Two Cambridge High School students are preparing for the trip of a lifetime to London’s Globe Theatre, after being invited to join a young Shakespeare company.
Cambridge HS Shakespeare winners Evelyn Winter and Aspen Gooch, with Cambridge High School drama teacher Angela Walsh
Aspen Gooch and Evelyn Winter, both 17 and in Year 12, are among 24 students selected by the Shakespeare Globe Centre New Zealand to join its Young Shakespeare Company, which travels to the United Kingdom in July next year.
Their selection follows a gruelling year of rehearsals under the guidance of Shakespeare specialist Kimmy Hall and drama teacher Angela Walsh at Cambridge High School.
Both girls board in Cambridge during the week to attend the high school – Aspen lives in Raglan and Evelyn in Putāruru.
“I’m like a little stray cat at people’s houses,” said Aspen about her boarding arrangements.
Cambridge HS Shakespeare winners Evelyn Winter, left, and Aspen Gooch
They describe the arts curriculum, sporting facilities and teachers as the reason they attend Cambridge High School.
Aspen is an American from Colorado who emigrated to New Zealand five years ago and had never heard of William Shakespeare before that.
“I never did drama in America at all,” she said. “My mum’s always loved literature and Shakespeare so she introduced me to it here. I did a wee bit in Year 10 and now I have a passion for it.”
Evelyn knew about the British playwright but had no interest at all – “I hated Shakespeare stuff actually” – until her friend, who was going to an audition for the Shakespeare Festival, fell ill and encouraged her to go instead.
“So, I was like, okay I’ll just give it a go.”
Given a leading role, Evelyn excelled and teamed up with Aspen to do a 15-minute Othello scene as a comedy on a film set.
“She played a really bad actor and I was the weird boom microphone operator and everyone thought ‘whoa they’re really bad’ and then a bell went and a director came out and it became apparent to the audience that it’s a film within a play,” said Aspen.
Cambridge HS Shakespeare winners Evelyn Winter, left, and Aspen Gooch rehearse in one of Cambridge High School’s performance rooms. Photo: Mary Anne Gill
“It was so much fun,” said Evelyn. “Basically, it was just the story of a bad actor who switches with the weird person who turns out to be a good actor.”
Their journey to London – including visits to the Globe, Rose and National theatres, and the Royal Albert Hall – began at the Waikato regional Shakespeare competitions in Term One.
They and fellow drama student Summer De Gouviea-Rennie were invited to attend a week-long intensive workshop and performance of three Shakespearian plays at the National Schools Shakespeare Production in Wellington last month.
They thought their chance of selection was gone when they co-directed and performed a scene from Taming of the Shrew that aimed to raise awareness about sexual assault.
“People loved it, but the judges said it was too out there. It was not appropriate enough,” said Evelyn.
Hearing their names called out at the end of the week with students from Christchurch, Tauranga, Auckland, Palmerston North, Whangārei, Katikati, Blenheim, Gisborne, Feilding, Rotorua, Greytown and Dunedin was an amazing experience.
Their favourite Shakespeare play is The Tempest with its quote:
“We are such stuff as dreams are made on,” spoken by Prospero.
The dream starts now to fundraise for the trip which includes sessions with actors and directors, attendances at performances in theatres – including the most prestigious at the world renowned Globe Theatre on the south bank of the River Thames. The original theatre was built in 1599 and was where William Shakespeare’s fame became legendary.
Cambridge HS Shakespeare winners Evelyn Winter, left, and Aspen Gooch
Both girls are keen to attend Toi Whakaari – a drama school in Wellington which teaches acting, design and stage production – when they complete secondary school next year.
Aspen plays in the goal for the school’s hockey team and Evelyn is into dance and music – she plays trumpet and guitar in several bands and writes her own songs and recently performed at the Sydney Opera House in Australia.
She has another overseas trip next year with She Shines On – an organisation which offers dance tours for young performers to entertain at Disneyland in Los Angeles.
Aspen, who has a distinctive birth mark on the lower left side of her face which she celebrates as something which makes her “different” and “special”, has a motto: “No one normal ever did anything great in this world.”
“Some people just try to hide what’s different about them and act normal,” said Evelyn.
Not these two.
Cambridge HS Shakespeare winners Evelyn Winter, left, and Aspen Gooch
