Bell Shakespeare Workshop & John Bell Scholarship Auditions

The Regional Access Workshop is a practical, hands-on workshop led by a professional Bell Shakespeare teaching artist.

Designed for young performers in regional communities, it offers the chance to explore Shakespeare through performance, develop acting skills and experience Bell Shakespeare’s nationally recognised approach to training—all at no cost.

We know Shakespeare can seem intimidating, so we’d like to reassure our young artists that these workshops are catered to all levels of experience and no prior Shakespeare or theatre knowledge is required, just enthusiasm and a willingness to have a go!

Participants will need to create a free Class Manager account to enrol.

Following the workshop, eligible students may audition for the John Bell Scholarship—one of Bell Shakespeare’s flagship opportunities for emerging young performers from regional and remote Australia.

Auditions are conducted as a workshop with a Bell Shakespeare artist, giving participants the opportunity to receive professional direction while demonstrating their curiosity, responsiveness and performance skills. Each year, up to four young artists from across Australia are selected to receive an all-expenses-paid week of intensive training and mentoring at Bell Shakespeare’s headquarters in Sydney. The experience includes masterclasses with leading theatre artists, behind-the-scenes access, rehearsals and live performances.

Students audition by participating in a 15-minute one-on-one workshop audition with a Bell Shakespeare artist using a monologue from the Bell Shakespeare monologue list.

Registration with Bell Shakespeare is required.

The auditions for the Bell Shakespeare Scholarship are quite a unique opportunity. The generous time that is allocated to each auditionee is frankly invaluable for young performers, where finding an audience so dedicated to each individual’s performance is next to impossible. The panel from Bell Shakespeare are incredibly knowledgeable and are so incredibly generous to their auditionees. Likewise the workshop was an incredible experience, it gives a chance for people both experienced and new to Shakespeare to learn a piece of Shakespeare through a collaborative and comedic format.

Wajanoah Donohoe
Participant & Scholarship Recipient