BA (Hons) Acting

'Ship of Fools' production 2011 Image: The Cast of 'Ship of Fools'

 

COURSE OVERVIEW

Dream of acting in films or on a West End stage? This highly practical course shows you how to make that dream a reality. You’ll learn what it takes to be a creative artist. You’ll try your hand at everything from classical acting to devising contemporary performance pieces. And you’ll build a range of essential skills along the way focusing on voice, movement and singing.

Show business is notoriously demanding. We’ll be giving you practical insights and help you to build motivation and self-discipline. Using our outstanding facilities you’ll develop technical skills, and work with students from other BA courses like Film; Costume with Performance Design; and Make-up for Media and Performance to create highly professional productions both in our own studio theatre, and in external public venues.

Even the strong academic element, looking at the social, historical and cultural contexts of performance, is approached through practice emphasising the vocational nature of this course.

 

RESOURCES

· Teaching staff work nationally and internationally as actors, directors, stage managers, and technicians.

· 5 specialist work-spaces on campus: a movement studio, a music/voice studio, a sound recording studio, an acting studio and a fully equipped black box theatre. As well as new facilities in the centre of Bournemouth due to open soon.

 

YEAR 1

Year 1 shows you how to start developing a methodological approach to acting relevant to Psychological Realism.

· You’ll discover a wide range of creative approaches.

· We’ll show you techniques and skills for working on camera.

· You’ll explore performance theory, theatre history and dramatic literature.

· We’ll run regular movement, voice and singing classes to underpin your acting work.

 

YEAR 2

Year 2 involves an in depth exploration of classical text and performance styles through practice, research and presentations.

· You’ll analyse contemporary performance.

· You’ll learn how form, style and structure affect content, meaning and engagement.

· You’ll do more work on acting for camera.

· We’ll show you how to perform for radio and voice-overs.

· We’ll explain postgraduate study options and performance-related careers.

 

YEAR 3

Year 3 aims to consolidate the learning of the first two years, offering more demanding and challenging opportunities for performance and looking to a future career.

· You’ll participate in directed productions.

· You’ll develop and perform in a solo or small group piece at a professional level.

· You’ll do an investigative study that develops your research, analysis and writing skills.

· We’ll advise you on the skills needed to launch and sustain a career: photographic portfolios, accountancy, agents, and self-promotion.

 

'Coyote' production 2011

Image: 'Coyote'

 

INTERVIEWS AND PORTFOLIOS

Interviews and auditions are an opportunity for you to demonstrate to us your self-motivation and commitment to this area of study. Sufficiently qualified applicants will be invited to an audition where they will be asked to demonstrate their acting skills by performing two contrasting monologues. If selected for interview and audition, there is a single fee of £30.

 

WHAT WE LOOK FOR

We look for gifted people who have had an introduction to and some experience of acting. This practical course is demanding and will appeal to individuals who are dedicated to pursuing performance careers. We expect you to articulate your views in many different forms and to have the ability to carry out academic research and writing.

 

STUDY TIME

Study is divided across taught hours, studio and/or work environment time, and independent study. Excellent professional and technical support is available and students are encouraged to experiment and work collaboratively on self-initiated projects. We expect students to spend an average of 40 hours per week on their studies, although it is likely that these hours will vary throughout the academic year.

 

A CLOSER LOOK AT THIS COURSE

More student work, together with a look at our studios, recent projects, exhibitions, industry links and details of our course staff, can all be viewed in the ‘Showcase’ for this course.

 

COURSE LEADER

Doug Cockle

CONTACT

Admissions

Tel: 01202 363228/363225

Email: admissions@aucb.ac.uk

 

'Arabian Nights' production 2011

Image: 'Arabian Nights'