PG Dip / MA Acting

Training at Birmingham School of Acting

This is a PG Dip / MA course designed for students who wish to pursue a career as professional actors. The course is aimed at students who have theatrical and higher education experience. It is an extremely intensive training process that requires the highest level of commitment. It demands an enormous amount of time, commitment and energy, challenging you intellectually, physically and emotionally. However much you think it will demand of you, double it and you'll be getting close. Students often remark that they expected it to be hard but the reality of the course is still harder than their expectations.

During the course the focus is on learning through performance, with the balance progressing from technical skills to performance, and in the final term the emphasis is on public live performance, radio and screen skills, and career management. Our working day is long (08.45 - 18.00) and students will be expected to do preparation, research and learn lines between classes, with some evenings and weekends used for rehearsals and performance. The full days are parallel to the BA, but trying to achieve a similar outcome out of a shorter time adds to the pressure on the student, a pressure which can prove difficult for some students. Any candidate should consider this when choosing whether to apply for the 3 year or 1 year courses.

Students must use their time effectively whilst on the course and must appreciate that study at home during the evenings, weekends and vacations will be required. During the course rehearsals and performances, particularly in the final term, will extend into evenings and weekends.

Although the course is performance based, the amount of public live performance and TV and radio experience is limited; therefore students are required to work hard in order to ensure that every opportunity is explored and exploited to the full. During the course it is expected that students will work and progress at a very high rate.

Many students need to work to eat and pay the rent while studying at the school. We are sympathetic to students' financial needs, and try to accommodate their outside work when planning rehearsals. However, these are full-time courses, and students can find they are exhausted beyond an acceptable level if they take on too many work commitments outside their course. There are some periods, such as during production week, when any outside commitment would prove impossible

Therefore students need to plan their finances carefully in advance of starting the course, in order to fully immerse themselves into the training. Students need to organise their time well, both in and out of school, in order to avoid burning themselves out.