Wellington Young Actors Double Bill On The Boards

October 22, 2024

Wellington Young Actors, the Capital’s award-winning youth theatre training company, are set to perform one of Shakespeare’s most famous comedies, Much Ado About Nothing alongside Steben Berkoff’s stage adaption of The Trial, the existential masterpiece by Franz Kafka. Director Deborah Rea has banded together with 30x 12-18 year olds to bring the works to life.

The students come from all over Wellington, including Kapiti, Porirua, Hutt Valley, Tawa, Thorndon, Island Bay and Miramar. While the training company has been running for ten years, producing numerous shows, it is the first time that Wellington Young Actors will be performing at Lower Hutt’s Little Theatre. The students are excited to work with a much larger stage than they have previously performed on.

The Trial tells the story of Josef K., a man arrested and prosecuted by a remote, inaccessible authority, without the nature of his crime revealed to him. Much Ado About Nothing revolves around two two stories of romantic love with their quite different journeys to comedy’s happy ending.

While the two plays are very different in style, they come together in themes. 
“We’ve been calling it our season of Masks and Mirrors. Both of the plays have a focus on using deception, secrets. Our protagonists are caught in a game of tease. The characters are all struggling to find out the truth- what is real? What is a trick? Both plays use the motif of masks to play on the themes.” Deborah Rea, director.

Wellington Young Actors recently were the recipient of the Rangatahi Award for the Future of Excellence at the Wellington Theatre Awards, a prize created specifically for them. Graduating members have gone on to study at drama school, university and have found work as professional actors and filmmakers. Besides acting, they also learn production skills, managing their own fundraising, publicity design and more, preparing them to organise theatre shows of their own in the future.

Much Ado About Nothing and The Trial
Sunday 3rd November, 2024

Lower Hutt Little Theatre - Tickets $15/$20

Book: www.trybooking.com

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