A group of 19 Tauranga Boys’ College drama students are heading to Wellington in June to perform their 15-minute take of two scenes from The Taming of the Shrew after it won the Bay of Plenty’s 2025 regional Shakespeare festival.

Moreover, the SGCNZ Victoria University of Wellington BOP Regional Shakespeare Festival title win came via student director Saul Keen, Year 13.

Saul began reading scripts and scenes in December “to figure out what we could pull off and could fit as many gasps and laughs into in 15 minutes”.

In front of the telly with his nan watching a dating show, the idea sprung to marry a scene from The Bachelorette TV show to two scenes from William Shakespeare’s comedy The Taming of the Shrew.

“In The Bachelorette there’s a rose-giving ceremony – and in act two, scene one we had all our male leads lined up on stage, we had a Director character, and we had Katharina who was making a final decision on who she would marry. Petruchio steps forward and says he should be picked and Katharina should marry him – and she agrees.

“Then we do an intensely quick scene change where all characters run off stage and back around the curtains into the wedding scene – set on act three, scene two where we do a double entendre – with one of the final lines: ‘You’ll be married on Sunday with rings and fine array’, but Petruchio doesn’t show up to the wedding, leaving Katharina stranded at the altar…”, said Saul.

Once he got the green light from drama teacher Brendon Weatherley, Saul had to get buy-in from fellow students.

Persuading

“When they first heard of it, it was a little uneasy because when you first read a Shakespeare script and don’t know anything about it, you do think what’s actually happening here ... so it took a lot of persuading.”

Spencer Laery, Saul Keen and Finn Toner Spencer Laery, Saul Keen and Finn Toner all played pivotal roles in the Tauranga Boys’ College’s drama group’s win at BOP’s 2025 Regional Shakespeare Festival. Photo / Brydie Thompson

But Saul’s suggestion that friend Riley Hudson, “a bodybuilder of sorts”, play Katharina in a wedding dress got it over the line – “and it came out really well”.

Weatherley, head of drama at TBC, could not be more proud of the boys after their efforts, particularly Saul, with a student-directed piece rarely winning this section. “He put a huge number of hours into editing together the final script, finding set pieces, props and costumes.”

It had been about eight years since TBC won at the regional competition, Weatherley said.

“The boys rehearsed regularly around their numerous other commitments and did a fantastic job of learning lines and creating their characters,” he said.

“The crowd were in fits of laughter, particularly enjoying Year 13 Finn Toner as Petruchio and Riley Hudson as Katharina and a stunning turn from Year 10 Gem Gamble as Biondello during the April 2 show.

“From here the boys perform the same piece at the Super 8 Cultural Festival – against eight boys’ schools – in Rotorua on May 15-16 in the drama category, then at the 2025 SGCNZ National Shakespeare Festival in Wellington at King’s Birthday weekend, vying for national honours.”

Enjoy it

Weatherley hoped some would be selected for the Young Shakespeare Company, which heads to London to perform at the Globe Theatre.

Saul said his focus for the trip was for everyone to perform the best they could “and that we enjoy it”.

“It’s an experience we haven’t had in quite some time – so I want to make sure we’re ready for it and we enjoy it to the fullest because we’ve got a lot of Year 9-10s new to TBC and when I’m at uni next year, I want to ensure students are still interested in doing this type of extracurricular.”

Also heading to 2025’s SGCNZ National Shakespeare Festival in Wellington at King’s Birthday Weekend is a group of Mount Maunganui College drama students, whose scene from ‘Julius Caesar’ Act III won the BOP regional competition’s five-minute category.

Katikati College Year 13 student Hannay Gourley also heads to Wellington from September 20-28 after being selected as the direct entry to 2025’s SGCNZ National Shakespeare Schools Production from the BOP competition. She will join 47 students chosen from across Aotearoa for the nine-day course.