BA (Hons) Acting

On BA (Hons) Acting, we'll give you the practical insights, and help you build your motivation and self-discipline to support your in the notoriously demanding acting industry. Even the strong academic element is approached through practice in order to underline the vocational nature of this course.

Our recent graduates have appeared in feature films, BBC dramas, the West End, Shakespeare’s Globe and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. You’ll learn the acting, voice, movement and singing skills you need as a creative artist, trying your hand at everything from classical acting to contemporary performance, on stage and on film.

Your skills will be in demand even while you’re here. Our BA (Hons) Film Production, BA (Hons) Costume, BA (Hons) Make-up for Media and Performance and BA (Hons) Performance Design and Film Costume courses constantly draw on our actors.

You’ll work with students from other courses to create film and theatre productions to a professional level, and in various locations, including our own studio theatre and other public venues. Your professional networking for industry begins right here, and our production process is what sets our students apart and gives them an edge.

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.

If you’re required to have a Student Visa to study in the UK, it won’t be possible to undertake the one-year placement option; there’ll be other opportunities for you to engage with industry during your study at AUB.

First year introduces you to the tools and techniques that will help you to create performances for realistic drama on stage and screen. The work is Stanislavski-based, and you’ll be introduced to the core intellectual, imaginative and physical skills that you'll need to learn and develop.

Your first year provides a foundation, allowing you to develop a methodological approach to psychophysical acting. The course provides both practical, studio-based, seminar and lecture-based learning. Throughout your first year, you'll also attend movement, voice and singing classes. These are highly practical classes that aim to provide you with the specific skills and experiences that will further support your work.

In second year, you’ll further develop your acting and investigative skills in relation to the world of the play, and explore the demands of different kinds of dramatic structures and styles of performance.

You’ll learn to see the audience as an integral factor in the creative process and continue to develop a personal methodological approach to acting through units such as Shakespeare, Actor Creator and Applied Theatre.

Practical work takes the form of taught sessions and workshops, leading to performances which will be viewed by an internal audience.

At the end of your second year, you’ll have developed acting, physical and vocal skills to a higher level, alongside extended skills in investigative techniques and textual analysis.

Your third year encourages you to extend your exploration of the acting process by providing you with a range of creative challenges. You’ll create professional-quality theatre productions both on and off-site in collaboration with other courses. You’ll also have the opportunity to create your own practical projects.

A key focus of your third year is to equip you with the necessary skills and knowledge to manage your future career. BA (Hons) Acting students are eligible to join the Spotlight Graduate membership, which enables students to start promoting themselves as a professional performer during their final year of training. Also, in preparation for professional life, this year includes seminars on the business aspects of being an actor, such as CVs, photos, and auditions; and we bring in guests from the profession to speak and work with students, ensuring you’re industry-ready by the time you graduate.

Our BA (Hons) Acting alumni have gone on to win great things:

• Nomination for Best New Play, Olivier Awards 2023 – For Black Boys Who Have Considered Suicide When the Hue Gets Too Heavy
  
• Best Director and Best Production Play, Black British Theatre Awards 2022 – For Black Boys Who Have Considered Suicide When the Hue Gets Too Heavy
• Best Performer in a Play, Stage Debut Award 2022 – For Black Boys Who Have Considered Suicide When the Hue Gets Too Heavy
• Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre, Oliver Awards 2019 – Flesh and Bone
• Nomination for 2019 Alfred Fagon Award which recognises Black British playwrights from the Caribbean
• Best Emerging Actor, International Achievement Recognition Awards 2018
• Best Actor, 2018 Westfield International Film Festival, US
• Adopt a Playwright Award, Off-West End, 2018

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

Our BA (Hons) Acting alumni have gone on to work in feature and independent films, appeared in BBC dramas and on London’s National Theatre tours. You can read more about what some of our graduates are up to below – click on the alumni to find out more.