BA (Hons) Acting for Stage & Screen
The BA (Hons) Acting for Stage and Screen is an intensive training course. Students will take classes in both stage and screen acting throughout the two years alongside specialist classes in a wide range of voice, movement, rehearsal, performance and employment skills. Students will have regular contact with visiting professionals including numerous workshops with our partners at York Theatre Royal and Screen Yorkshire. Students will have regular contact with the in-house tutors, alongside workshops led by industry professionals.
Students will take part in work placement blocks within the industry and will appear in several public performances. The course is accelerated over two years in order to provide maximum value for money and an early entry point into the profession.
UCAS Code: BA45
UCAS Institution Code: Y70
| Level 4 | Level 5 | Level 6 |
|---|---|---|
| Fundamental Acting Technique | Developing Acting Technique | Advanced Acting Technique |
| Fundamental Voice Technique | Developing Voice Technique | Advanced Professional Development |
| Fundamental Movement Technique | Developing Movement Technique | Industry Facing Performance |
| Fundamental Professional Development | Developing Professional Development | Recorded Performance |
| Performance 1 | Performance 3 | Live Theatre Performance |
| Performance 2 | Performance 4 | Creating My Own Work |
Entry requirements
64 UCAS tariff points from a Level 3 qualification in a relevant subject or A Levels. Successful applicants will be invited for an auditions and interview. Each applicant is asked to prepare two monologues - a contemporary and a classical monologue. Applicants will also take part in a movement workshop.
How will I be assessed?
Students are assessed through grading of final performances (both live and recorded), and through critical reflective work in a variety of forms.
Skills you will learn
Students will develop skills in acting technique, vocal performance, movement, physical theatre, characterisation, text analysis, rehearsal technique, screen acting, audio acting, devising, classical performance, audition technique and professional preparation. Academic skills will include, research skills, reflective practice, critical and creative thinking, interpersonal skills, team working and analytical response skills.
Method of delivery
The BA (Hons) Acting for Stage and Screen is a highly practical course which is taught face-to-face through rehearsal, workshops, seminars, tutorials, work experience placements and masterclasses. Critical thinking work is presented using a range of approaches including blogs, vlogs, digital portfolios etc. It is reflective and research based and designed to support your practical training. Students have 30 hours of contact time per week. Classes will be approximately 10-16 students and learning will take place in rehearsal studios, theatre spaces, film and media suites and on work placements. Independent learning is expected outside of contact hours and will include learning lines, text analysis work, character and contextual research, professional development activities and reflective practice.
Additional costs
There may be travel costs related to work placements. A reading list will be supplied which students will be expected to purchase. Students must come to classes in practical movement clothing (details to be supplied on successful application). There may be occasional additional costs for students to experience bespoke industry workshops/masterclasses and to travel to access valuable opportunities.
In the second year of study, when preparing to enter the industry as a professional actor, students will create a showreel and headshots and join Equity and Spotlight as student members. These expenses will be met by students and will cost approximately £500 altogether. We strongly recommend that students begin to save for these expenses at the start of their studies or even before to lessen the financial burden incurred at the eventual time when payment is required.
An upfront payment of £25 is required upon enrolment to the course, to cover theatre tickets.
Due to the nature of this course, there may be some additional costs which students will be expected to pay at various stages throughout the duration of the course, although we make every effort to keep these to a minimum. This may include the opportunity to travel abroad.
Your next steps
Our students receive a conservatoire training and therefore are able to become Graduate Members of Spotlight. This is the stamp of approval for drama school training from the industry and is given to only around 20 institutions in the whole of the United Kingdom and Ireland. It means that agents and casting agents see our actors as being professionally trained and ready to work. Students will perform to agents in a final industry showcase at the York Theatre Royal.
The course prepares students for careers as actors working in the professional theatre, television and film industries. Students will experience detailed audition preparation, create self-tapes, voice reels and showreels which will help them to make their initial steps into the industry. Students are actively encouraged to make industry links whilst on the course, through work placements and industry-led workshops. Our in-house tutors are regularly in demand for companies such as The Globe, Pilot Theatre, York Theatre Royal, Northern Stage on shows such as Coronation Street, Gentleman Jack and Waterloo Road, or guesting at other drama schools such as Rose Bruford and Met Film School. They are always delighted to bring all their current industry knowledge straight back to share with our training actors!
“I chose to study this degree because I’d love to be a professional actor and I love learning about all things human nature. This degree offers intensive drama school training and many links with the professional world, as well as in-depth actor development on so many levels that will help me grow, not just as an actor, but also as a person with a deep self-awareness on a physical, mental and emotional level."
James has been a Performing Arts Teacher since 2009. He trained as an Actor at the Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts (LIPA) before going on to work variously as an Actor, Singer, Director, and Producer. After completing a Master’s in Writing and Performance at the University of York, he has worked as a Playwright and Librettist. His work has been performed at The Arcola Theatre, Harrogate Theatre, The Umbrella Rooms on Shaftesbury Avenue, Guildford School of Acting and The Festival de Theatre, Lausanne. He maintains industry involvement through his writing and is currently developing a musical with West End collaborators. James has also recently been appointed a member of the Pilot Theatre’s Learning Advisory board and as an External Advisor on Performance in Practice for the University of Hull and The Sheffield College. He has recently directed BA Acting students in productions of The Pearl at the York Theatre Royal and The Comedy of Errors
at York College.
Yvonne has expertise in vocal health and hygiene, vocal power and projection, physical ease, breath support, resonance, tone, accents and dialects and vocal characterisation. She trained at The Webber Douglass Academy of Dramatic Art and The Central School of Speech and Drama and is the former Head of Voice at the London Academy of Dramatic Art.
Current industrial experience as an Associate of the Royal National Theatre, RSC and The Globe Theatre Voice Departments. Recent theatre production work for York Theatre Royal, Pilot Theatre, Northern Stage, Young Vic, Royal Court, Southwark Playhouse and Royal National Theatre (including One Man, Two Guvnors and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nightime West End Transfers). Yvonne has also worked in film, television and recorded media for BBC, Channel 4 and Independent Production companies.
Jen is an artist and practitioner of movement in its broadest forms. She creates movement for professional theatre, coaches actors and teaches actor movement in Drama Schools across the UK; Mountview, Italia Conti, Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, Identity Drama School, British American Drama Academy, Theatre Arts London/University of Connecticut, Academy of Live and Recorded Arts and Middlesex University.
She is co-director of performance company Encounter, through which she makes new dance theatre performance. She has partnered, collaborated with and toured to Northern Stage, Soho Theatre, The Yard, The Lowry, The Place, Albany, Deptford, Live Theatre, Newcastle, Paines Plough and Fuel Theatre. Jen holds an MA with Distinction in Movement Studies from Royal Central School of Speech and Drama.
Niall Costigan is a professional actor, director, workshop leader and acting coach. He is the resident Workshop leader of the Adult Theatre Workshop Class at the York Theatre Royal.
As an actor Niall has worked extensively in theatre, film and television over the last 20 years.
During his years in the business Niall has honed his skills as a workshop leader and acting coach. He regularly runs masterclasses on all forms of theatre. Niall’s credits include Casualty, Emmerdale, Coronation Street and Vera and Nicole and OJ on T.V. and Film. Theatre Credits include; Macbeth, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Tempest and Henry V for The Rose Theatre. The Gaul and The Railway Children at Hull Truck, and Bedroom Farce at Salisbury Playhouse amongst many others. Niall trained in Acting at The Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts (LIPA).
Cassie trained at the Royal Scottish Conservatoire where she received a Bachelor of Arts in Acting. She is the Co-Director of Storycraft Theatre an award winning company that makes creative and interactive theatre, drama based parties and events for children.
Cassie has performed on numerous family shows including Stickman in the West End, The Storm Whale at York Theatre Royal and as part of the company at Shakespeare’s Rose Theatre, where she performed in Hamlet and Twelfth Night.
More recently she starred as Martha in Guy Fawkes at York Theatre Royal. Her television credits include Emmerdale, Coronation Street, Brassic, The Syndicate, Hollyoaks.
Gemma has expertise in physical theatre, contact improvisation, pilates, yoga, contemporary, ballet, jazz, tap, character and commercial, with particular interest in the work of Graham and Cunningham.
Gemma trained at Dance City in Newcastle, where she worked with companies such as Ballet Lorent and Siobhan Davies. Gemma teaches on the Dance, Acting and Musical Theatre courses at York College, specialising in contemporary, physical theatre and jazz. She achieved her IDTA teaching certificate and continues to perform as a member of the Terpsichoring dance company.
Expertise in Screen Acting, Voice, Movement with particular interest in the approaches of Laban, Chekhov, Stanislavski and Alfreds.
Current industrial experience as a professional Actress and founder of Salt Box Theatre.
Kate also lectures at MetFilm School, Leeds and at YAFTA and Leeds Conservatoire. She recently directed BA Acting students in the short film The Freedom Bomb, produced with Screen Yorkshire and Enon Films.
