Immersive, concentrated,
embodied and transformative theatre training
Hagley Theatre School is an independent training and theatre creation programme within Te Puna Wai o Waipapa – Hagley College. It is based in the newly built Auripo Building, a modern performing arts facility in the heart of Ōtautahi Christchurch on the South Island of Aotearoa New Zealand.
The purpose of Hagley Theatre School is to provide a space for immersive, focused, embodied, investigative, creative, and transformative theatre training. Our goal is to support and nurture students as they investigate the foundations of acting and develop new works for the stage.
The school offers two courses: the One-Year Acting Training Course and the Six-Month Theatre Creation Course.
Applications for both courses are open until 30 October 2026 – Audition Day is Saturday, 31 November 2026.
The One-Year Acting Training Course is a year-long journey into the art of acting, open to anyone with a passion for performance—no prior theatre experience required. With 20 places available, the course runs from 8:45 AM to 2:30 PM, Monday to Friday, from February to December.
The Six-Month Theatre Creation Course offers a unique opportunity focused exclusively on theatre-making. Guided by experienced staff and guest tutors, students propose an area of investigation for creating a theatre performance. With a maximum of two projects per intake, the course runs twice a year (February and August) and provides an empowering and collaborative learning environment.
Main Courses
One-Year Acting Training Course
Six-Month Theatre Creation Course
Main Courses
Supporters
One-Year Acting Training Course
Six-Month Theatre Creation Course
APPLY
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Supporters
Justin Lewis
These courses have so many of the ingredients that inspire Indian Ink that I can’t wait to see the people who graduate and the work they make. Pedro and I share a common theatrical lineage to Jacques Lecoq and the teachers who have grown his incredible legacy. Mask, clown, accessing the imagination through the body and a creative, investigative approach to theatre making – I’m delighted to endorse this exciting development for theatre training here in Aotearoa. Justin Lewis is a playwright, director and founding partner of Indian Ink. With Jacob Rajan, their productions have won numerous awards including two Edinburgh Fringe Firsts and three Production of the Year Awards in New Zealand. In his work outside Indian Ink, Justin has written seven professionally produced plays. Justin is a graduate of the John Bolton Theatre School. In 2008 he received a Kaupapa Oranga Award for his services to theatre.
Training under Pedro was a pivotal experience for me as an actor and theatre maker. His rigorous approach, unique background and deep understanding of mask, theatre creation and acting styles are truly unique in Aotearoa, and I’m thrilled to see him bring this expertise to Hagley Theatre School. In a landscape where stories often go untold, a structure like Hagley’s new plan is essential. Through my experience running Proudly Asian Theatre Company, I’ve seen how important it is for emerging artists to have a space where their voices can be nurtured and developed. Hagley’s focus on embodied practice and the art of the actor provides exactly that kind of environment. The immersive nature of the training at Hagley, especially the six-month theatre-making course, offers an invaluable opportunity for artists to dive deep into the creative process as well as pure acting training. It’s where skills are honed and where true artistic growth happens. This course will undoubtedly serve as a launching pad for original, impactful theatre in Aotearoa. Chye-Ling Huang is a Chinese-Pakeha writer, actor, director and Artistic director of Proudly Asian Theatre, which has produced multiple plays by Asian artists, including her award-winning original plays Call of the Sparrows and Orientation. Her screen works include directing Asian Men Talk About Sex, a Loading Docs short documentary, The Han Chronicles, a TVNZ short series based on her immigrant father in 70’s and The Space of An Afternoon, an international colab remote shot in Bangkok and Auckland. Her acting credits include A War Story, Shortland St and Homebound 3.0. Chye-Ling is the co-host and co-creator of multi-award-winning podcast The Elephant in the Bedroom with James Roque, dissecting love, sex and race. Currently Chye-Ling is directing for tv and theatre as well as acting and running Proudly Asian Theatre company with Marianne Infante.
Chye-Ling Huang
David O’Donnell
Dr Pedro Ilgenfritz is one of the leading teachers of mask, mime and clown in Aotearoa with a long track record of mentoring emerging performers into successful careers. His ground-breaking PhD thesis investigates the wide-ranging influence of the pedagogy of Jacques Lecoq in this country. He is a highly original theatre-maker whose productions are beautifully crafted and bring a theatrical joy and magic to the stage. Bringing together Pedro’s unique skills with the legacy of Hagley Theatre School is an exciting development for the South Island’s performing arts eco-system. Hagley has a long history as one of the leading trainers of young performers in Aotearoa. Hagley does a vital job of preparing young performers for further training and arts careers, and the refreshed course structure, with its emphasis on immersive theatre creation techniques, will increase the students’ skill sets, enhancing their ability to initiate and lead original theatre projects. This new initiative will build on Hagley’s distinguished legacy to create a unique and enduring arts training programme. David O’Donnell has worked in New Zealand theatre and arts education for over 40 years. He was the recipient of the Mayoral Award for Significant Contribution to the Theatre at the 2023 Wellington Theatre Awards.
Pedro is a highly experienced pedagogue with extensive knowledge of the practice of physical theatre in its many forms. From Masks to Bouffons, from Chorus to Clown, from Character to Text, from Improvisation to Devising, from Movement Technique to Staging and Directing. The opening of a Six-Month training program in Aotearoa dedicated to the training in theatre creation is excellent news for all those eager to walk the path of the Actor-Creator. Deeply rooted in the Pedagogy of Jaques Lecoq, the training of the Actor-Creator has the ambition of training at the same time the player, the director and the author. Walking on the footsteps of Commedia dell’Arte, students will celebrate the art of the Actor as an embodied creator of theatrical stories. The duration and the intensity of the program will allow students to dive into this web of embodied delights and explore the tools that will allow them to devise their work in a highly embodied theatrical language. Pedro is a teacher from many worlds: his multi-cultural experience in this field, combined with his extensive research on the evolution of physical theatre in Aotearoa and Australia gives him the passion, the skills and the vision to launch this new and innovative training program into the future. This will be a unique opportunity for theatre practitioners who want to develop their artistic voices. Giovanni Fusetti, Founding Pedagogical Director of HELIKOS International School of Theatre Creation, Padova, ITALY; former student, pedagogic assistant and teacher at the Ecole Jacques Lecoq in Paris.
Giovanni Fusetti
Thom Monckton
My first encounter with theatrical-style clowning was during a short independent workshop with Dr Pedro Ilgenfritz in 2005 which opened my eyes to a new approach that I hadn’t experienced before and contributed to my decision to train at L’École International du Théâtre Jacques Lecoq in Paris. The idea of Dr Ilgenfritz establishing his own pedagogy in Aotearoa is exciting to say the least, as he has a depth of knowledge and ability equal to teaching at the Parisian school, but with added warmth and kindness. There has always been a huge untapped potential for physical based theatre and physical comedy in Aotearoa. Pedro’s expertise in this area would be a welcome boost to the options available and his proposed course holds relevancy and value for artists interested in the artform for the general public. A six-month theatre-making course is incredibly exciting, and it has immediately crossed my mind to participate as a student. I have found it quite rare in Aotearoa that artists consider and/or have the option and resources available for this. We already have a burgeoning contemporary theatre movement, so having a place where creatives can refine their practice into a real-life production will only compound this potential. Having a fresh pedagogical and visionary option for theatrical training is a wonderful alternative to established institutions and I am so excited to see what comes out of this program. Thom Monckton is an entertainer from Patea, South Taranaki, New Zealand. Monckton trained for two years at New Zealand's circus school CircoArts and two years at the physical theatre school Lecoq in Paris. He has worked around New Zealand as a solo artist and as an actor with the Ugly Shakespeare Theatre Company. He is now based in Europe. Thomas Monckton's solo silent work of circus and clown, The Pianist, has been performed in Finland, Scotland, England, New York and various cities in New Zealand. It won the 2014 Total Theatre Award for Best Circus Show at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.