The main programme is the BA Honours Degree in Acting. This well-established programme has a distinguished list of graduates, especially in recent years.

There is also a full-time three-year MA Acting programme, specifically designed for students who already hold an undergraduate degree and wish to have a full, professional training in acting. They work alongside students on the BA Acting programme, with additional assignments appropriate to a Master's programme.

In addition, the MA in Training Actors (Voice) or (Movement) is available. This is a two-year, part-time programme designed to train a small cohort of voice and movement teachers to work in the acting profession.

The School has excellent performance facilities. Productions take place in its 308-seat theatre. The Drama Department also arranges performances at other London theatres, including the Pit at the Barbican Centre, the Bridewell (off Fleet Street), the Soho Theatre, the Comedy Theatre, the Swan (Stratford) and the Royal Court. From 2013, two new additional theatres at Milton Court, the School's new building, will be available exclusively for drama productions.

The Department also runs two Drama Summer Schools: ‘Acting in Shakespeare and Contemporary Theatre’ and ‘Acting in Musical Theatre’. Each course is three weeks in duration.

The School is a partner in L’École des Écoles, a confederation of all the major European drama schools and is a co-organiser of Prima del Teatro, a 3-week international festival of acting workshops which takes place in Italy every summer.

BA Honours Degree in Acting
MA in Acting

3 years (full-time)

• 26 students in each year (78 students across the programme)
• 30 part-time and full-time staff, plus visiting directors
• 2,300 applications/26 places

Applicants are advised to apply as early as possible.

These programmes are validated by City University, London and the BA in Acting is accredited by the National Council for Drama Training. The School is a member of the Conference of Drama Schools.

Contact: drama@gsmd.ac.uk

The acting programmes are for those who intend to become professional actors. They offer intensive vocational training in the practical craft of acting and are different in structure and approach from most university programmes in Drama or Performing Arts.

Both programmes lay the foundation for a lifetime development in the art and profession of acting. They aim to produce actors who are flexible and versatile, able to move with confidence between classical and modern theatre, film, television and radio.

There is a generous staff-student ratio, an enormous number of contact hours and a very low drop-out rate.

During their training students are able to work with many teachers and directors. Staff are chosen to complement and contrast with each other; their approaches may vary but they share a common purpose. Together they help each actor and each group to define, develop and use the processes which are most useful to them.

All the teaching and directing staff have extensive experience of professional theatre, film, television or radio, as directors, actors and teachers. They work as a strongly committed team, while maintaining regular contact with the profession. Some work in the theatre, including the National Theatre, the Royal Shakespeare Company, Shakespeare's Globe and the West End. Some work in film, television and radio. Many work internationally, and guest teachers from abroad are sometimes invited to work here.

Biographies of some of the teachers are available.

Graduates from the programme have an excellent record of professional work.

The programmes are constantly evolving, merging the traditions of a classical training with the demands of the profession in the twenty-first century.

Good actors must have the means, the intelligence and the need to communicate their understanding of life to an audience. Through all areas of the training we encourage our students to be enquiring artists who can develop their own ideas and communicate them through whatever material they are offered.

We have a strong belief in individual actors working to strength within the context of an ensemble. We work in a collaborative atmosphere and encourage actors to connect emotion, intellect, spirituality and physical skills in all that they do.