Pauline Ward

Meet Pauline, one of our Theatre students currently working towards her Bachelor of Arts.

Pauline has a very wide range of interests so has always found it challenging to choose between subjects at university. On the other hand, she has always found excitement and innovation at the crossroads between academic fields. Fortunately for her, her Bachelor of Arts at Victoria University of Wellington allows her ample flexibility to explore and reinvent her worldview from many academic angles. Her psychology major has given her a great respect for the mysteries of the natural world, and the scientific method’s ability to reveal possibilities previously considered too ambiguous to be investigated. In contrast, her theatre major has not only allowed her to stretch and build her creative muscles, but to challenge her identity and grow herself as a collaborator. Lastly, her minor in French gives her tongue and global awareness cutting-edge sharpness.

However, as Pauline nears the end of her degree, she has begun to see more and more similarities between these fields. Her current directing project in theatre, for example, is an excerpt of Helen Varley Jamieson’s “Phone Jam”, a piece that explores communication and isolation, and whose truth urges the audience to listen to those with mental illnesses. Next year, Pauline hopes to continue this synthesis of her passions into postgraduate study. She is particularly inspired by the collaborative process of devised theatre, and how it could be used to give agency to cultural groups exploring their ideas about mental illness. Furthermore, she is fascinated by the art of conversation analysis in psychology, and is excited about the expertise a theatre-maker could bring to the growing methodology. It is thanks to the flexibility of Victoria’s Bachelor of Arts programme that she has fashioned her own unique fingerprint to adorn the shoulders of academic giants.

_{Photo credit: Rachel Pugh Photographer}