Info
The John Bell Scholarship
Interested in a career as a performer and attend school in a regional area? The Art House is once again hosting auditions for the John Bell Scholarship.
A life-changing opportunity for budding performers, students will spend one incredible week training with Bell Shakespeare at their HQ in Sydney.
Winners will undertake acting masterclasses with Bell Shakespeare artists, observe rehearsals, receive specialist training, see live theatre, and more. They will also have the opportunity to perform their winning monologue for Founding Artistic Director John Bell, Artistic Director Peter Evans, and Bell Shakespeare artists, receiving feedback and mentoring.
Who is eligible?
Applicants must be 16 years of age or older by 31 December 2024 and be enrolled in a regional high school full-time in 2024.
What is the selection process?
Auditions will take place in person at The Art House. They will take the form of a 15-minute Workshop Audition with a Bell Shakespeare artist where students perform a prepared monologue from the 2024 monologue list, receiving feedback and direction from a professional Bell Shakespeare artist. Up to three students will be selected for the scholarship from across Australia.
To download and prepare a monologue, please refer to the 2024 monologue list here.
Students from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds are strongly encouraged to apply.
How do I apply?
- Register for your Workshop Audition by completing the online registration form. Note: You will not be eligible for the scholarship if we do not complete this form.
- Select your audition piece from our 2024 monologue list. There’s a mix of characters from Shakespeare’s plays, from tragedy to comedy. Take your pick and rehearse your chosen character in your own unique way.
- Prepare for your Workshop Audition using our Tips For Auditionees.
Cast & Creatives
We are Bell Shakespeare
Bell Shakespeare is Australia’s national theatre company specialising in the works of Shakespeare and his contemporaries.
Established by renowned Actor/Director John Bell, what began in a circus tent in Sydney in 1990 has grown into a theatre company with unrivalled reach and impact, delivering mainstage productions and an education and outreach program to every state and territory, ensuring classic theatre experiences are accessible to all Australians.
We ensure Shakespeare’s work lives and breathes in theatres, schools and communities throughout Australia, where his words can be truly appreciated.
We value the beauty of Shakespeare’s ideas, language and imagery. His work helps us find modern perspectives on timeless truths.
We believe Shakespeare and other great works are not stuck in the past. They are the lens through which we can explore and question the present and imagine the future.
These plays are not static. They’re constantly helping us make sense of who we are, where we’ve been, and where we’re going. And we’re not static either. We’ve been travelling the country for 30 years, bringing classic theatre to Australia, looking for new ways to inspire, imagine and ignite.
Shakespeare and the other classic plays we present challenge our beliefs and urge us to see ourselves in a new light. Their ability to discover the things that make us human inspires us to make work that challenges preconceptions and encourages new interpretations and contemporary parallels – work that speaks to every age.
Reviews
From 2023 JBS Winner Luke Johnston
My name is Luke and I go to Green Point Christian College on the Central Coast. It was amazing to be amongst great people in a world I love for 5 days. It reminded me of how at home I feel amongst actors. The masterclasses were so insightful. They showed me things I knew and didn’t. It gave me real tools I can use.
One of the biggest highlights was seeing the cast do the physical workshop, I saw things that I do at home, but I saw them at a level that I did not believe was possible at the time. I had never seen the foundations I learnt taken to the professional level before.
For any student wanting to audition for the John Bell Scholarship, I would say: What do you have to lose? Nothing. What do you have to gain? Everything.