Acting – BA (Hons)

Apply your passion and complete your training at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire – we offer drama school level training to mould you into a versatile actor and help you launch your career.

Our BA (Hons) Acting is designed to develop you practically, personally and professionally and prepare you for this challenging industry. We have carefully designed a contemporary course that will train you for a creative career in front of a stage, screen or radio audience. You will receive specialist training in voice, movement and singing, graduating with the skill and aptitude to take on the exciting and dynamic world of the dramatic arts.

According to the Guardian University Guide 2019, Royal Birmingham Conservatoire’s acting and performance provision is in the UK’s top three drama schools (drama and dance category).

This course equips you with the skills you need to become a professional actor; continually stretching and challenging you to reach new levels of personal achievement and self-discovery. As a vocational actor training course, full commitment and attendance for a minimum of 30 contact hours a week, for a minimum of 30 weeks would be expected.

What’s covered in the course?

Complete your training in a supportive environment alongside your dedicated peers. With a proactive attitude you will achieve the high-standard of skill and adaptability that is required of professional actors in the industry today

Your classes will mainly be studio-based sessions, focusing on the practical application of acting, voice, movement and singing. For some modules you will have timetabled rehearsal time, where you will work in groups to produce material.

During the final year of your training you will get the opportunity to make a showreel, perform showcases to industry professionals, and be cast in professional productions staged in external theatres. In the first two years you will apply and develop your skills, getting regular opportunities to perform to your peer group and to invited audiences.

You can find our graduates all over the industry

Graduates of this course have gone on to craft successful and inspiring careers across the entire spectrum of the industry, including actors such as Rob Mallard – best known for his role in Coronation Street for which he won the award for Best Newcomer at the 2017 British Soap Awards, and Helen George, who played Trixie Franklin in Call the Midwife. Airing in early 2017, new Channel 4 comedy from the producers of Father Ted Derry Girls stars 2011 graduate Nicola Coughlan.

Our graduates can also be found on stage in musicals, for example Dominic Hartley Harris has appeared in the West End in Bat out of Hell and Beautiful – The Carole King Musical, and Lewis Howard played the Heart of Joey in War Horse. Our graduates are flexible and entrepreneurial, and in some cases have gone on to start their own companies – Theatre 63, a theatre company founded by our graduates, was nominated for the National Student Drama Festival (NSDF) 2017 Edinburgh Award. We also produce successful writers and directors – playwright Charlene James has won a number of awards, including for her well-received play Cuttin It, and Gemma Colclough directed The Hunting of the Snark at the Vaudeville Theatre in the West End.

Will I be famous?

Who knows! We aim to transform you into a confident performer and practitioner with a diverse skills base who recognises your own talent and creative ability. This course encourages you to create a well-informed working process that is supported by practice, theory and reflection. You will learn to create opportunities for yourself through a forward-thinking attitude, and engage with the course both intellectually and creatively.

You will engage immediately with full-time training and a high level of contact hours. The course is demanding and energetic, allowing you to explore your full potential in an inspiring yet challenging environment; applying your passion to become the best that you can be.

Why Choose Us?

• Students are satisfied with this course! We scored 97.1 per cent for overall satisfaction in the National Student Survey 2018.
• We are ranked highly – The 2019 Guardian University Guide rankings placed us 3rd in the Drama & Dance category.
• Our tutors have vast, and notable experience, both in the UK and internationally. Staff have worked with well-known individuals, projects and companies such as the BBC, the RSC, West End stars, British repertory and festival theatres.
• We are proud to be a part of Birmingham City University, where, as a student you are not only part of a Conservatoire but also a member of the Federation of Drama Schools.
• We are part of the Faculty of Arts, Design and Media (ADM) and the biggest provider of creative courses in the UK outside of the South East (HESA 2016/17).
• You will be taught by professional staff, with extensive knowledge, expertise and experience within the acting field. Our team is made up of visiting tutors, and in-house lecturers, all of which have and continue to work in industry.
• Graduates of the BA (Hons) Acting course have successful careers as actors, writer and directors.
• On TV you will see our graduates appearing in programmes such as Peaky Blinders, Coronation Street, Emmerdale, EastEnders, WPC53, Call the Midwife, Holby City, The Royal, and Shameless, among many more.
• You can find our versatile graduates performing at prestigious venues such as Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre and the National Theatre, and we are always well represented at festivals such as the Edinburgh Fringe.