BA (Hons) in Acting
3 years (full-time)
- 30 part-time and full-time staff, plus visiting directors
- 2,791 applications/28 places (across both BA and MA Acting)*
*figures taken from 2018/19
USEFUL LINKS
Applicants are advised to apply as early as possible.
Contact: drama@gsmd.ac.uk
Years 1 and 2
The first two years are training years, when you will concentrate on acquiring the fundamental skills that every professional actor needs. Your time will be divided between classwork and rehearsal projects. In the first two terms most of your time will be spent in classes, with more time on projects as the programme progresses. Both classwork and rehearsal projects focus on developing and integrating three main areas of study – acting, voice and movement.
The training is based on working both individually and as an ensemble. For much of the work, the year group is divided into half or quarter groups, allowing each student the maximum individual attention. There are also some individual tutorials and many opportunities for one-to-one consultation and feedback. The groups are rearranged, usually each term, so that by the end of the second year you have worked closely with every student in your year group. From time to time, elements of the curriculum change as the teaching staff continuously assess the content of the course to judge whether it remains appropriate to those who are training.
Classes
Acting studies includes a range of acting techniques, stagecraft, and improvisation, with screen studies classes to explore techniques for television and film.
Voice studies includes voice and speech classes, poetry and prose, singing, phonetics, dialects and a great deal of work on language, including Shakespeare.
Movement studies includes pure movement, movement improvisation (including animal studies and mask work), tumbling, stage combat and various forms of dance.
Acting Research investigates plays and theatre forms representative of the major periods of Western theatre, as well as examples from world drama. These are explored within their cultural context and support students in their investigation of an actor’s preparation and creative process.
Rehearsal projects
Rehearsal projects enable you to bring your skills and knowledge together as you rehearse a broad repertoire, usually including contemporary plays, self-led work, works by Chekhov and Shakespeare, Greek tragedy, musical theatre and contemporary drama, in preparation for an internal showing.
There are also sessions to prepare you for the acting profession, as well as audition showcases which are regularly attended by agents, theatre directors and casting directors.
Methods of rehearsal and preparation include research into the world and characters of the play, analysis of the text and different approaches to it, building on, and developing from, many of the principles formulated by major practitioners such as Stanislavski. The programme also embraces other cultural traditions and more innovative approaches.
Year 3
By the third year, you will be technically proficient vocally and physically. You will have developed your own working processes. Most of your time will be spent rehearsing and performing to the public and to potential employers in productions and audition showcases, which are regularly attended by industry professionals, including agents and casting directors.
Productions and casting
In the final year the entire year group forms a company which performs in about eight public productions in the School’s theatres and in other professional theatres, nationally and internationally in a TV project, and in audition showcases regularly attended by agents, theatre and casting directors.
Sometimes you all take part in the same production; sometimes the company is split, so as to rehearse more than one production simultaneously. You will work on around four productions, each of a different period or style, playing a wide variety of roles and working with several directors. You will also have the opportunity to write and perform your own solo performance, and practical workshops will help to prepare you for professional life.
You play as cast in public performances. Where your progress justifies it in the view of the senior staff, you may be given a role central to the development of a play, but the School does not guarantee major protagonist casting to any student.
A selected team of students enters a variety of competitions and occasional outside events, such as the Wanamaker Festival at Shakespeare's Globe.
See the full programme specifications, including module specifications and assessment criteria.
