BA (Hons) Acting > Collaborative and Devised Theatre

This is an innovative and rigorous actor training which emphasises the creation of new theatre and embraces a multi-cultural and multi-disciplined methodology. Students graduate with the skills to work in classical and contemporary theatre, film, radio and screen, as well as being accomplished makers of their own work.

This pathway of the BA (Hons) Acting course encourages actors to engage with the most up-to-date forms of theatre-making and to have a full creative and political engagement with their work. The course embraces and celebrates the art of theatre and live performance and the student actor is asked to experiment and discover their own creative voice. In 2011, a group of recently graduated students took SOLD (a play they devised as part of the course) to the Edinburgh Fringe and won the Amnesty International Award and a Media Award from the Human Trafficking Foundation. Recent year groups have also worked with comedy writers, directors and performers including Catherine Tate, Lucy Porter, Justin Edwards and John Hegley to create their own solo and sketch comedy.

More Detail

Course Detail

Year 1

You will take classes and workshops in acting, voice, movement, contemporary dance, improvisation, mask and devising. You will explore the expressive potential of the voice and body through observation of the natural world, space, poetry, paintings, animals and people. The year culminates in several performance projects, including the presentation of a Chekhov or Ibsen play, devised verbatim work and a classic comedy.

Year 2

You will continue to explore various modes of acting in increasingly evolved performance contexts. You will work on acting projects in a diverse range of styles, including a full-length devised performance (which in the past has been taken to Fringe Festivals), clown, comedy of manners and classical tragedy. As you progress through the course, the collaborative working structures will become more complex and you will work creatively with theatre practitioners from other disciplines.

Year 3

Throughout the course you will be taught and directed by industry professionals, engaging with the rich and extraordinary theatre scene in London as an audience member and actor. You will have the opportunity to give public performances to agents, theatre directors and other prospective employers in the industry, as well as undertaking radio and screen training (including writing, shooting and editing a short film). A third year performance is usually performed off-site at a professional London theatre venue.

Professional Focus

Industry links:

This pathway works closely with professional theatre companies and emergent or professionally active directors. In recent years students have had workshops and created performances with Complicite, Filter Theatre, Stamping Ground / Inspector Sands, Declan Donnellan, Max Stafford-Clark, Robin Soans, Tanika Gupta, Doug Rintoul / Transport Theatre, John Wright and Blind Summit. Other collaborations include Theatre Zar and the Grotowski Institute, Transport Theatre and Quiconque. We often invite devising companies to hold research and development workshops with our students, who may go on to work professionally on those shows.

All of the permanent members of staff on the pathway regularly work in the industry and have current knowledge of theatre practice. Pathway leader Catherine Alexander is an Associate Director for Complicite (The Master and Margarita, Shun-kin and A Disappearing Number), Acting and Movement teacher Sinéad Rushe is a director of theatre and dance (Out Of Time, nominated for Olivier and Dance Critics’ Circle Award), Helen Heaslip is a regular collaborator with Frantic Assembly and Grainne Byrne is Artistic Director of Scarlet Theatre.

Graduate Destinations:

Graduate employment includes: Theatre/Television/Film, Making Noise Quietly, Donmar Warehouse; Waiting for Godot, West Yorkshire Playhouse, Hull Truck Theatre; The School for Scandal, Barbican; Ghosts, Theatre Royal Winchester; Truth and Reconciliation, Royal Court Theatre; Powder Monkey, Manchester Royal Exchange; Dr Who, BBC; Enron, Noël Coward Theatre, West End; War Horse, West End and Broadway; Frost, ITV; Sherlock Holmes, Warner Bros.; Romeo and Juliet, The Globe Theatre, Bridge Project, Old Vic; Robin Hood, BBC; Law and Order, Hallmark; The Bill, ITV; The Gipsy Bible, Opera North; A Dog’s Heart, English National Opera.

Guest Directors:

Wilson Milam, Douglas Rintoul (Transport Theatre), Yael Shavit (Young Vic/Jerwood Award winner), John Wright, Dominic Rouse, Imogen Knight, Gráinne Byrne, Simon McBurney, Ally Cologna, Joyce Henderson.

Recent Visiting Staff:

Lucinda Worlock, Tanika Gupta, Helen Ashton, Max Mackintosh, Marina Tyndall, Stephanie Schonfield, Beth Littlewood, Lucinka Eisler, Deborah Garvey, Sarah Shepherd, Caroline Goyder, Pamela Parry.

Admission

Entry Requirements:

2 A Levels at C, 3 GCSEs at C, and selection by audition. Normal offers may be higher and depend upon expected grades and audition performance. Exceptionally applicants who do not meet this requirement, but demonstrate appropriate potential, may be accepted.

Admission with academic credit: this is an intensive professional training course and must be followed in its entirety. Details of English language requirements are in the How to Apply section.

Applications for deferred places are not accepted for this course.

Candidates must be eligible to satisfy the general admissions requirements. Admission will be based on the reasonable expectation that you have the potential to complete and contribute positively to the programme and that you would benefit from honours study. There is no alternative to selection by audition.

Selection for audition will normally depend on you meeting, or being predicted to meet, minimum entry requirements, and on written references and demonstration of the following in the UCAS written statement:

engagement with theatre and acting at national/local level
evidence of a real commitment to acting and a long-standing interest in acting and theatre
knowledge of a range of theatrical forms and genres
experience gained in post-education contexts, such as the workplace, travel and voluntary settings.

In the absence of formal qualifications, an indication of academic potential will be sought in your UCAS statement.

Application Details:

You can download audition speeches, or request a copy by calling
+44 (0)20 7722 8183.

Course Specification: