Name: Northmost Studio
Price range: $

THE CLASSROOM VOICE

Friday 31 July, 9:15 -10:15am
Jack Starkey-Gill
Voice Director, Bell Shakespeare

What happens when a teacher understands their voice as an instrument - one that needs care, technique, and attention that most of us have never been taught? And what might that unlock for the students they ask to speak in their classrooms every day?

In this session, Bell Shakespeare's Voice Director, Jack Starkey-Gill, shares practical techniques drawn from conservatoire-level voice training, redesigned for the classroom. We'll start with you and how your breath, resonance, and posture can protect the instrument you use for hours every day. Then we'll turn to the hidden vocal instructions of great writing, and how any teacher can use simple techniques to bring a scene, speech, or poem to life for students who think text ‘just means homework’.

Expect to leave with your voice warmed up, your confidence raised, and exercises you can use in class on Monday morning. No prior drama experience required.

THE VALUE OF A CHILD

(Keynote)

Friday 31 July, 10:20 -11:20am
Kurt Fearnley AM PLY
Proudly presented by Teachers Health

Paralympian Kurt Fearnley grew up in the tiny town of Carcoar in NSW’s Central West. Born without the lower portion of his spine, Kurt grew up as a kid with a disability in rural Australia. Turning to wheelchair sports as an outlet in his teens, he has become a Paralympic legend, world champion, and NSW Australian of the Year. Alongside his sporting achievements, Kurt works as a high school teacher and proud disability advocate. Drawing on his remarkable life journey, in this powerful keynote Kurt reflects on the importance of belonging, advocacy and community in shaping the lives of children and young people. He explores how attitudes towards disability have evolved, the work still to be done, and why recognising the inherent worth and potential of every child is essential to a fair and compassionate society.

Sharing personal stories, insights, and reflections, Kurt will challenge us to consider how families, schools, organisations, and communities can foster environments where all children are valued, supported, and empowered to thrive. This engaging presentation speaks to resilience, inclusion, and the role we all play in valuing every child.

SHAKESPEARE & VIOLENCE PREVENTION

Friday 31 July, 12 -1:10pm
Dr Amanda Giguere
Director of Outreach at the Colorado Shakespeare Festival

In this session, Dr Amanda Giguere, author of Shakespeare & Violence Prevention: A Practical Handbook for Educators, will provide an overview of an innovative application of Shakespeare’s plays to the field of violence prevention. Since 2011, Dr Giguere has been leading a Shakespeare & Violence Prevention program in Colorado schools with the Colorado Shakespeare Festival. In this session, participants will learn about the program’s history, key research from the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence, and practical tools teachers can implement in the classroom.

CULTURAL CONVERSATIONS

Friday 31 July, 2:50 -3:50pm
Miriam Corowa
Broadcaster, reporter and producer

Australia is a place full of stories, and some resonate louder than others in the public sphere – the ANZAC legend, Ned Kelly, Dawn Fraser, AC/DC and many more. Some stories are harder to tell and to hear; often, these are the stories of our First Nations people. All these stories matter, and weaving them into our conversations and collective learning is important. Getting started can feel daunting, and sometimes the hardest part is to navigate our respective roles in the telling and receiving of stories – how much relies on First Nations people to lead and guide, how much rests with non-Indigenous people to step forward respectfully and share the work? These are important questions, and each opportunity to engage will bring different approaches. So, how do we begin? In this special session, ABC broadcaster and cultural advisor Miriam Corowa speaks from her lived experience and her professional life and learnings, on a way forward for meaningful cultural conversations in our classrooms and communities.

POETRY, HOPE, AND THE PRISON CLASSROOM

Friday 31 July, 3:55 -4:50pm
Jedidiah Evans
Lecturer in English and Writing at the University of Sydney

Over the last decade, Jedidiah Evans has taught poetry alongside incarcerated men and women in NSW prisons, culminating in an ongoing educational partnership called ‘The Moral Emotions Inside Initiative.’ This course, co-facilitated by a philosopher and social policy expert, invites incarcerated women to explore emotions such as anger, love, forgiveness, and grief, through the lens of poetic expression, philosophical argument, and policy analysis. The role that poetry plays in these prison workshops will be the focus of this session. Dr Evans will offer some insights about the peculiar value of poetry in ritualising the prison experience and explore the radical value of reading and sharing poetry in prison spaces. He will also share writing by incarcerated poets and demonstrate how learning alongside people in prison offers a hopeful blueprint for how to share the power and promise of the arts in our own learning communities.

Day 1 - Teacher Snapshots

Blood, Blades, and Betrayal

Louise Altman

English and History Teacher, Yolla District School TAS

An exploration of how disengaged students can develop critical thinking and literary analysis through Macbeth. Students forge a symbolic weapon representing one of Shakespeare's iconic characters, transforming themes of ambition, guilt, power, and fate into tangible creations. This session demonstrates how creativity, explicit scaffolding, and multimodal learning can deepen understanding and unlock engagement with challenging texts.

MUCH ADO ABOUT NUMBERS: HOW ELIZABETHAN MATHS SHAPED SHAKESPEARE

Saturday 1 August, 9:10 -10:10am
Rob Eastaway
Author, speaker and educator

Shakespeare grew up in a world fizzing with mathematical discovery, from the new concept of ‘zero’ to Galileo’s revolutionary breakthroughs in astronomy. In this session and live from the UK, Rob Eastaway explores how these ideas shaped the culture around Shakespeare's work, and influenced his writing in surprising ways. Blending history, literature and mathematics, Rob reveals how Shakespeare could play with numbers as creatively as he did with words

CHILD STARS & MACBETH: YVE BLAKE ON ADAPTION

Saturday 1 August, 10:15 -11:20am
Yve Blake
In conversation with Joanne Erskine

Shakespeare didn’t write in a vacuum – he borrowed, remixed, and reimagined stories his audiences already knew. So why shouldn’t we do the same? With her new play Mackenzie, award-winning creator of FANGIRLS, Yve Blake, takes on Macbeth, asking: what if Macbeth were a 13-year-old child star, and what if Lady Macbeth was her ruthless stage mum?

Mackenzie catapults Shakespeare’s tale from medieval Scotland into the manic world of tween stardom in the early 2000s. In this spirited conversation, Blake will discuss her process of inspiration and adaptation and how two worlds collide in this new Australian work. Featuring live performance excerpts from Mackenzie and Macbeth, this session invites provocative discourse about Shakespeare adaptation and the value of collaborating with the classics.

FILM PREMIERE

The Best of Us: Ten Years of National Teacher Mentorship Impact
Saturday 1 August, 12 -1:10pm
Proudly presented by Teachers Mutual Bank

Bell Shakespeare’s National Teacher Mentorship has had a profound impact on teachers, their students, and the teaching of Shakespeare in Australian classrooms. The annual program enables 30 teachers from metropolitan, regional and remote Australian primary and secondary schools to undertake specialist training in the innovative teaching of Shakespeare. Designed to improve a teacher’s creativity, confidence and knowledge in teaching Shakespeare, the results have proven to be even more impressive.

To capture this impact and celebrate Teachers Mutual Bank's ten years of support for the program, we are thrilled to premiere this special film showcasing the program in action and its long-term impact in schools. Be part of the film’s first-ever audience, and hear from program alumni about the real changes in their teaching and school communities.

WHEN SHAKESPEARE COMES TO TOWN:

School and Community Impacts of Bell Shakespeare's Regional Outreach

Saturday 1 August, 2:50 - 3:55pm
Prof Emerita Robyn Ewing AM & Dr Natasha Beaumont
Director, Writer, Performer

This presentation reports on a three‑phase qualitative case study examining the educational and community impacts of Bell Shakespeare’s touring ensemble, The Players, and Artist in Residence programs in regional and remote NSW. Funded by the Scully Foundation and conducted in partnership with the University of Sydney’s CREATE Centre, the study focused on two case sites—Broken Hill and Menindee—between 2022 and 2025. Drawing on interviews with teaching artists, teachers, students, parents, and community members, alongside archival program reports and longitudinal follow‑up data, the research explores how these initiatives were perceived and experienced over time. Findings highlight the transformative value of live theatre in contexts marked by geographic isolation, limited arts access, and socio‑economic disadvantage. Key themes include access, engagement through embodied learning, confidence and aspiration, pedagogical change, and community cultural capital. The study also reveals the fragility of impact without continuity, raising critical questions about how touring arts programs can evolve into sustained creative ecosystems in rural and remote communities.

SHAKESPEARE HOT TAKES

Saturday 1 August, 4 - 4:30pm
Virginia Gay
Director, Writer, Performer

Overrated plays, loathed characters and conspiracy theories – are you harbouring some unpopular opinions about Shakespeare? We’ve all got them. It’s time to air all those juicy, controversial thoughts and spark some hot debate. Our all-star panel, featuring the vivacious Virginia Gay, will debate your piping Shakespeare Hot Takes live in this juicy session. Submit your hot take anonymously or share your opinion loud and proud. A no-holds-barred end to the 2026 National Teacher Conference.

Day 2 - Teacher Snapshots

Seeing the Villain: Visualising Shakespearean Characters Through AI

Pieta Swann

Drama/English Teacher, Trinity Anglican College, Thurgoona NSW

How one teacher overcame their fear of AI by encouraging students to use these creative tools to realise Shakespearean villains. Building from their script analysis and monologue presentations, students transformed ideas into striking costume designs, deepening their understanding of character and producing final designs worthy of Shakespeare’s fabulous villains.