Professional Acting Workshop

The Pembroke Players are running a professional acting workshop from the 9th to the 11th of October from 10:00-17:00 for actors and directors  to learn the intricacies of the craft! Hosted by the Garden of Love company, with Aileen Gonsalves teaching her Gonsalves Method and using script excerpts from Iain McClure's The Garden of Love (a piece of new writing!) This workshop will culminate in a showcase in Pembroke New Cellars on Sunday 11th October from 14:30-16:00. Don't miss out!

We're looking for budding actors and directors  to participate in a long-weekend acting workshop and showcase!

The Pembroke Players are running a professional acting workshop from the 9th to the 11th of October from 10-5pm for actors and directors  to learn the intricacies of the craft! Hosted by the Garden of Love company, with Aileen Gonsalves teaching her Gonsalves Method and using script excerpts from Iain McClure's The Garden of Love (a piece of new writing!) This workshop will culminate in a showcase in Pembroke New Cellars on Sunday 11th October from 14:30-16:00. Don't miss out!

The Garden of Love Company is comprised of Iain McClure (playwright), Aileen Gonsalves and Tracy Irish (theatre professionals) who cannot wait to collaborate with the Pembroke Players and bring their expertise in theatre and writing to budding directors  and actors at Cambridge.

The Garden of Love, is a three-act exploration of atoms, time, empire and our fallen world and is set in Pembroke College (hence the collaboration with the Pembroke Players!)

This workshop aims to share Aileen Gonsalves' pioneering approach to acting and connecting with the written word, her 'Gonsalves Method' that is strongly linked to the Meisner Method.

Please get in touch with me (nrv27@cam.ac.uk) and Kiana (km987@cam.ac.uk) as this is a first-come first-serve opportunity and we have only up to 20 slots available!

The event involves:

Friday: A brief introduction to the Gonsalves Method
Saturday: A Gonsalves Method one-day workshop to teach the basic elements of Aileen’s interpretation and practice of the ideas and work of Stanton Meisner, which has been explored in Aileen and Tracy’s two recent books, Shakespeare and Meisner (The Arden Shakespeare publishers) and The Gonsalves Method Meisner Updated for the Modern Actor (to be published later this year by Bloomsbury).
Sunday: Further work stemming from this workshop on the text of The Garden of Love, especially the parts pertaining to Pembroke College. Culminating with a showcase of actors performing excerpts of the text.

---

Contact presidents Kiana (km987) and Nikita (nrv27) before 8th Oct 2026 12:00 for more details.