the idea of one day making it to Hollywood.
"Yes, I would love to ultimately work in the big film studios," she says. "Getting the chance to work at the Pop Up Globe was fantastic because I could continue to learn, but at the same time start on the trajectory of building my career."
Crawford, who has graduated from Unitec with a bachelor degree in performing and screen arts, is from Rotorua where she attended Rotorua Lakes High School.
"Even at school I'd never read a Shakespearean play; that didn't happen until I got to Unitec and my first experience of seeing one on stage, I thought was hilarious, it must have been a comedy."
Chantelle Gerrard, who is in charge of costume at the Pop Up Globe and has worked with NZ Opera productions and Game of Thrones, immediately spotted Crawford's strengths.
"She's very dedicated, gets on well with people and is hard working," she says. "Her construction is beautiful and she's flexible between design and creation; most importantly she was willing to learn. You don't have to know everything, but if you know your craft, you learn with every production.
"She has great all-round capability and the opportunity to branch out in any direction - film, television, fashion - and work anywhere in the world."
Crawford said she was a little daunted when making the transition from Unitec productions to the Pop Up Globe.
"But the course I did was created for costume design. It is very hands on and tries to recreate a real workroom scenario," she says. "It makes for a very easy stepping stone.
"I think studying at Unitec gives you the confidence to attack any project, in my case from designer to seamstress, because you know you have the craft and the knowledge of how to do things in the real world."
At the beginning Crawford opted for study in graphic design but halfway through her course at Massey University she realised what she really wanted to do was costume design and so enrolled at Unitec.
It was while she was working on Unitec's own production of Shakespeare's Anthony and Cleopatra in 2015 that she caught the eye of another key player in the theatrical world, Vanessa Byrnes. A former teacher at the New Zealand Drama School and director at Shakespeare's Globe in London, these days she not only runs her own production company but is head of creative industries at Unitec.
Byrnes was invited by Unitec to direct the Anthony and Cleopatra production and was immediately impressed with Crawford's designs.
"Although I was impressed with all the cast and crew, with Rhianna I got a sense of her integrity and dedication," she says. "She also had a clear sense of her discipline and craft and showed a great ability to work well with others, to collaborate."
But Byrnes says it is the power of Crawford's imagination - and her ability to realise that in actual costumes - she believes is setting her on course for the future.
"One of the key themes of Anthony and Cleopatra is the opposites we meet in life; east and west, male and female, restriction and freedom and of course, Egypt and Rome.
"Part of our interpretation was exploring the predominant animals of each civilization and their characters; the crocodile of the Nile and the wolf that suckled Romulus and Remus. Crawford's design incorporated fur on the Romans costumes and a subtle reptilian pattern on the Egyptians.
"It looked amazing, but also helped portray the essential dichotomy of the play," says Byrnes.
All this was going on around the time Auckland's Pop Up Globe was being established and, when organisers heard about Byrne's Unitec production, they invited her to bring it along to their venue at the Ellerslie Racecourse.
Not all the cast and crew could make it, but Crawford was one who did. It may prove to be one of the most important steps she has ever taken in her life.
Although she has nothing yet in the pipeline for work internationally, for now Crawford is happy gaining experience in Auckland. She is back at Unitec as an employee, having been contracted as wardrobe manager, looking after the costumes, tutoring students and helping them with research.
As Prince Hamlet says in Shakepeare's Hamlet: "To be or not to be, that is the question…." At this stage of her life, for Crawford, it seems the answer is "to be".
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