Bath Spa University

BA (Hons) in Acting

Year one (Level 4) modules

• Preparing the Actor
• Introduction to Acting
• Acting Processes in Action
• Form and Practice
• The Actor in an Ensemble
• Performance Practice

Year two (Level 5) modules

• Text Project
• Theatre Making
• The Actor’s Portfolio Career
• Live Performance
• Mediated Performance
• The Self-Directed Creative

Year three (Level 6) modules

• Acting Independent Study
• Production Project: Live Production
• Production Project: Mediated Production
• Production Project: Small-Scale Production
• Creative Portfolio

What you'll learn

Overview

Early career actors need to be proactive. We show you how to take an entrepreneurial approach – how to sell your brand, find opportunities, and bring the transferable skills you’ve gained on the course into many areas of the industry.

You’ll get the chance to create your work and collaborate with professionals, especially at our student-led festival, SparkFest, which we run in partnership with Bath Festivals, and as part of our in-house production company, Bath Spa Productions.

By the time you graduate, you’ll know what it’s like to work with directors, technicians, venue managers, writers, producers, and your fellow performers. You’ll know how to position yourself to find opportunities – and how to create them. You’ll learn about all aspects of communicating with future employers and freelance clients, by developing your:

• showreel
• CV in Spotlight (one of the main casting databases in the UK)
• portfolio
• website
• headshot
• interview techniques
• self-taping and audition skills
• career action plan.

This is a challenging Acting degree, led by specialist staff, and designed to equip you to succeed in an increasingly competitive profession.

Course structure

Year one

The first year introduces you to the key practitioners and processes that underpin actor training. You’ll learn about the connections between composition, rehearsal, research, and performance, and develop skills such as:

• script analysis
• breaking down a scene
• researching the world of the play
• interpreting character
• exploring subtext
• devising your work.

Technical classes will introduce you to professional-level movement, voice, and comedy skills that will enable you to work effectively both as an individual and as part of an ensemble.

Year two

Interpret, analyze, and perform various texts to extend your understanding of performing in, as well as creating drama.

Alongside your regular technical classes, you’ll receive acting for camera training and stage combat classes, designed to enhance your skills base and prepare you for production projects in year three.

Year three

This is your apprentice year when we’ll encourage you to take your skills into an outward-facing environment.

You’ll become a member of Bath Spa Productions, a professional company that produces a range of live and recorded work. This provides a safe environment in which to test your ability to work collaboratively. You’ll get the chance to connect your acting work with design, technical, management, music, and other production elements. Within this collaborative environment, you’re expected to meet industry standards and work within professionally-recognized timeframes.

How will I be assessed?

You’ll be assessed through a variety of methods including:

• self-reflective journals
• performances
• essays
• vivas (where you talk about your work)
• presentations.

In your final year, you’ll also be assessed on a range of projects, all led by external industry professionals.

Our graduating students work across stage, screen, and voiceover for books and video games; they’ve performed at Comedy Clubs, in TV commercials, and on UK national tours. They’ve appeared in immersive experiences, major touring pantomimes, short award-winning films, and musical theatre productions. They’ve also acted in dramas by Netflix, the BBC and ITV.

Several have established successful theatre companies, and gone on to create their national tours and even employ members of the creative community they established at Bath Spa University.

Acting graduates from Bath Spa work locally, nationally, and globally, and are recognized for their creativity and versatility as actors, creatives, and makers, building their careers in what they were trained to do.

Our graduates also engage in further study or work in related performance roles, as artistic directors, writers, arts officers, and teachers.

How will I be taught?

You’ll learn in a wide variety of settings, including regular practical acting classes, seminars, workshops, tutorials, rehearsals, and small groups. You’ll have regular one-on-ones with our specialist staff to check your progress and provide individual support.

You’ll have an average of 18 contact hours per week in your first two years, with more independent rehearsals in your graduating year. You need to complement this with equivalent hours of independent study and preparation.

To find out more about how we teach and how you'll learn, please read our Learning and Teaching Delivery Statement.

Course length

Three years full-time, or four years full-time with a professional placement year. Part-time available.