Worskhops for Directing Students

  • In this course for directors, you students will work with Butterfly’s Chief Artistic Director Aileen Gonsalves and will learn how they can use the Meisner Acting Technique and The Gonsalves Method when directing a show.

    Students will be taught how they can use Meisner’s famous repetition exercise to get actors seeing clearly and responding truthfully and how to follow The Gonsalves Method process in order to direct a show using Meisner’s techniques. They will gain a quick and clear approach to exploring and rehearsing any text and the skills to create a responsive, connected and moment to moment performance which can be applied to any text or any performance.

  • In this course for directors, you students will work with Butterfly’s Chief Artistic Director Aileen Gonsalves and will learn how they can use the Meisner Acting Technique and The Gonsalves Method when directing any Shakespeare text.

    Students will explore character and motivation, the language, form and structure of the text, and how actors work with this to create meaning. They will also learn how they can use Meisner’s famous repetition exercise to get actors seeing clearly and responding truthfully through Shakespeare’s words, and how to follow The Gonsalves Method process in order to direct Shakespeare text using Meisner’s techniques, in order to create a responsive, connected and moment to moment performance.

“Aileen Gonsalves’ approach is pioneering, exhilarating and inspiring. Whether it’s working with seasoned performers, students, or film and stage directors, her method changes perspectives not just on the theatre and the actor’s craft but on how we encounter each other and the world around us.”

— Dr Chris Laoutaris, Lecturer at the Shakespeare Institute, and Author

“I have found Aileen’s method deeply transformative – both in my personal life and professionally. It has made me realise that the foundation of good theatre lies in the combined effect of seeing others clearly and being seen clearly by others – in each moment afresh. If you allow this to happen – as an actor, as a director and as a member of the audience – it will cause you to relinquish control and will render you affectable in the most vulnerable way conceivable.”

— Nicholas Humphrey, Artistic Director of the Drama Department University of Education Heidelberg, Germany