The Queensland Shakespeare Ensemble is excited to announce a new training program for actors who have previously completed the QSE Apprentice Program.

The Advanced Apprenticeship is not a repeat of the Apprentice Program, but an opportunity for actors who can demonstrate that they have benefited from the Apprentice Program and wish to deepen their training as classical actors. The Advanced Apprenticeship is a year-long program comprising QSE’s foundational training, advanced training, participation in creative development, professional development seminars, and close engagement with key production and company roles.

The Advanced Apprenticeship will not run every year. It is being run for the first time in 2023 and will likely be offered every second or third year. The cost of the Advanced Apprenticeship is $1000 (including membership), which includes accommodation and food during the Stradbroke Training Intensive. Payment plans are available. The Advanced Apprentice program is a part-time commitment other than during the intensive training periods outlined below.

The Advanced Apprenticeship will include:

Training

• Stradbroke Island training intensive – a residential training program where you will train alongside core ensemble members and Apprentices for five days. Food and accommodation are provided.

• Speaking Shakespeare in Your Own Voice – a weekend of training using speeches from Shakespeare plays in order to explore bringing your whole self to classical text.

• Linklater Voice training – two weekends of focused voice training for actors facilitated by a Designated Linklater Teacher.

• Advanced Training – eight weekly sessions where you will play with core ensemble members and apprentices.

• Intensive voice and text training– core ensemble and Advanced Apprentices will undertake a month of exploration in voice, body, and text, deepening their practice of Linklater and affiliated methodologies and their own voices. This one-off training intensive is designed particularly to advance the practice of the ensemble’s central artists.

Performance and Creation

• Dare to Share – public sharing of training pieces and methods.

• Creative development of new work (November, 16 hours per week TBA) – core ensemble members and advanced apprentices will explore new and/or unstaged texts, both for potential future production and to broaden and deepen our theatrical practice and horizons. There will be no formal performance of the work, so the process is a rare opportunity to engage in dramatic exploration without logistical production constraints.

Professional development

• Regular specialised professional skill seminars – these could be artistic skills (e.g., stage fighting, clown, auditions, cutting Shakespeare) or theatre-making skills of a more technical or business nature (e.g., CV writing, sales and marketing, contracts, and policies).

• Secondment to a production role or directorial observation – depending on your interests and availability of roles. Secondment could be to a designer, production manager, stage manager, or to the rehearsal floor (director). These will be active secondment roles, not purely observational.

• Participation in monthly company meetings – attended by the core ensemble and optionally by the management committee and apprentices, these meetings are where the daily business of running the ensemble is discussed and decisions are made.

HOW TO APPLY

Applications will be accepted by e-mail only to info@qldshakespeare.org (if electronic submission is not possible, please contact QSE at the same e-mail address well in advance of the deadline to request an alternative).

Make sure that your application includes ALL required documentation, or it cannot be accepted. Each of the following should be a separate document, ideally JPEG for the headshot and PDF for other documents. Applications should include:

  • your headshot (ideally A4 size / high resolution)
  • your acting CV
  • a one-page cover letter, as a separate attachment (ie not in the body of the e-mail) that:
    • clearly states whether you are auditioning for the Core Ensemble, Advanced Apprenticeship or Apprentice Program, and includes contact details; specifically mobile number and an e-mail address
    • indicates if you have a preference for a particular audition time. If you have specific time restrictions for your initial audition on December 3rd or 4th, please make these explicit in the cover-letter, otherwise we cannot guarantee you a specific time.
    • details what aspects of acting, in general and with classical text and voice in particular, remain challenging to you. And why you believe the Advanced Apprenticeship is appropriate to the development of these areas.
    • specifies which production (other than acting) or management/ administration area you would like to gain experience in. While other QSE training programs are entirely suitable for someone who wants to develop their skills purely as an actor, the Advanced Apprenticeship is aimed at artists who, like the members of our core ensemble, see themselves as theatre-makers, as engaged in the production and administrative aspects of making theatre in all its forms.
PREPARING FOR YOUR AUDITION

Initial auditions will take place at the University of Queensland (St Lucia) and will consist of 15-minute slots in the following sessions, by appointment only: 
2-6pm Saturday December 3rd and 2-6pm Sunday December 4th.

Prepare two pieces from any of Shakespeare’s plays, one comic piece and one dramatic piece (not necessarily from a comedy and a tragedy/history, just one piece with a comic tone and one with a dramatic tone). Each piece should be no more than two minutes long, and speeches do not need to be age/gender appropriate. Choose something with which you feel a personal connection.

Callbacks will take place at the University of Queensland (St Lucia) and will consist of a group session 6-11pm on Monday December 5th that will include voice, Shakespeare, group work and improvisation. You MUST be available for the entirety of this callback to be considered for the Core Ensemble or either Apprentice program.

CRUCIAL DATES

In order to be accepted into the 2023 Advanced Apprenticeship, you must be available for the following dates:

  • Company Meeting: evening of Feb 19th
  • Residential Training Intensive at Stradbroke Island: Feb 27 – March 5 (Mon-Sun, inc travel)
  • Training Weekends: training in voice and acting on the weekends of March 11th/12th, 18th/19th. and 25th/26th from 9am to 5pm each day
  • Advanced Training/ Dare to Share: 6-10pm Wednesday nights from March 8th to April 26th + the evenings of May 2nd – 6th
  • Creative Development – November (dates/ times tbc)

More detailed information about 2023 activities and events, including a detailed calendar, will be available prior to the audition.

If you have questions, please e-mail QSE at info@qldshakespeare.org or leave a message on 0411 172 390.

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