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- BA (Hons) Acting
BA (Hons) Acting
BA (Hons) Acting is your introduction to the performance industry. You'll hone your skills to stage and screen, working collaboratively as a part of AUB Productions and taking on roles in professionally produced student films.
- Duration: 3 or 4 years full-time
- Placement year: Optional 1 year
- Course code: W410 (UCAS)
- Institution code: A66 (UCAS)
- Duration: 3 or 4 years full-time
- Placement year: Optional 1 year
- Course code: W410 (UCAS)
- Institution code: A66 (UCAS)
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Overview
Our BA (Hons) Acting course shows you what it takes to turn natural talent into a career and making dreams of performing on stage or film a reality.
BA (Hons) Acting course information
This course is designed for students who have a passion for performance. We'll show you what it takes to turn natural talent into a sustainable career and we will support you to help make your ambitions become reality.
On BA (Hons) Acting, you'll get professional training to improve your acting skills and learn how to create performances for different audiences and contexts, providing you with the skills needed for creating performances in today's multimedia world. You'll work with other students on projects and films and your independent voice as an emerging artist will be developed and nurtured as you progress.
Three reasons to study BA (Hons) Acting at AUB:
- You'll study the craft of being an actor and develop the skills required, while also having the opportunity to create your own work – the work that you want to see in the world.
- You'll be a part of Bournemouth Film School and receive training in performance for recorded media such as film, radio and self-taping.
- You'll have the opportunity to collaborate with other courses (such as BA (Hons) Film Production, Make-up for Media and Performance, Design for Costume and Performance, and Photography) throughout your time on the course. This will enable you to develop a diverse portfolio of work and a large network of creative artists.
With a highly practical, portfolio approach to developing your creative practice, BA (Hons) Acting delivers training in a range of established techniques in relation to text, character and performance, alongside the core disciplines of movement, voice and singing. Three main themes of training run through each level: a methodological approach to actor training, media training and the concept of the actor as creator and maker of new performance work. This comprehensive approach reflects the demands and diversity of the 21st century creative industries.
Contextual and critical studies across each level will deepen your knowledge and understanding of key contexts within the performance industry and underpin your learning. The course also develops transferable skills in collaboration, teamwork and problem-solving.
Sitting within Bournemouth Film School, BA (Hons) Acting is well-situated for cross-course collaborations and this is a key feature of the programme. Within the course, we have an established collaboration for our fully staged Level 6 shows as part of AUB Productions with BA (Hons) Costume, BA (Hons) Design for Costume and Performance, and BA (Hons) Make-up for Media and Performance. Through the course, you'll also have the opportunity to collaborate with BA (Hons) Film Production, BA (Hons) Animation Production, BA (Hons) Games Art and Design, and BA (Hons) Creative Writing.
Professional development and employability skills are integrated through all three levels of the course, helping you to prepare for a career in the creative industries and/or postgraduate study. These skills will enable you to aspire to professional standards within live performance and digital media contexts, as well as empower you to explore diverse career paths.
Placement year
All undergraduate courses at AUB offer an optional placement year, to be taken between your second and third years of study.
If you’re unsure about this optional placement, you don’t need to decide now. Once you’re here and studying with us, the course team will discuss the placement options with you, so when the time comes, you can make a decision that’s right for you.
Exchange and international summer programmes
Students on BA (Hons) Acting have the chance to broaden their horizons through exciting exchange and international summer programmes. These opportunities allow you to study abroad at one of our brilliant partner institutions, experience different cultures, and enhance your academic journey.
AUB Productions
Students from across BA (Hons) Acting, BA (Hons) Costume, BA (Hons) Design for Costume and Performance, BA (Hons) Make-Up for Media and Performance and BA (Hons) Creative Writing degrees collaborate on each production. This provides students with a key insight into the industry and for developing skills in working as actors, designers and makers which make up theatre.
The actors also take on other roles within this process, such as Stage Management, Assistant Director and Publicity Officer. BA (Hons) Costume and BA (Hons) Design for Costume and Performance students take on roles including set and costume design and making – constructing props, costumes and millinery. Meanwhile, those from BA (Hons) Make-up for Media and Performance provide prosthetics, hair and make-up.
Meet the BA (Hons) Acting Course team
Acting requires openness - it’s this honesty and the ability to push past any self-censoring that makes a truly great performance. The most compelling actors have an ability to inspire and draw an audience into their world – an active imagination, creativity, curiosity and a willingness to learn about their character's world are all key ingredients, and skills we nurture throughout the course.
Watch our videos
Discover from student Lou about what it’s like to study BA (Hons) Acting at AUB.
You can also listen to Course Leader Katharine Piercey as she shares her insight into what makes a great actor. In addition, find out how to prepare for your audition, and preview some of our students' work.
Chat to a student
Our student ambassadors are here to answer any questions you might have on university life, our courses and all things AUB.
Chat on UnibuddyStudent Stories
Application process
Industry Patron – Forest Forge Theatre Co.
Meet the Industry Patron for BA (Hons) Acting – Forest Forge Theatre Co.
Forest Forge Theatre Co. is based in Ringwood, has been running for more than 40 years and has been involved with BA (Hons) Acting at AUB for over 12 years.
Run by co-artistic directors Jo Billingham and Lucy Phillips, the three arms of the company are Touring Theatre, Artist Development, and Participation, and they're unique in that all three have equal weight in the company.
Studios and resources
BA (Hons) Acting students benefit from five specialist workspaces on campus including a fully equipped Studio Theatre and a sound recording studio. AUB also has its own theatre, the Palace Court Theatre, which offers further rehearsal rooms and performance spaces in central Bournemouth.
Teaching, learning and assessment
Within this area of performance experiential learning is a key principle of study and your work throughout the course reflects the collaborative nature of acting. Each unit is assessed separately, and the assessment forms part of the unit. Assessment both provides a measure of your achievement, and also gives you regular feedback on how your learning is developing.
What our BA (Hons) Acting graduates are doing
Graduates have gone on to work in feature and independent films, television, regional theatre, touring theatre and the West End, voiceovers and teaching.
Here are some examples of roles that our graduates are working in:
- Graduate company Unpolished Theatre won the 2019 Olivier award for Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre for their show Flesh and Bone
- Principal actor in EastEnders
- Principal actor in BBC drama Showtrial
- Principal actor in Netflix series Top Boy
- Writer and director of For Black Boys Who Have Considered Suicide When the Hue Gets Too Heavy, The Royal Court and West End. Won Best Director and Best Production Play award at Black British Theatre Awards 2022. Cast won The Stage Debut Award 2022 for Best Performer in a Play.
- Principal actors in BBC Three’s Witless and Overshadowed
- Principal actor in West End production of Spring Awakening
- Leading role in The Empress, Royal Shakespeare Company
- Leading role in Let the Right One In, Royal Exchange Theatre
- Supporting role in Jerusalem, West End
- Supporting role in Macbeth, Shakespeare's Globe
- Leading role in Thomas and Friends: Big World! Big Adventures! The Movie
- Featured actor in Guy Ritchie's film Wrath of Man
- Featured actor in feature film The Batman
- Featured actor in BBC One series Our Girl
- Featured actors in BBC One series Call the Midwife
- Featured actor in Apple TV series Hijack
- Featured actor in Amazon Prime series The Looming Tower
- Featured actor in BBC film Suffragettes with Lucy Worsley
- The Lion King, West End
- The Play That Goes Wrong, West End
- Blue Stockings, Shakespeare’s Globe
- The Commitments, UK No. 1 tour
- The Buddy Holly Story, UK No. 1 tour
- Roles in BBC’s A Christmas Carol, Strike, Luther, Casualty, Holby City, Doctors and Crimewatch
- ITV’s Cilla and The Sound of Music Live
- Netflix series Black Mirror
- E4’s Misfits
- Lead role in independent feature films the Rise of the Krays and Fall of the Krays
- Published playwrights: Elliot Warren (Flesh and Bone); Ryan Calais Cameron (Typical, Queens of Sheba, For Black Boys Who Have Considered Suicide When the Hue Gets Too Heavy)
- Theatre producer for Nouveau Riche
- Writer for Netflix series Sex Education
- Roles at the Royal Court Theatre, Lyric Hammersmith, Southwark Playhouse, Royal Exchange Manchester, Birmingham Rep, Sheffield Crucible, Liverpool Playhouse and Pitlochry Festival Theatre
- International, national and regional tours with theatre companies, including White Horse Theatre, Solomon Theatre and Chapterhouse Theatre Company
- Postgraduate study at The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama; East 15; LAMDA, ALRA and The Shakespeare Institute, University of Birmingham
Trips and visits
As part of BA (Hons) Acting, you may also get the opportunity to take part in course trips.
Previous trips have included:
- The Globe Theatre, London
*These trips are optional and some may incur additional costs