Our Labs

The Unsilenced students will access a wide range of learning spanning the disciplines of stage and screen acting techniques, a curated curriculum of esteemed playwrights and screenwriters where the students will become acquainted with the works of the aforementioned bastions of western theatre — from Chekhov to Brecht, and Shakespeare to Sophocles — along with work from global majority playwrights such as Wole Soyinka, August Wilson and Katori Hall.

Students will dive deep into film acting styles and techniques, studying the greats — from Citizen Kane (Orson Welles) to A Clockwork Orange (Stanley Kubrick) — to more contemporary works such as Parasite (Bong Joon Ho) and Nomadland (Chloé Zhao). Students will learn how to break down a scene, divide a scene into its most potent emotional beats, and dissect for subtext, nuance and character.

Movie Acting

Learning how to ground a performance in truth and authenticity. Working with a camera to understand the lens, the frame, and what is required in close up and a wide shot — and how your performance on camera is all about the inner emotional and mental states you bring to the intimacy of the lens.

Self-Taping & Audition Technique

How to self tape — the practicalities, what background to use, how to set up your frame, how to submit your tape, how to interpret feedback, criticism and notes, and then how to flip your performance once re-directed to give a completely different interpretation to the one you may have rehearsed over and over.

Live in-person castings are set up in a class setting for the student actor to equip the necessary skills that will allow you to relax and deliver in the room when you are called to perform in a real life live audition.

Plays & Screenplays & Scene Study

How to break down a script, understand the act structures of plays and films. Learn to be able to interpret your character to deliver a dynamic performance. Become familiar with the styles of different writers and filmmakers and the specific acting styles that they draw from — from Tarantino's Pulp Fiction to Scorsese's The Godfather, to a Paul Thomas Anderson movie.

Filmmakers and screenplays are grounded in specific styles of acting and tend to prioritize certain actors able to deliver that specific flavour. This work is not about copying — it's about guiding the student to find their centre and deliver an authentic, truthful performance that can also be complicated, subtle and magnetic.

Podcasts, Voice-Overs & Audiobooks

These classes will be offered to students online.

Scene Partners & Monologues

Students will be asked to learn and perform a new short scene or monologue in class every three weeks.

The Unsilenced Acting Festival

End of year public performances will be staged and performed by the students in front of an invited audience.