Shakespeare's characters descend on Stratford-upon-Patea for festival

The be-all and end-all of the Bard is on show at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in Taranaki this month.

Back for the first time in a decade, the event boasts performances from luminaries such as Michael Hurst, features drive-in movies, and culminates in Baldrick's Big Day Out.

Stratford Shakespeare Trust secretary Jo Stallard said the town had an association with the Bard since 1877, when William Crompton of the Taranaki Waste Lands Board had the bright idea to name it after the birthplace of William Shakespeare.

"He decided we should name it after Stratford because it has a river running through it. So, Stratford-upon-Avon translated to Stratford on Patea.

"So, we were named Stratford-upon-Patea and all councils following have continued that by naming all the streets in Stratford - including new subdivisions by the names from Shakespeare's characters or Shakespeare's plays."

When RNZ visited, the best talent from Taranaki's high schools had converged on Kings Theatre for the Sheilah Winn competition's regional finals.

Stallard had donned full Elizabethan costume to MC the event.

"We'll see little excerpts probably from Macbeth. Macbeth is a really popular one, we get a lot of witches from Macbeth.

"Much Ado [About Nothing] ... Beatrice and Benedict that love dynamic going on. We get quite a lot of A Midsummer Night's Dream because we get lots of fairies Oberon and Titania doing those sorts of things, so we get this fabulous mix of very different plays."

Stallard said Shakespeare's work was timeless.

"I think those stories endure, you know, lost love, mistaken identity, hardship, grief, all those things that are inherent to our humanity, Shakespeare discusses and discovers and reminds us of."

Gabriel Luis Catillan Gerente was performing the Francis Douglas Memorial College troupe's reworking of Macbeth.

"A big thing we are trying to push in the college is being more involved in the arts and culture scene, so being like able to bring the youth to share their talent and skills because it's not just about sports and the standard things.

"It's also about getting those people who are good at speaking, good at drama to be able to get that opportunity."

He fancied the boys' chances.

"It would probably be like maybe the resonance in our voice, being able to deliver in a deeper tone, get those really growly tones in there. Get all aggressive.

"And disadvantages, may be some of the boys will get nervous around all of the girls."

Ella Butterworth of Sacred Heart College was a Shakespeare fan through and through.

"I love writing and I love reading and I think that the messages and the way he's written certain ideas about love or death is so cleverly written that even though it was written years ago, it's still so relevant and so cleverly done that it can still relate to today's audiences.

"So, I just love it, I think it's great."

She reckoned Sacred Heart had the boys' measure.

"I think we're going to be pretty good. I think we've got the emotional capacity to do various things, whereas although I think the boys will also be great, I think we have a good shot with projection and sending our voices out and doing a really impactful performance."

Heather Ashton - who taught at Sacred Heart - said her students could not have better material to work with.

"It's just such good writing. He's just timeless, the themes that he covers they are relevant today still and his work is dramatic.

"It gives us so much to play with in the classroom. He's got those bits of humour and there's action. It's good writing in the first place from a drama teacher's perspective."

The Stratford Shakespeare Festival runs until 15 April.

Can't make it?

Shakespeare never sleeps in Stratford - scenes from Romeo and Juliet are played out by wooden figures in the town's glockenspiel clock tower four times a day.