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New Performing Arts Building For Rangi Ruru

Thursday 11 June 2015, 12:41PM

By RedPR

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Director of Theatre Arts, Robert Gilbert, in the new Merivale Lane Theatre.
Director of Theatre Arts, Robert Gilbert, in the new Merivale Lane Theatre. Credit: Ali Jones PR and Communications
The Dance Studio in the new Performing Arts Building
The Dance Studio in the new Performing Arts Building Credit: Neil MacBeth Photography

CHRISTCHURCH

126 year old Rangi Ruru Girls’ School will officially open a new Performing Arts Building on June 18th.

The Performing Arts Building is part of Project Blue Sky, a multi-million dollar campus redevelopment which started at Rangi soon after the 2011 February earthquake in Christchurch.   www.rangiruru.school.nz/project-blue-sky

http://community.scoop.co.nz/2014/04/one-of-nzs-oldest-schools-opens-nzs-newest-buildings/

Principal Julie Moor says this is the fourth new building in 18 months, to open at Rangi Ruru.

“Having such a professional well-tuned team means that everyone has got on with what they do best and achieved the very best outcomes for our students and wider school community,” she says. “That’s what happens when a vision is truly understood, shared and worked on by everyone, together,” she says.

On the 19th of June, The Merivale Lane Theatre, within the Performing Arts Building, will host Julius Caesar, the school’s first senior production on site since the September 20120 / February 2011 earthquakes. 

Directed by the school’s Theatre Arts faculty head, Robert Gilbert, Julius Caesar has a cast of 44 girls and explores playground politics in what he describes as a volatile, arresting production of the Bard's most famous discourse on loyalty, tragedy, and power…….. but with a modern twist.

“We have reimagined the setting in 'Roma School for Girls', where Caesar's murder becomes a metaphor for the kind of backstabbing one might find in a modern high school. Shakespeare's themes are starkly and tenderly heightened by the backdrop of a girls' school, with the addition of a live rock band (featuring original music by former X-Factor contenstant Cassie Henderson who is also playing the title role), and the emotional nuances inherent to women playing formidable characters at their most vulnerable,” he says.

In recent years, Rangi Ruru has joined with Christ’s College for a co-production, all of which have sold out and received critical acclaim (Jesus Christ Superstar (2012), Romeo and Juliet (2013), and Cats (2014)).

www.juliuscaesar.school.nz

Note: Three of Rangi Ruru’s stunning new buildings have been nominated in the 2015 Property Council New Zealand annual awards. There are year's 92 nominations in the Property Industry Awards which will be decided at the Vector Arena in Auckland on Friday night. Rangi Ruru Girls' School has been nominated for the Coffey Education and Arts Property Award for their Science Building, the Gibson Centre and the Mana Wahine Building.