The irony of an all-girl secondary school winning a Shakespearean play competition has not been lost on drama pupils at Dunedin's Columba College.
In Shakespearean times, all the actors were male - even those playing female characters.
So when the girls won the Otago Regional Shakespeare Festival in Dunedin recently, there was a sense of double achievement.
Not only did they win the teacher-directed category and the pupil-directed category, they qualified to compete at the 2013 New Zealand University of Otago Sheilah Winn Shakespeare Festival in Wellington this month - all because they have developed an ability to act as both male and female characters.
In fact, some of the girls had been relishing the opportunity to act more manly, drama pupil Adelaide Dunn said.
''Some of us have had to learn to take on more male mannerisms to make the male characters more believable.
''It's funny to watch.''
The pupils won the five-minute pupil-directed category with their performance of Midsummer Night's Dream (act 1, scene 1 and act 3, scene 2) for the second year in a row, both of which were directed by Elizabeth Wells (16).
They also won the 15-minute teacher-directed category with their performance of Richard III (act 1, scene 2), which was directed by Columba College drama teacher Erina Caradus.
During the festival, the girls will have an opportunity to be selected to attend the National Schools' Shakespeare Production Week in June.
Logan Park High School drama pupil Matthew Scadden (17) has already received automatic entry to the event after winning the award for best actor in a non-winning scene at the Otago Festival.
At the production week, the top 24 Shakespearean drama pupils from around New Zealand will be selected to perform at the Globe Theatre in London.
