Barbie-inspired Shakespeare wins awards for actor, school
Glenn Ericsson may not be plastic, but he is certainly fantastic playing a beat-up, toddler-maimed Shakespearean Barbie.
The 17-year-old John McGlashan College student recently won the outstanding individual comic role award at the Shakespeare Global Centre New Zealand National Festival, in Wellington, for playing Katherina Minola in McGlashan's production of The Taming of the Shrew.
The school also won the outstanding presentation from a comedy award.
"We did Taming of the Shrew ... but we did it in more of a Barbie style," he said.
"Two of us were like Barbies — the rest were Kens.
"We didn't really change anything from the actual Shakespearean script itself, but our costumes and our set was very heavily inspired by the Barbie movie.
"The way we moved was more like Barbie dolls — it was all very stiff."
He said the movements added to the humour of the play.
While he was delighted with the awards, he said playing a Barbie doll had its cons — particularly the amount of glitter and makeup he had to wear.
It took ages to get off again, and in the case of glitter, some of it stayed stuck to him for days.
John McGlashan College students (from left) Glenn Ericsson, Tim Stevens and Harper Milne perform a scene from their Barbie-inspired adaptation of The Taming of the Shrew. Glenn recently won the outstanding individual comic role award at the Shakespeare Global Centre New Zealand National Festival in Wellington. Photo: Peter McIntosh
"It goes everywhere," he said.
"The rest of the boys seem rather amused by it, to be honest."
Glenn said he had been acting in theatre productions since primary school, but had been taking it far more seriously in recent years.
The thing that attracted him to acting was being able to socialise with people he might not normally talk to.
It was also an opportunity to step out of his comfort zone and be somebody different.
"It's a form of escapism. It takes your mind off the troubles of your day, just by doing something completely different."
He is considering pursuing acting as a career in Wellington, but it was still early days, he said.
Glenn is now hoping to get a date — with destiny.
He hoped his role as Katherina/Barbie would earn him one of 46 places in the National Shakespeare Schools Production later this year.
Of those students, 24 would be chosen to travel to the Globe, in London, and to attend a two-week course in Stratford-upon-Avon.
"Fingers crossed, I get selected."
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