courses

BA (Hons) Acting / National Diploma in Professional Acting
A full- time, three year course to prepare students for a varied career as a professional actor 

Programme Director: Clive Duncan
Programme Length:Three Years, Full-Time
Application: Applications made through UCAS and ALRA. Entry to course through audition

UCAS Code:
ALRA Institution code: A42
BA (Hons) Acting course code: W410
Accreditation:National Council for Drama Training (NCDT)
Validation: University of Greenwich and Trinity College London

Useful Documents:
Appplication Form: PDF | Word
Statistical Monitoring Form: PDF

Course Overview 
The three year Acting course is aimed at giving you the adaptability, flexibility and openness needed to sustain a career in the stage, screen and audio industries. Throughout the programme you explore your creative, vocal and physical potential and are shown current operational methods and practices enabling effective and professional work. 

The BA (Hons) Acting ensures you are well practised in the core areas of acting, movement and voice and throughout the course these skills are integrated in a series of focused projects including Shakespeare, Chekhov, TV and radio.

Throughout the degree you enhance your capacity to learn in a disciplined, organised manner and develop skills leading to self-reliant learning. The programme is fully based in the practice of performance and benefits from the high levels of expertise of the practicing professionals who make up ALRA’s teaching and directing staff.

 

Course Content
The programme consists of five courses:

Building Performance

  • Devised theatre projects
  • Performances based on a variety of texts
  • Recorded performances base on a variety of texts

Acting Studies

  • Acting Technique
  • Acting for Camera
  • Improvisation
  • Acting Approach

Voice Studies

  • Voicing text
  • Articulation and RP
  • Technical Voice
  • Singing

Movement Studies

  • Creative Movement
  • Movement Fundamentals
  • Alexander Technique
  • Social Dance
  • Stage Combat

Contextual Studies

  • Research Methodologies
  • Critiquing and Reviewing
  • Preparation for entry into the industry

 

Year 1
The focus on the first three terms is on discovery; with special emphasis on the self. You are encouraged to play and experiment with voice, physical ability and creativity, discovering what personal resources you have and how best to use them, and subsequently how to make connections between the three. You find approaches to script and text - questioning, analysing and researching - to transform the written word into the imaginative visual world of the play. Throughout this year you explore in the live performance space and in front of the camera. Over six projects, some devised, others based on existing scripts, you discover the ethos of the creative ensemble; learning to accept, give and take responsibility for your own and other’s ideas to find a productive way of working together.

Year 2
This year’s emphasis is on putting into practice the skills you are acquiring. You work on six challenging plays at a deeper level and are expected to work privately, away from rehearsal, using the approaches and techniques you discovered in the previous year. Texts include; 19th Century Realism, Stylised Text, Shakespeare and American Classic. Voice and movement become more concentrated and new skills are added to the timetable. You use your developing vocal skills for recorded performance in the Radio Studio and your work in front of the camera becomes more technically demanding. 

Year 3
The final three terms are about facing the public. You perform in three public productions in the ALRA Theatre, participate in a radio project, record a short film drama and undergo a TV presenter’s course - both are recorded to DVD for students to use as a show reel. Before graduation, you appear in a Showcase at a West End theatre and a Film Viewing at a West End cinema before an invited audience of casting directors, agents and directors. Throughout the year you attend industry workshops and lectures, led by professional practitioners, to prepare you for the practical business of being an actor; from marketing yourself and auditioning through to keeping accounts and tax returns.

 

Other Activities

  • Carleton Hobbs Competition: Further to the study of Acting for Radio, a team of third year BA (Hons) Acting students is selected to be entered for the Carleton Hobbs BBC Radio Competition, the winners of which are offered a six-month contract with the BBC Radio Drama Company
  • Sam Wanamaker Festival: In the third year of the BA (Hons) Acting you also have an opportunity to audition for the Sam Wanamaker Festival. This is an annual festival organised by the Conference of Drama Schools (CDS) in association with Globe Education which offers selected students from Britain’s leading drama schools the chance to perform  scenes from Elizabethan and Jacobean drama at a major London theatre
  • Stand-Up Night: This is an annual event organised in house and open to all Acting students
  • The Five Minute Play Festival: A yearly festival in which students write, direct and perform their own and each other’s work. Open to all Acting students 
  • Christmas Cabaret: This is an annual event organised in house and open to all students
  • Verse Speaking Competition: Open to first and second year BA (Hons) Acting students
  • Short Film Project: A collaboration between second year BA (Hons) Acting students and Film Directing students from the London College of Communication
  • Workshops and seminars
  • Theatre Trips

 

Teaching
You are taught mainly by practical methods, such as skills classes, workshops, exercises, rehearsals and informal presentations. You participate in group discussions, seminars, lectures, as well as tutor feedback and review. All tutors and directors involved in the delivery of the degree are practising professionals.

ALRA requires constant attendance at all timetabled classes, rehearsals, seminars and other events.

 

Qualifications
Upon successful completion of the course you are awarded a BA (Hons) Acting degree (validated by University of Greenwich) and the National Diploma in Professional Acting (validated by Trinity College London).

In addition to this, you will gain full Equity membership through NCDT accreditation.
 
 
 
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