Submissions are to Andrew Hastie's Office By 5pm Friday 2 August.

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INTRODUCTION

The Canning Shakespeare Competition provides local students with the opportunity to practice their theatrical skills by performing a monologue of their favourite Shakespearean play. 

Andrew Hastie wants young Australians to experience the power of Shakespeare’s works and appreciate his contribution to the history of the English language.  

COMPETITION AIM

The purpose of the competition is to encourage students to explore work of our most influential poet and playwright. The competition aims to provide students in the Canning electorate with an opportunity to practice their theatrical skills live on-stage and receive feedback from local professionals in performing arts.

ENTRY CRITERIA, GUIDELINES AND SELECTION PROCESS

The competition is open to all students living or enrolled in a high school in the Canning electorate.

Students will be required to submit a video of up to 2.5 minutes of their monologue performance taken from one of Shakespeare’s plays.

The monologue, taken from a play, is spoken by a character. This is an acting competition, so students should consider the dramatic situation that the character is in: why that character is speaking, who they are speaking to, and what they want. The student should convey the inner life of the character and the action of the scene through the use of voice and body.

Round 1 - Video submission

Video submissions must be submitted along with an application form by 5pm Friday 2 August 2019, either via email to [email protected]or by hard copy (DVD or usb) to:

Canning Shakespeare Competition

Office of Andrew Hastie MP

Member for Canning

PO Box 968

MANDURAH WA 6210

In the video submission, prior to performing the monologue, participants must mention their name, age, why you chose the particular Shakespeare piece, and what it means to you. 

Andrew Hastie MP will select the top ten finalists to compete in front of a panel of judges.

Final Competition

Top ten finalists will be notified in writing and will be required to perform the same monologue live on Saturday 31 August 2019 in front of a panel of judges at the Mandurah Performing Arts Centre.

Further information on the final competition will be provided to finalists in writing.

Participants wishing to enter must:

1. Be a year 10, 11 or 12 student studying or living in the Canning electorate.
2. Complete the Canning Shakespeare Competition application form.  
3. Finalists chosen must be available on Saturday 31 August 2019 for the final competition. 

COMPETITION RULES

All participants must adhere to the following rules. 

1. Each student must select, memorize and perform one (1) monologue from a Shakespeare play.
2. Prior to performing the monologue in the video submission, participants must mention their name, age, and a brief description of why they chose the particular Shakespeare piece, and what it means to them.  
3. The monologue must come from one of Shakespeare's 37 plays.
   1. NOTE:  Students can pick any role regardless of their gender (i.e. females can perform male roles, and vice versa)
4. Length of monologue should be no more than 2.5 minutes. Students performing longer monologues will be disqualified.
   1. NOTE: Editing of the piece (i.e. cutting of lines) is allowed, but the piece still needs to make logical sense
5. Students should introduce themselves only by name (not by school).
6. Students should identify their selection before they begin their presentation.
7. Students cannot wear character costumes or use props of any kind (including chairs, jewellery, items of clothing and hair/hair clips). In order to keep the focus on the acting, students should wear neutral clothing (i.e. theatre blacks).
8. For the live performance, students are expected to memorize their pieces. If necessary, however, prompting is allowed. If students require prompting, they must say 'Line.'
9. Prior to the live performance, a photo of the participant must be attached to the script and handed to the panel of judges.

JUDGING CRITERIA

Actors will be judged on their performance, based on the three criteria listed below. All creative choices need to be based on a deep understanding of the story, the language and the situation the character is in. Actors are encouraged to read the play in its entirety and mine the text for clues about their character. They should understand what they are saying, who they are speaking to and why they are speaking. Finally, they should make bold and committed choices in their work.

The three criteria are:

• LANGUAGE: Understanding and use of Shakespeare’s language
• CHARACTERISATION: Verbal, physical and imaginative connection to the character in this situation
• CREATIVE CHOICES: Unique and individual interpretation of the speech

PRIZE DETAILS

First place: $1,000

Second place: $750

Third place: $500

Click to Download Competition Brief and Application Form