Tough Act
Undertaking the acting degree at Toi Whakaari: NZ Drama School is a strange and wonderful roller coaster ride. Now the public is able to experience the adrenaline highs and corkscrew whiplash of the first year of an actor’s training – from audition to first public performance – in Tough Act.
Tough Act is a fascinating 10-part, Qantas Television Award nominated, documentary series on life inside New Zealand's top drama school, Toi Whakaari: NZ Drama School. For the first time cameras were allowed inside the prestigious school, the training ground for many of NZ's finest actors, techs, directors, designers and managers. It's a rare insight into the institution's often challenging methods of turning acting students into stars.
Tough Act is available on DVD for just $20, which includes gst, postage & handling. To order Tough Act, please email
Toi Whakaari.
Hundreds of hopefuls compete in tough auditions for just a handful of places at Toi Whakaari. The series follows the successful candidates, as they embark on the first year of a three-year acting course with dreams of making it big and changing the world. In acting, movement, voice and singing classes, the tutors push them to their limits - both physically and mentally.
The trainees are a diverse group – there’s a former lawyer, an auto-electrician, a computer programmer, a Sunday school teacher, and a child of a well-known actor. One of the students is hoping to make a fresh start after growing up in an environment of abuse and alcoholism. Another is determined to make the most of a second chance at drama school after being kicked out once before.
Tough Act is a compelling and often moving account of the highs and lows of being an actor, as seen through the eyes of these budding young artists. Will they succeed in a fiercely competitive industry that relies on talent, charisma, ambition, looks... and a lot of luck?
"Brilliant ... The artistic version of an SAS assault course!" - Sarah Daniell, Radio NZ, Nine to Noon
“…a show of the most vital interest… a process which is genuinely fascinating: how do you teach people how to act?” - Jane Clifton, Dominion Post
Tough Act was recently nominated for a prestigious Qantas Television Award in the Best Observational Reality Award category.
