Preparing for your course

We're very excited that you're joining the BA (Hons) Acting degree course this year, and my colleagues and I are looking forward to welcoming you. We hope you'll enjoy the course and your time at Arts University Bournemouth.

Please read this pack carefully as it includes important information about your first week and certain items that you will need to purchase or bring with you for the start of the course. You'll find out more about the course and the University on arrival, but in the meantime you may wish to do some preparation.

As you'll already be aware, the BA (Hons) Acting course is a practice-based degree course in Acting that also contains some purely theoretical units. In our experience of running the course, some students struggle with more traditional academic work and we recommend that all of you undertake some preparatory reading this summer to equip you for the forthcoming year.

We also recommend that you spend some time this summer familiarising yourself with the acting industry by reading The Stage newspaper, exploring theatres and theatre companies that interest you, and watching as much theatre (live, online or recorded) as possible.

We look forward to meeting you soon!

– Kasia Zaremba-Byrne, Course Leader

Have a look through some of the work our current students are producing to get an idea of the type of work you may be doing on our course.

We suggest that you bring the following items with you:

• Notepad and pens/pencils.
• Memory stick or external hard drive for backing up your computer work.
• Water bottle.
• Plain black clothes that allow movement, such as T-shirts, tracksuit bottoms and leggings, are required for all movement, voice, singing and acting classes. For warm weather, you may wish to wear short trousers. Please ensure these clothes do not have zips, metallic bits or logos. Leggings must be opaque, and T-shirts must cover the stomach area.
• Students who identify as female are advised to acquire a black practice skirt (ankle or floor length) and black character shoes (from dance equipment shops). Students who identify as male should acquire, black trousers, black lace up shoes and a white shirt, though these aren't compulsory.
• Nude underwear to be used during costume fittings.
  
• For some movement classes, you're allowed to work in jazz shoes, but you'll also be encouraged to work barefoot to gain a more visceral understanding of your body and self. Jazz shoes aren't compulsory but are available from any dance shop if you wish to acquire a pair. No trainers are permitted in skills classes.
• If you know that you have knee problems, please bring knee pads with you.

Please note you won't be allowed to participate in acting and skills classes without appropriate clothing.

On your first day bring along:

• A notebook and something to write with
• Your ID and documents for face-to-face registration (see the "Next Steps" tab for more details)
• Your Registration Passport enclosed with your Welcome notebook

This course uses both Apple and Windows computers.