Kelly loves Shakespeare – she directs it, teaches it and loves to perform in it. It’s the main theatre piece she looks forward to all year, and loves working with a new professional director for each production. She has taught drama for 6 years at Feilding High School, directed for the Sheila Winn festival for five years and played Adriana in A Comedy of Errors, Lady Montague in Romeo and Juliet and the Widow in All’s Well that Ends Well. She has also performed in numerous MUDS productions and played in Before the Birds and the After Eden Project. She directed Moscow Ticket, the play that won the Manawatu International One Act Playwriting Competition, in the 2010 Festival of New Arts.
Adam Dodd has been involved with Summer Shakespeare for several years including playing Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet and the 2009 production. He’s been in numerous Festivals of New Arts as well as being a leading light in Massey University Drama Society for as long as anyone in MUDS can remember. In 2009 he sang on stage for the first time (at least, loudly enough for people to hear him) in Cabaret, and in 2010 he co-wrote, performed in and directed Worse Things Happen at Sea. He is involved with this year’s production because he wanted to be in this play particularly and wanted to work with Jaime and the Summer Shakespeare troupe one more time before moving … he really thinks we’ll let him move.
As well as studying Shakespeare papers at Massey, Brendan has performed in Othello in Feilding, and a number of productions in Palmerston North, working with Grindhouse Live and the After Eden project and performing in Angie Farrow’s Before the Birds in 2009. Most recently he was seen in the Manawatu Festival of New Arts and as Baroness Simane in Madame De Sade.
He’s looking forward to working with Jaime again, and facing the challenge of Shakespeare.
Our last Adam, Mr Maynard first appeared in Summer Shakespeare way back in 2003 in The Tempest, then disappeared from the Bardic scene until 2010’s Macbeth, which he followed with the role of Adolphus in Worse Things Happen at Sea. He enjoys the challenge of theatre, especially outdoor theatre and is looking forward to being particularly wallish in his role as Snout.
Tom made his summer Shakespeare debut as Banquo in 2010’s Macbeth, before performing as Ludovico in Worse Things Happen at Sea. He loves Shakespeare and believes that his work is a cornerstone of English literature and culture, with timeless themes and enduring appeal, which is why he’s back this year – well, that and the fact he had a lot of fun.
Diesel is involved with Summer Shakespeare because he loves acting and enjoys Elizabethan/Jacobean language – he also thinks that A Midsummer Night’s Dream is Shakespeare’s best play. He has appeared in school productions and other plays here and there, including a role in To the Moon and Back to Earth, also directed by Jaime Dörner, for the Festival of New Arts in 2010.
Sasha has been involved with numerous productions, including a number of Summer Shakespeares around the city in techie roles, but first ventured on stage as a dancer in Cabaret in 2009. Last year she played Margaret in Worse Things Happen at Sea and strutted her stuff in the performance poetry at the Festival of New Arts. She likes Summer Shakespeare and is looking forward to the production.
As well as starring in school plays, Marc has just completed the Drama in Performance paper at Massey where he was in productions of The Caucasian Chalk Circle and Our Country’s Good. He’s getting involved with Summer Shakespeare because he’s very interested in acting in theatre and thinks that everyone should see the play because the experience of art, and particularly Shakespeare, is a powerful one.
