In the 1950s, 1960s and early 1970s if you wanted to train as an actor then your only choice was either the Ensemble Theatre in Kirribilli, with the legendary acting tutor Hayes Gordon, or at NIDA in Randwick. If you were looking for screen training, you’d find very little at NIDA and none at the Ensemble.
These days it’s a completely different story. When I opened the Screen Actors Workshop in July 1988, there were still only a few acting schools in Sydney. Twenty five years later and there are so many acting schools that it’s almost impossible to make a choice.
So how do you find the right acting school? The school that best suits your needs?
If you are interested in learning how to act for the stage then the choices are almost endless as the vast majority of schools are theatre based.
However if screen acting is your thing, there are now a lot more schools competing with mine for your patronage. Since the launch of the Screen Actors Workshop in 1988, there are now around half-a-dozen screen acting schools in Sydney.
Anyone can claim that their school is “the best” but in reality the best school is the one where you can relate to the tutor(s) and gain a solid theoretical and practical-based education.
Some of the so-called screen acting schools approach the subject with a half-baked attitude and cover a lot of theory with little practical work: At worst, they don’t cover the essential skills that real actors use on a day by day basis.
The teaching staff at any legitimate on-camera acting school should be knowledgeable working industry professionals with a passion for the craft of screen acting. Anything less is a waste of your hard-earned money.
Don’t just check the leading schools web sites from page one of Google. Call them and speak with them on the phone. That way you will get a feel for their passion and commitment. Ask them to explain their curriculum and the benefits you will gain by studying with them. If you like what you hear then sign up for a term of classes and go for it.
Be aware that you will pay much higher fees at city-based schools, as they are paying exorbitant rents compared with suburban-based acting schools.
The Screen Actors Workshop is Sydney’s longest established screen acting school and is located on the main road in Brookvale on Sydney’s Northern Beaches. We set up the school here so that we could run “city-style” classes and charge reasonable fees.
This strategy has paid off over the past twenty five years, as some of our students travel to their classes from as far away as the Hunter Valley and Nowra.
If you run a good school, people will travel the extra distance for reasonably-priced classes and first rate tuition.
Make up your own mind after checking out our acting classes.
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