It was screened in the Contemporary World Cinema section at the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival.

The teacher Hanna is hard on him when he fails to add any emotion to his lines with Frankie.

A sex scandal breaks exposing married tennis pro George Saladin and his star student Victoria.

William tells of an Easter dinner event where his father humiliates his mother.

Frankie talks to coach Saladin at the coffee shop trying to get background for their project.

Nonetheless, the tennis project continues mocking teacher sex with a student.

During teacher Perry's class, they announce that William has died in a car crash.

Later in the parking lot, Hanna tells Stanley that the sex scandal is a great subject even though the coach has pleaded guilty.

The night of the performance the curtain parts a small opening, the music starts and the house lights come on.

William loved the "First Follow Technique" and more and more of the audience walked on stage and through the curtain.

[4] Glenn Kenny, reviewing the film for The New York Times, said it "convincingly conveys the raw feelings that result when life and art rub too fiercely against each other, and how the wounds are that much more severe when you add adolescence to the mix".

He praised Rolleston's performance, but found the finale "confounding": "Your mileage may vary, but for myself The Rehearsal delivers a good hour and a half of engagement and intrigue only to top it off with a cherry that left me asking 'Really?

Case in point, Sarah Ward of Screen Daily praised the director, Alison Maclean, for crafting "a drama that's as piercing as it is potent".

[7] According to Craig Mathieson of The Age "[the group exercises and rehearsals are shot with an expressive clarity that gets at how they unite the students so that they can work together".

[8] Francesca Rudkin of The New Zealand Herald stated that "Edward's startling authenticity and composure as Isolde means it's hard to take your eyes off her, while Michelle Ny, Alice Englert, singer Marlon Williams and Rachel Roberts make their mark".

Chuck Bowen of Slant Magazine called the film "a civics lesson", which, according to him, "tethers a promising tale of artistic toil to the strictures of melodrama".