Foundation In Acting

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Course Overview

The National Drama School’s Foundation in Acting course will immerse you in the craft of acting over two eight-week terms.

Working with expert industry teachers, you’ll learn stage and screen acting, exploring how to work within a script’s given circumstances to find a personalised version of each character and bring that character to vivid spontaneous life.  In collaboration with your ensemble, you’ll also develop vocal and movement based skills. 

The Foundation in Acting Course culminates in a public performance in Studio 2, our purpose-built black box theatre.

WINTER 2025    
Term 3 Mon 21 Jul Thu 13 Sep
Term 4 Mon 6 Oct Thu 29 Nov

 

Monday 6pm-9pm  
Thursday 6pm-9pm  
     

The 16-week course fee is $1950

Winter Intake Terms 3 and 4

Entry to the Foundation in Acting Course is by way of digital audition.

Digital Submissions
Please submit a video of your chosen monologue – ideally it would be memorised, however you may refer to the script if necessary. Our Associate Director of Drama will review your video submission and be in contact regarding your result or to request a zoom/in person call back audition.

Course Content

ENROL NOW

Monday Nights: Screen Acting with Cazz Bainbridge

As actors we must let ourselves be seen and work through creative self-consciousness. Cazz will help you find authenticity, empathy and humanness in a role and bring the character to you. Using personalisation, internal landscape and imagery you will learn to create connection and specificity in your work.

Other skills will include basic screen career fundamentals including actor materials, casting, and industry knowledge, how to break down a script and understand the theme and film tone, balancing preparation with ease and presence in performance, building self-taping skills and how to find freedom within the frame.

Monday nights will also bring fun and curiosity to your work with like-minded peers and arm you with essential self-care tools for a sustainable acting career.

Cazz Bainbridge

Thursday Nights:  Stage Acting and Voice with Shaun Goss

Shaun will tap into several techniques to help liberate your imagination and open up your body and voice. You’ll develop confidence in monologue and scene-work and find moment to moment play within yourself and with other actors.

Shaun’s classes in stage acting and voice are influenced by a contemporary understanding of Stanislavski method, Biomechanics of Meyerhold, Eutonia, and Alba emoting method. All of these techniques are design to trigger creative processes within the actor’s body, identifying “habits” and releasing tensions.

In Stage Acting and Voice you will learn script analysis techniques to pay close attention to the clues in the text, and identify clear, high stakes motivation. From here, you will learn how to work within a script’s given circumstances to find an authentic and personalised version of each character and allow spontaneity and believability in each moment.

Shaun Goss