Shakespearean twist to McDonald's drive-through

Reporter Community News

When Covid-19 shook up the format of the Sheilah Winn Shakespeare Festival, three year-13 students from Wellington College used the opportunity to get off the stage and onto location.

Year-13 Wellington College students Logan Forsyth, Joshua Kemp Whimp, and George Parker decided to film a scene from Shakespeare’s Henry IV, Part 1, in a car. The boys were old hands at the competition, having entered every year for the past five years.

The competition was usually done in person, with students performing a scene on a stage. This year, due to Covid-19 bans on gatherings, all submissions were to be made in the video form. The camera had to be static, but the rules didn’t specify it was to be set on-stage. The students threw out their existing scenes, and used the opportunity to stand out by filming in a car in a McDonald's drive-through

For their efforts, the students were awarded the prize for outstanding delivery of the text, and the two actors who showed the strongest and most truthful connection between them. They were also given coveted spots in the SGCNZ 2020 National Shakespeare Schools Production, which teacher Kirsty Hazledine said was “quite an accolade”.