Promising actors from Queen Margaret University to perform at Shakespeare’s Globe
Two promising actors from Queen Margaret University have been selected to perform at Shakespeare's Globe in London, as part of the fifth annual Sam Wanamaker Festival on Sunday 21 March.
Laura Szalecki and James Murfitt, second-year students on the Acting and Performance course, will perform a scene from Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream in front of an audience of casting agents, artistic directors, friends, family and the general public alongside other students from 22 of the UK’s leading drama schools.
Laura Szalecki said “I am thrilled about being chosen to take part in this year’s Sam Wanamaker Festival at Shakespeare’s Globe. I am excited to be playing the part of Helena in A Midsummer Night’s Dream because she is considered to be a very vulnerable, sensitive and obsessive character which is different to roles that I have been previously played. We have also chosen a very comic scene which I hope will go down well with the Globe audience. It is a challenge I am looking forward to conquering, and a privilege as an actor in training to be given”.
The Festival will include 22 pairs of students performing a mix of comic, tragic, historical, and pastoral duologues, and will end in time-honoured Globe fashion with the actors performing a specially choreographed jig, accompanied by Shakespeare’s Globe musicians.
James Murfitt added "Laura and I auditioned at Queen Margaret's for the opportunity to perform at the Globe. I am excited to be playing the part of the headstrong lover Demetrius in one of Shakespeare's most beloved comedies. Shakespeare's original Globe may have burnt down in 1613 but the spirit of his works remain - they still continue to move, to entertain and to inspire - and to get the opportunity to perform a small portion of these works at the place where it all started is nothing short of an honour”.
The pair will also take part in a weekend of classes, lectures and workshops at the Globe, exploring language, movement and voice with the Theatre’s practitioners, as well participating in a Q&A session with the Artistic Director, Dominic Dromgoole. The Festival culminates in the public performance of duologues from plays by Shakespeare and his contemporaries, including Webster, Dekker, Fletcher, Ford and Middleton.
The Sam Wanamaker Festival is inspired by the Globe’s founder, the actor Sam Wanamaker, who worked tirelessly for the last 23 years of his life to rebuild Shakespeare's Globe on the banks of the River Thames in London.
Previous participants of the Sam Wanamaker Festival include Thomasin Rand, who starred as Rosaline in the Globe’s 2009 production of Love’s Labour’s Lost, and Rachel Winters, who is about to appear in Globe Education’s upcoming production of Macbeth for schools.
Patrick Spottiswoode, Director of Globe Education, said “The Festival celebrates the remarkable talent that is being nurtured in our drama schools. There will be no Simon Cowell or panel of judges in the audience – there will be a spirit of celebration rather than competition”.
Listings information
The Sam Wanamaker Festival 2010
Venue: Shakespeare’s Globe
Date: Sunday 21 March, 2010 Time: 4pm
Tickets: £10 seating, £5 standing
Box Office: 020 7401 9919 or www.shakespeares-globe.org
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