Budding young performers from across Perth’s south-east have taken to the stage to perform monologues from Shakespeare’s works as part of the annual Canning Shakespeare competition.
Twelve students competed in the final round at the Mandurah Performing Arts Centre, including Mundijong student Charlotte Ismay from Court Grammar School, performing a range of different characters.
The performances were judged by industry professionals, including Western Australia Performing Arts Academy senior lecturer Glenda Linscott, Speech and Drama Association of Western Australia president Deb Mitchell and ECU/WAAPA Vice Chancellor’s Shakespeare Award winner Morgan Dukes.
Member for Canning Andrew Hastie, who opened the competition with a monologue performance of Hamlet, said he was proud of all of the contestants who had had the courage to enter the competition and have a go.
“They committed to learning a monologue and performing it onstage – that’s not an easy thing for anyone to do, but a valuable learning experience,” he said.
“I was really pleased to see the talent and enthusiasm on display.”
“There were some very talented performances, which made it quite difficult to decide on a winner.”
The annual competition, hosted by Mr Hastie, provides high school students an opportunity to gain public speaking and theatrical performance experience, meet creative industry experts and engage with the works of Shakespeare.
