Hagley Theatre School

16/09/2026

🎉A very big congratulations and well done to our Six Month Theatre Creation team who have presented their work 'Wonder' in Italy this week 🇮🇹 The team have been having a fabulous time working with L'Arlecchino Errante and we have heard some wonderful feedback about their work. 🎭
Keep your ears and eyes open for many more beautiful stories to come about their adventures on their return. Congratulations 'Wonder' makers, we hope you are all enjoy your remaining time in Pordenone and soak up all the learning, food and theatre! 🎊

🎭Il “Master” de L’Arlecchino Errante,
da sempre parallelo al Festival,
offre quest’anno due appuntamenti pubblici.
✅Il primo martedì 👉15 settembre alle ore 🕘21, con lo spettacolo
“Wonder”
presentato dagli allievi della Hagley Theatre School,
Nuova Accademia Teatrale Immersiva e Trasformativa
di Christchurch, Nuova Zelanda
di e con Sara Barham, Isaac Power e Blaise Barham,
con la regia di Pedro Ilgenfretitz,
lo spettacolo,
divertente, stravagante e commovente,
esplora la solitudine, l’immaginazione, la guarigione
e il lasciarsi andare…

✅Il secondo appuntamento sarà domenica 👉20 settembre alle ore 18:30 , con la lezione finale aperta del Master 2026 ✨
➡️Al Selvatico Hub di Pordenone, presso la Scuola Sperimentale dell'Attore, in via Selvatico 26
📣Posti limitati, prenotazione consigliata!
INFO & PRENOTAZIONI
📲351 839 2425 - [email protected]
www.arlecchinoerrante.com

11/09/2026

11/09/2026

Bouffon Training: The Actor's Path to Fearless Performance.

Bouffon is one of the most transformative and liberating forms of actor training. Rooted in the exploration of outsiders, misfits, and social satire, Bouffon teaches actors to observe the world with sharp intelligence and courage. Through physical transformation, ensemble work, and playful provocation, performers learn how to expose hidden truths, challenge assumptions, and connect deeply with an audience.

Unlike conventional character work, Bouffon encourages actors to move beyond realism and embrace risk, imagination, and theatrical freedom. It develops a stronger stage presence, heightened awareness of audience dynamics, and the confidence to make bold creative choices. By balancing vulnerability, parody and mockery, actors gain a deeper understanding of human behavior and the power of performance to entertain, provoke, and reveal.

Bouffon training is invaluable for performers seeking to expand their range, strengthen their physical and creative expression, and discover new ways of telling compelling stories.

HTS (Hagley Theatre School) is a leading centre for actor training, offering intensive Bouffon training as part of its professional programme. Audition for 2027 and step into the grotesque and sublime world of bouffon.

🎭 2026 Audition Tour 📍 Auckland – 24 October
📍 Wellington – 25 October
📍 Christchurch – 31 October

Apply now: www.hagleytheatreschool.nz

10/09/2026

Hagley Theatre School's 2027 Audition Tour is Open for Applications!

If you're looking for a place where theatre is created, developed, and launched into the professional world, Hagley Theatre School is the place to begin.

In recent years, HTS has established itself as one of New Zealand's most exciting centres for actor training and theatre creation, earning a growing reputation as a place where emerging artists develop bold, original work and the skills needed for contemporary performance practice.

Our one-year intensive programme places theatre creation at the heart of training. Students work alongside experienced practitioners, develop original productions, refine their performance skills, and collaborate within a diverse artistic community that reflects Aotearoa and the wider world.

📍 2027 Audition Tour

• Auckland | 24 October

• Wellington | 25 October

• Christchurch | 31 October

📅 Applications close: 23 October

🎟️ Book your audition: www.hagleytheatreschool.nz

06/09/2026

We love September here at Hagley Theatre School! September is an exciting month for us, because it's when our dear friends in Italy host their festival celebrating works that showcase Commedia dell'Arte, mask, experimental and devised theatre and works that celebrate the body in action 🇮🇹

We are very grateful for our relationship with the theatre company L'Arlecchino Errante, who also host a master course in Commedia dell'Arte each year alongside this festival. This year our six month theatre creation team have been invited to showcase their work 'Wonder' at the festival in Pordenone - we are very excited to hear about their journey and wish them our very best as they share their hard work, craft and stories with an international audience 🎭

Hagley Theatre School are very excited to continue their ongoing collaboration and learning exchange with L'arlecchino Errante. Pedro Illgenfritz and then the Hagley Theatre School have worked with Ferruccio and his team to help New Zealand actors attend the Master of Commedia in Italy each year for the past 14 years. This ongoing learning exchange has contributed greatly to the development of physical embodiment techniques in Aotearoa and we want to express our gratitude and appreciation to Ferruccio and his team for these invaluable opportunities over the years 🎉

The Hagley Theatre School looks forward to continuing this relationship and plans to host company members from L'arlecchino Errante in Aotearoa to offer Commedia dell arte training and mentorship opportunities in 2027 and beyond! ✈️

05/09/2026

The Art of Mockery: Bouffon at Hagley Theatre School

What happens when outcasts take centre stage?

This term, HTS students are exploring the provocative and exhilarating world of Bouffon, a performance style rooted in parody, satire, and fearless mockery. Bouffons laugh at everyone and everything, exposing hypocrisies and challenging society's most sacred institutions, from politics and religion to family, gender, morality, and death.

The Bouffon is the ultimate outsider. With nothing to lose and no authority to protect, they become a distorted mirror of society, revealing uncomfortable truths through humour, exaggeration, and mischief. Simultaneously hilarious and unsettling, Bouffon asks audiences to laugh while questioning the world around them.

Our students are embracing the grotesque, the absurd, and the rebellious spirit of this unique theatrical form, discovering how comedy can become a powerful tool for social commentary.

If you are curious, courageous, and ready to embrace the mysterious, ridiculous, beautiful, and grotesque, we want to meet you.

📍 Hagley Theatre School (HTS)
📅 Auditions: Auckland 24 October, Wellington 25 October, Christchurch 31 October.
📧 Register: www.hagleytheatreschool.nz

29/08/2026

🎭Train your imagination to take action!

Hagley Theatre School's 2027 audition tour is open for applications!
Join a one-year intensive programme that puts theatre creation at the heart of your training. You'll work with experienced practitioners, challenge yourself creatively, and become part of a vibrant artistic community.

🎭 Auditions: - Auckland 24th October
- Wellington 25th October
- Christchurch 31st October

⏰ Applications close: 23rd October
Get your audition spot now:

Hagley Theatre School is a self-contained, independent training and theatre creation programme attached to Te Puna Wai o Waipapa – Hagley College. The school’s purpose is to provide a space for immersive, concentrated, embodied, investigative, creative and transformative theatre training. Our go...