Year 12: led her class through
Mrs Fitzsimons
the challenges of short scripted
pieces in Term 1, followed by devised
work that portrayed the experiences
of people caught up in natural and
historical catastrophes. Audiences
witnessed the trauma of the Napier
earthquake as well
as the impact of such disasters as the
Erebus and Tangiwai tragedies. The
class production in Term 3 was a
moving portrayal of The Suffrage, a
multi-media docu-drama that told the
story of the courage and sacrifice
of the women who struggled for the
vote in Britain. Year 12 rounded off
their year with Shakespeare, using a
thrust stage set up in the auditorium
to mimic the feel of the original Globe
Theatre.
Year13:
Mr Brebner’s class delved into PostWar American Realism, explored via
excerpts from Tennessee William’s
classic, The Glass Menagerie. All of
Term 2 was occupied by rehearsals
for the class production of Arthur
Miller’s A View from the Bridge, codirected by student Kaitlin Field.This
immersion in Miller was backed up by
the annual trip to Wellington, where
our students experienced the Circa
production of The Price, as well as a
workshop and tour of Toi Whakaari,
the national drama school.
It was
exciting catching up with two past
HNHS drama students currently at
Toi, Rosie Remmerswaal and
Georgia Dowling.
We also enjoyed their graduate students’ opening night performance of Earthquakes in London. Our thanks go to Arts Co-ordinator, Ms
Carmen Hausler, for her work in organising the
trip and for accompanying us as a co-driver for
this three day event. Our Year 13s completed
their final internal assessment via Flying Solo:
A Night of Devised Monologues, where they
presented their versions of characters both historical and fanciful to an appreciative audience.
Sheila Winn Shakespeare:
Three of our senior students, Kaitlin Field,
Rebecca Hughes and Chavez Farquhar,
contributed a 15 minute student-directed
excerpt from one of the bard’s lesser
known plays, Measure for Measure, to
this year’s festival.
Kaitlin’s direction
was praised by the adjudicators for its
“intelligence and sincerity” and Rebecca
was nominated for a week long intensive
course in Shakespeare in Wellington as
one of the festival’s stand out actresses.
HNHS’s continuing association with
HaBYT (Hawkes Bay Youth Theatre)
was as strong as ever this year, with
seven of our students involved in the
magical production of A Midsummer
Night’s Dream in the Redwoods in
February this year. Two of these
students, Kyle Duligall and Brendon
Tipene, also held lead roles in HaBYT’s
productions of 100 and Wolf Boy, while
Eve Fuller went on to receive acclaim
as Best Supporting Actress and Best
Actr W72BF